Faculty Faves: Where is Dr. Rodney Allen now?

“I enjoyed my 28 years of service at LSMSA because it gave me both sides of the equation with professional colleagues and great students,” says Allen, who retired from LSMSA in 2012. “In addition, our family was able to enjoy a small town and the college atmosphere.”
 
Allen, who served on the LSMSA Foundation board for six years, originally made the suggestion to get a preliminary architectural study for the new residence hall to then-Foundation board president Bill New. This fall, the Living Learning Center will welcome its first residents.
 
Since retirement, Allen has enjoyed traveling with his wife Cindy to fun destinations like Seattle and Vancouver. Unfortunately, the pair also made a lot of road tips to Houston when Cindy was treated for cancer at M.D. Anderson. Allen reports that she is doing well now.
 
Allen continues to be part of Natchitoches’ music scene, playing around town once or twice a month. The author of two books about Kurt Vonnegut serves on the board of directors for the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library in Indianapolis. He recently had the privilege of creating the museum’s largest exhibit, a 40-foot long, 8-foot high timeline of Vonnegut’s life and world events, which he collaborated on with LSMSA Principal Lecturer of Visual Arts Chris King.
 
While Allen enjoys retirement day to day, he hasn’t fully been able to leave teaching. 
 
“After 35 years of teaching steadily with no sabbatical, I'm finally getting back to normal,” says Allen. “But I still have dreams that I can’t find my classroom. Sometimes I’m the student, but more often, I'm the professor.”