Southeastern NEWS

                                                       Southeastern Louisiana University
                                           Public Information Office
                                           SLU 880, Hammond, LA 70402
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    Date: March 4, 1997
      Contact:                           John Kemp   25

SLU FACULTY SENATE PRESIDENT NAMED ACE FELLOW
     HAMMOND -- Southeastern Louisiana University faculty senate president Richard D.
Keaster has been named a 1997 fellow by the Washington, D.C.-based American Council on
Education.
     The fellowship program, established in 1965, is designed to strengthen leadership in
American higher education by identifying and preparing promising faculty and staff members for
responsible positions in college and university administration. Keaster, an associate professor of
educational leadership and now in his eighth year at Southeastern, was one of 32 college
professors chosen nationwide.
     Typically, each fellow will spend the next academic year working with a college or
university president and other senior officers at a host institution. The fellow will be included in
the highest level of decision making while participating in administrative activities and focusing
on a project to benefit Southeastern Louisiana University. Fellows attend three week-long
seminars on higher education issues organized by the American Council on Education, read
extensively in the field, and engage in other activities to enhance their knowledge about the
challenges and opportunities confronting higher education today and in the next century.
     Past fellows have gone on to major positions in academic administration. According to
the national organization, of the 1,148 participants in the first 31 years of the program, 200 have
become chief executive officers in 260 institutions and higher education organizations and nearly
700 have become vice presidents, provosts or deans.
     "The fellowship is designed to give individuals an up-close-and-in-tight perspective of
higher education administration," Keaster said. "A full-year internship at another university with
the president of that university serving as a mentor sounded like the perfect vehicle for
improving my knowledge of how universities work."
     The university where Keaster will serve his fellowship will be chosen in the coming
months.
-slu-