Southeastern NEWS
Southeastern Louisiana University
Public Information Office
publicinfo@selu.edu
SLU 880, Hammond, LA 70402
504/549-2341/fax 504-549-2061
Date: 5/19/99
Contact: Christina Chapple 1
Editors: Photo accompanies release
BOARD OF REGENTS APPROVES MATCH FOR SECOND SLU ENDOWED CHAIR
HAMMOND -- The Louisiana Board of Regents has approved matching funds for
Southeastern Louisiana University's second $1 million endowed chair for eminent scholars.
The $400,000 match, okayed by the board in April, will be combined with a $600,000 gift
from retired 21st Judicial District Judge Leon Ford III of Hammond and his children, Leon Ford
IV and Helen Ford Dufreche, to establish the Leon Ford Family Endowed Chair in Regional
Studies.
John Miller, dean of Southeastern's College of Arts and Sciences, said the university
soon will initiate a national search to select a prominent scholar for the Ford Chair.
"The Leon Ford Family Endowed Chair will be Southeastern's and the College of Arts
and Sciences' second endowed chair," Miller said. "We are very grateful for the generosity of
Judge Ford and his family, who have a long history of support for the study and preservation of
Florida Parishes history and culture. I expect the holder of the Ford Chair to work closely with
the Center for Regional Studies and the Department of History and Political Science and to be
actively engaged in research and teaching focusing on the Florida Parishes."
A search to fill Southeastern's first endowed chair, the Edward G. Schlieder Endowed
Chair in Environmental Studies, established through a donation from the Schlieder Foundation in
1997, is currently underway, Miller added.
Judge Ford, a Hammond native, has had a long association with Southeastern. He is a
graduate of Southeastern High School and received his bachelor's degree from Southeastern in
1951 and his juris doctorate degree from Louisiana State University Law School in 1952. Ford's
children and his late wife, Ginger Fortenberry Ford, all attended Southeastern, and Mrs. Ford
also
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FORD FAMILY CHAIR Add One
was a member of the board of directors of the Southeastern Development Foundation.
As a teenager, Ford, enrolled as a Civil Air Patrol Cadet during World War II, soloing in
1945 at the age of 16. He later spent three years on active duty in the U.S. Air Force, including a
year in Korea where he served as Staff Judge Advocate of the 8th Fighter Bomber Wing.
Known for his extensive collection of early area photographs, which he has often shared
with the community, and for his enthusiasm for local railroad and aviation history, Ford recently
published "Hammond Army Air Field and Early Aviation in the Hammond Area." He has
donated proceeds from the book to the Hammond Chamber of Commerce, which is heading a
project to renovate Hammond's historic train depot.
The Ford Family Chair will promote and enhance the operations of the Center for
Regional Studies, implement and expand teaching programs emphasizing southeast Louisiana's
historical and cultural diversity, enhance regional studies research programs and serve as a
liaison between the History and Political Science Department and the center.
The Center for Regional Studies is the only research center and archives devoted
exclusively to the preservation and publication of information on history and cultures of
southeast Louisiana. It hosts the Plain Folk of the South Symposium, the Deep Delta Civil War
Symposium, the Southeast Louisiana Historical Association Lecture series and the Congressman
James H. Morrison Lecture Series on Politics and Government. The Center also serves as
headquarters for the Gulf South History and Humanities Association and, in conjunction with the
University of South Alabama, publishes the scholarly journal "Gulf South Historical Review."
- SLU -
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