Thanksgiving week offered a special gift to Kathy & me when Bret & Christy and our grandkids showed up at 5:30 AM on Wednesday morning. We were not expecting to see them for Thanksgiving since Bret is heavily involved in his TaxSlayer Bowl responsibilities. Chad and Kyle also came in for the latter part of the week and we were all able to spend some time together in the President’s Suite at Joe Aillet Stadium Saturday evening watching the Bulldogs and visiting with friends. The Bulldogs won too! This week, after a Monday morning of meetings in the office, I headed down to Baton Rouge to attend a meeting of the LaSTEM Advisory Council. LaSTEM is under the auspices of the Board of Regents and it oversees the creation, delivery, and promotion of STEM education programs to increase student interest and achievement in the STEM fields and to ensure the alignment of education, economic development, industry, and workforce needs. Senator Sharon Hewitt had invited me and our partners at CSRA, BPCC and NSU to talk about the highly successful cyber partnerships that are stimulating economic opportunities in NW Louisiana. I made it back to the office Wednesday for the first day of Winter Quarter classes.  I had meetings with my administrative team as well as visits with students and prospective students. Late Wednesday, I went to Bossier City to check on the progress of our new Tech Bossier Center and to meet with a prospective company that is considering locating activities in the area. I am so pleased to see the interests of more and more companies who are seeing the value of locating their companies in North Louisiana, primarily because of the talented workforce that we have to offer them. The leadership of the Cyber Innovation Center has been pivotal and the partnerships that we have established with them and others are being considered as a model for the state and nation. On Friday, I drove to Natchitoches for the University of Louisiana System Board meeting. It was nice to be on NSU’s campus as they were preparing for a big week-end with the Christmas Gala and Festival. We were pleased that Governor John Bel Edwards stopped by the Board meeting to give us updates and to reinforce his strong support for reinvestment in higher education. Here are a few of my favorite pics for the week. Note that Bulldogs were in quite a few of the shots.