It was enjoyable to kick this week off in Bossier City at our new Bossier Academic Success Center where BPCC Chancellor Rick Bateman and I signed an MOU formalizing our relationship in using the space in the new Center.  We are excited about the opportunities for collaborating with BPCC to meet needs in the Bossier community. While there, I visited the 20,000 sf 4th floor classroom/lab space to see the progress of construction. It should be ready by mid summer for full class schedules this Fall. I also enjoyed many interactions with students throughout the week. Some students and prospective students came by the office to visit and I chatted with others as I walked around campus. I must admit that this is my favorite part about this job. I am always fascinated by the diverse interests and activities of our students, but there seems to be a consistent passion about their experiences at Tech. A special treat was offered to me when I was invited to Tolliver Hall by students in our Tech Leadership Class who had rolled out a project that would connect students through the signing of the Tech Bulldog logo. There were also several meetings with my administrative team, advisory boards, alumni and campus visitors. One of the most interesting visitors was Hector Amaya, Director of Strategic Initiatives for London-based Times Higher Education (THE). THE annually compiles data on the top 3,000 global universities and then publishes rankings. THE published a paper a few months ago that highlighted the Class of 2030, the 20 universities they classified as rising stars that could potentially challenge the elite institutions in global rankings. Louisiana Tech was one of only 8 US institutions cited in the Class of 2030. We had a great discussion with Hector about the THE database and benchmarking tools. I also spent quite a bit of time this week planning and following progress of numerous campus improvement projects, culminating in the formal roll-out of the Noble Trees project on Arbor Day. I’ll share more about this week at Louisiana Tech through some of my favorite pics below: