Southeastern NEWS
Southeastern Louisiana University
Public Information Office
SLU 880, Hammond, LA 70402
985-549-2341/fax 985-549-2061
Date: 5/18/01
Contact: Christina Chapple 108
Editors: Photo accompanies release
PRESIDENT'S AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE WINNERS ANNOUNCED
HAMMOND -- Three Southeastern Louisiana University professors and a staff member
have been awarded the university's most prestigious honor, the President's Award for Excellence,
in the areas of research, teaching and service.
The recipients, recognized at the university's May 18 commencement exercises, are
Phillip C. Stouffer, associate professor of biological sciences, for research; Mary White,
associate professor of biological sciences, for teaching; Aristides Baraya, instructor of foreign
languages, for faculty service; and Ed Gautier, director of Purchasing and Property Control, for
staff service.
Stouffer is known internationally for his studies of migratory birds and how they are
affected by the clearing of tropical forests. A graduate of Rutgers University and a native of
Lancaster, Pa., he has published 22 papers in prestigious research journals since joining the
Southeastern faculty in 1993. He also has received more than $300,000 in external grants from
sources such as the Smithsonian Institute, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National
Geographic Society and the American Museum of Natural History.
Stouffer is associate editor of the ornithology journal, "The Auk." He has directed the
research of numerous graduate and undergraduate students and is chair of the biological sciences
department's graduate program.
Although his research has focused on birds, it also has encompassed tropical ecology and
conservation biology. Stouffer has researched single species such as sparrows, warblers,
thrushes, antbirds, doves and herons, and entire communities, including species-rich Amazonian
bird communities. His work in Brazil is impacting the country's effort to understand the
consequences of rainforest destruction. Locally, he is studying the restoration potential of the
Manchac/Maurepas ecosystem, the importance of fire management for the threatened Henslow's
Sparrow, and the role of site preparation in industrial forestry on early-successional birds.
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Biological sciences professor Mary White's students describe her as knowledgeable,
enthusiastic, helpful, respectful and accessible. White, a molecular biologist, has taught seven
different courses during her 11 years on the faculty. Believing in actively involving students in
learning, she has reorganized the university's freshman biology labs to give them a hands-on
approach and has re-written lab manuals. She also has incorporated technology such as
PowerPoint, Blackboard and the Internet into her instruction and assignments.
As noted for research as she is for teaching, White and her husband and colleague, Brian
Crother, received the university's first National Science Foundation grant in 1994 to purchase
equipment to integrate molecular biology into the curriculum. In 1995 NSF awarded her a
prestigious five-year, $262,000 Career Grant. She was nominated and elected into the Project
Kaleidoscope Network for the 21st Century, which aims to strengthen science and mathematics
education in the United States. She also has attended a national Project Kaleidoscope Workshop,
"Revitalizing Undergraduate Biology."
"I feel particularly fulfilled by being able to combine my love of biological science
discovery with my love of teaching," White said. "Research and professional interactions keep
me excited about science and I'm happy to communicate that excitement to my students."
Although he has only been a Southeastern faculty member for four years, his colleagues
call Aristides Baraya "an irreplaceable treasure." Baraya was a practicing dentist, professor and
associate dean at a major university in his native Columbia until political unrest forced him and
his family to flee to the United States seven years ago.
Since joining the Southeastern faculty as an instructor in both the departments of foreign
languages and general business, Baraya has initiated projects that "have put the university on the
map internationally." colleagues said.
Using a wide range of high-level contacts in Latin American world, Baraya has brought
international figures to Southeastern and has organized cultural activities and cooperative
programs that support the university's mission to globalize curricula and programs.
Through his efforts, Southeastern has hosted visit by Rene Preval, president of Haiti;
Astrid Fischel, vice president of Costa Rica; Enrique Iglesias, president of the Inter-American
Development Bank; and Mexican novelist and Nobel Prize winner Carlos Fuentes.
He also organized Southeastern's participation in March 2001 in the annual IDB
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PRESIDENT'S EXCELLENCE AWARDS Add Two
conference and the Latin American Youth Symposium. He also coordinated the Agro-Industrial
and Rural Micro Enterprises Symposium for young business leaders from Columbia. Recently,
he arranged the campus visit of more than a dozen Kuna Indian artisans from Panama, who
participated in seminars and workshops designed to assist them in marketing their products in the
United States. He also has staged gala events such as a Latin American Festival, an exhibit of
Mexican artists and an annual International Night.
"Dr. Baraya has given himself heart and soul to Southeastern," his colleagues said.
"Service has always been his driving motive, and the competence, knowledge, personality,
charm, and dedication he brings to it make him a unique force, of a kind rare at any institution."
"The act of serving," Baraya said, "is a way of transforming dreams into realities."
Ed Gautier's service contributions include the Boy Scouts of America, the Knights of
Columbus, the Hammond Kiwanis Club and Louisiana Special Olympics.
A member of the staff since his graduation from Southeastern in 1979, Gautier has been
director of Purchasing and Property Control since 1984. He also served as a purchasing agent,
and assistant director of university housing. He has been active in the state and district chapters
of the National Association of Educational Buyers and the National Institute of Governmental
Purchasing.
Gautier is serving as director of the Louisiana Special Olympics summer games, which
will be held at Southeastern May 24-26. In that capacity, he will oversee the activities of more
than 1,000 volunteers. He served on the central games management team from 1986-1989, when
also served as games host. He directed the games in 2001 and 1989 and has been a Special
Olympics volunteer since 1980.
Gautier currently is president of the Hammond Kiwanis Club and is past advisor to the
university's Circle K chapter, which he helped to re-charter last year. He has been active in the
Knights of Columbus and in the Boy Scouts of America, where he is past commissioner of the
Chappepeela District and continues to serve on the district committee and chairs the Eagle Scout
board of review.
-SLU-
Press release available online at www.selu.edu/news/spring02.html