Chancellor's Notes

May 5, 2006

The week began with my testimony before the House Appropriations Committee. I had the opportunity to update legislators on our status, answer questions about how were handling graduate medical education post-Katrina, and explain our budget needs for next fiscal year.

Judge James Brady this week approved a request by the U. S. Justice Department, youth advocates, and the state to end the federal oversight of juvenile correctional facilities in Louisiana, in part due to the outstanding work of the Juvenile Justice Program in our School of Public Health. The university was approached as part of a settlement agreement between the State of Louisiana and the plaintiffs to create an infrastructure to assess and deliver all of the medical and dental and major mental health care to youth in these facilities. Our program, the first of its kind in the country, became a national model.

The School of Allied Health Professions is anticipating its return to classes on our New Orleans campus on May 22. This is another milestone on our road to recovery.

There are a number of important events coming up. The New Orleans Public Belt Railroad will host its annual golf tournament on May 15 at English Turn. Proceeds benefit the Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium. Full details are available at http://www.lcrc.info/.

LSU System President Dr. William Jenkins will deliver the commencement address at our 132^nd Commencement on Saturday, May 20. The ceremony will begin at 4:30 p.m. at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on the LSU campus in Baton Rouge.

We are planning an LSUHSC Family Picnic to celebrate our homecoming on June 10. The event will be on our campus with food and fun for the whole family. So save the date, and youll be hearing more details in the coming weeks.