Caption: A faculty member being honored at the Promotion & Tenure Ceremony by their dean,
President Tate and Interim Provost Lee.
Dear Colleagues,
The spring 2022 semester is well underway, and I am quite pleased with our progress.
Rapidly declining COVID-19 case counts on campus, and in our community at large, bode
well for campus operations. Course sections will very likely be back to their catalog-listed
modality by Feb. 14, and we anticipate moving back to an optional masking environment
in indoor settings very soon. An enormous debt of gratitude is owed to all of you
for actively participating in our mitigation strategies, which has helped us successfully
get through this latest phase of the pandemic. We have fared extremely well due to
your sustained commitment to community, and for that I know we are all grateful.
On Jan. 31, we held a long-overdue celebration for faculty that received promotion
and tenure in 2020. Along with commencement, faculty and staff achievement ceremonies
are truly among the most gratifying activities we have on campus. Celebrating the
culmination of years of commitment and sustained scholarly focus, these gatherings
afford an opportunity for recognition, reflection and fellowship as a community of
scholars with a shared commitment to excellence. Congratulations to all of our colleagues
who have attained one of these recent milestones, and we look forward to celebrating
our 2021 and 2022 cohorts in just a few months.
I also had the privilege of speaking at the faculty senate meeting on Tuesday, Jan.
25. I am grateful for the opportunity and was happy to share many of our recent institutional
accomplishments. Our success in increasing graduation rates and research awards, as
well as our renewed focus on internationalization efforts, demonstrates the extraordinary
commitment and expertise of our faculty and staff. Furthermore, I was given the opportunity
to detail the collaboration between the flagship campus, the entire family of LSU
institutions, the Board of Regents, and other Louisiana higher education systems focusing
on modernizing state-level academic policy. By capitalizing on the shared interests
of all of these entities in meeting the needs of contemporary learners, we endeavor
to keep LSU at the forefront of a rapidly evolving national higher education landscape.
In this competitive market, students demand value and require the demonstration of
excellence through innovation. LSU has shown that we can meet these needs while staying
true to our traditional mission, and we will surely continue to do so in the future.
As we await the return of warmer weather, I hope you take a moment to soak in the
cultural uniqueness of the Mardi Gras season. It is one of the many facets of the
cultural landscape in our region that makes it such a desirable place to call home.
Lastly, if you see me on campus, make sure to come say hello and let me know how your
semester is going. I love to hear the excitement and fresh ideas that you all bring
to our campus experience. Until then, stay well, and as always…Geaux Tigers!
Matt Lee
Interim Executive Vice President & Provost
The LSU Graduate School is expanding its efforts to focus on supporting new initiatives
that encourage community involvement, student development, and increased connectivity
throughout LSU’s campus. The Graduate School welcomes Fahui Wang as its second associate
dean.
The school also welcomes Guoqiang Li as the new associate vice provost of academic
strategy. LSU's Graduate School is excited to announce the addition of its newest
unit, Strategic Initiatives of the Graduate School (SIGS). SIGS will allow for expansion
of its current efforts throughout the university: continued focus on graduate education
enrichment, student development, assistantship diversification, and increased communication.
Find out more information about the advances the LSU Graduate School is making at
the 
