Fourteen earn Faculty Emeritus designation

In the fall of 1983, Dr. Robert Alost and Stan Powell embarked on what Alost called the second most difficult undertaking – the first being the securing of funding to establish LSMSA - when they began the process of hiring the first faculty for LSMSA.

The first board of directors determined that instructors would be required to possess at least a master’s degree in the academic discipline where they would teach – and preference would go to the terminally qualified candidate.

Since LSMSA’s curriculum would mirror that of a college program, he felt the best place to start a search was in colleges and universities throughout the nation.
More than 1,400 applications came in for only a handful of positions. Alost noted that they were able to select not just the most qualified persons on paper, but the persons who would best fit the mold of a teacher at an exclusive school with a unique student body. Application reviews and interviews went on for hours into many nights.

It was not hard to sell the school to the finalists even though there was very little to show them – a dilapidated high school building under renovation, three run-down residence halls being updated for the purposing of classroom, faculty and administrative spaces, and a living community for 200 teenagers.

“In the end though, they would be working with 200 of the brightest students in Louisiana in the next six months,” said Dr. Steve Horton, executive director. “That was an easy sell.”

Over the span of the next 33 years, many faculty walked the halls of the High School Building. Some moved up to varied administrative positions while others enjoyed the day-to-day full-time interaction with the students.

“They all took their roles as parents, mentors and models seriously,” said Horton. “More than 5,000 men and women who hold an LSMSA degree are leaders in their chosen fields because of these icons.”

In December, the designation of Emeritus was bestowed upon 14 members of the faculty by the Board of Directors.

The emeritus designation is intended to recognize academicians for lifetime contributions to LSMSA, to their field, or to both, upon their retirement. Emeritus status is available to those full-time faculty members of LSMSA who retired with a minimum of 15 years of full-time academic service to LSMSA.

On Monday, May 8, those 14 emeritus faculty were recognized during a program held in the recital hall of the Center for Performance and Technology.

They are:
*Dr. Arthur S. Williams – Faculty Emeritus, Humanities and Foreign Languages and Executive Director Emeritus - 29 years of service to LSMSA as faculty, department head and executive director.
*Dr. Rodney Allen – Faculty Emeritus, Humanities and Foreign Languages – 28 years of service as a faculty member
*Dr. Nahla Beier – Faculty Emeritus, Humanities and Foreign Languages – 25 years of service as a faculty member
*Dr. Clayton Delery – Faculty Emeritus, Humanities and Foreign Languages – 26 years of service as a faculty member, department head and director of academic services
*Michael David Elvestrom – Faculty Emeritus, Creative and Performing Arts – 18 years of service as a faculty member
*Dr. James Findley – Faculty Emeritus, Humanities and Foreign Languages – 32 years of service as a faculty member, department head and director of academic services
*Linda Gleason – Faculty Emeritus, Mathematics – 25 years of service as a faculty member
*Dr. Elizabeth Hall – Faculty Emeritus, Humanities and Foreign Languages – 31 years of service as a residence hall director, faculty member and department head
*Dr. Lincoln Hall – Faculty Emeritus, Humanities and Foreign Languages – 34 years of service as faculty member and department head
*Mazhar Jamil – Faculty Emeritus, Mathematics – 26 years of service as a faculty member
*Dr. William McBride – Faculty Emeritus, Humanities and Foreign Languages – 27 years of service as a faculty member
*Dr. Kenneth Olson – Faculty Emeritus, Humanities and Foreign Languages – 26 years of service as a faculty member and department head
*Martha Kay Talbert Smiley – Faculty Emeritus, Mathematics – 40 years of service to LSMSA, Natchitoches Parish Schools and Northwestern State University as a faculty member, department head and director of academic services
*Dr. David Wood – Faculty Emeritus, Humanities and Foreign Languages – 33 years of service as a faculty member, department head and director of the ADVANCE program


Six faculty and staff members of LSMSA were also recognized during a program held Monday, May 8, in the recital hall of the Center for Performance and Technology. Pictured are retirees, from left, Dr. David Wood, senior lecturer of French and department chair; Dr. Kenneth Olson, senior lecturer of Russian, German and fine arts; Dr. Elizabeth Hall, senior lecturer of Latin and Greek/classical studies; David Zolzer, lecturer of computer science; and Carey Hendrix, administrative assistant in the College Counseling Center; and Dr. Steve Horton, executive director. Not pictured is Dr. Link Hall, senior lecturer of English.