The big debate has been on everyone’s mind this week. The national debate. Electing our next national leader. For our state. Thanks to the leadership of Professor Jeremy Mhire of the Waggonner Center for Civic Engagement and Public Policy, Louisiana Tech was selected to host the live debate for Louisiana’s next Senator to represent us in Washington D.C. We were pleased that Beth Courtney of LPB and Barry Erwin of CABL gave us the opportunity to bring such an important event to our campus and our community on Tuesday evening. The debate was broadcast across the state via LPB and across the nation on C-SPAN. Our staff did an incredible job of preparing the venue and handling the logistics for the debate and reception. Particular kudos go to Mark Guinn and the School for the Performing Arts, Dave Guerin of University Communications, and Ryan Richard, for their leadership in this effort. Louisiana Tech clearly came out a winner for hosting such an important event in such a professional, well-organized manner. On Monday of this week, I was joined by VP Stan Napper, VP Brooks Hull, Chief Innovation Officer Davy Norris and AD Tommy McClelland for a visit with our friends at CenturyLink to review our partnership activities. We have many different activities with them ranging from K-12 education outreach to workforce development to graduate program delivery to research and innovation. We are blessed to have such a strong national company in our region, and we are committed to support them in whatever ways that we can to ensure their long-term success. I enjoyed a meeting on Tuesday with Julie Rutledge and Ernie Rufleth of our University Senate to hear more about their plans for the year. Our Senate has done an outstanding job of reviewing policies and processes of importance to our faculty and staff, and bringing those to us for consideration. I look for us to make more progress in enhancing the work environment for our faculty and staff this year. I also had a couple of meetings with our Student Affairs recruiting team. They have developed a number of excellent strategies to help us meet our enrollment growth goals and enhance the quality and diversity of our student body. I also met with my Administrative and Planning Council to review progress on our strategic plan and to discuss future plans and activities. This week, I really enjoyed a number of visits from students, prospective students and alumni. I also enjoyed a special lunch with special friends, Pat Garrett and Teddy Allen. Pat has had a long-term impact on Tech through his involvement as a student athlete and his leadership as a distinguished professor of English. He and Teddy often have lunch together in the Ropp Center, and I was glad that I could join in on a lunch to hear some of their stories. Hope you enjoy a few of my favorite pictures of the week: