LSUA NEWS & EVENTS

The Department of Psychology at LSU Alexandria will sponsor a free public seminar on autism at noon Nov. 25 in the Coughlin Hall auditorium on campus. The sixth annual LSUA Thanksgiving Psychology Forum features Dr. Nicole Lanclos, a licensed clinical psychologist.

Lanclos, who has a local private practice and has taught psychology classes at LSUA, will discuss the disorder, diagnosis and reality of autism. She also is a member of the board of directors of Speak Center of Louisiana, a non-profit outpatient clinic for children with autism. A parent of a child with autism also will speak.

Autism is present in an estimated one in 150 children. The disorder is much more common in males, who have a one in 94 affliction ratio.

A light lunch will be served at the hour-long seminar, which annually features topics relevant to psychology students and the community.

Peter Villegas, a stellar Native American storyteller and handmade flute player, will perform Tuesday (Nov. 17) at 7 p.m. at the Alexandria Museum of Art in the final Cavanaugh Public Lecture series event of the fall semester. The presentation, which is sponsored by the Department of Arts, English and Humanities at LSU Alexandria, is free and open to the public.

Villegas, who is of Yaqui Apache and Mexican descent, is an active member of the International Native American Flute Assn. His art “reminds us that life is full of simple joys.” Villegas, who lives in Kinder, performed for LSUA students as part of a Native American literature class last month.

Debra Rollins, associate librarian at LSU Alexandria, is the lead author of a research article on information literacy in Portal: Libraries and the Academy. The article, “Are We There Yet?” chronicles the development of information literacy and highlights Louisiana’s initiatives in integrating information literacy in accreditation criteria for general education.

Contributing authors are Jessica Hutchings of McNeese and Melissa Goldsmith and Tony Fonseca of Nicholls State. Portal: Libraries and the Academy is a professional journal of peer-reviewed articles addressing research among academic libraries.

“The American Association of Colleges and Universities has identified information literacy as an essential 21st century learning outcome for students in professional and occupational majors as well as those in the traditional liberal arts,” said Rollins. “A layman’s definition of information literacy is the combination of skills that enables a student to recognize the need for information, the ability to find and evaluate information, and the responsible incorporation of that information into one’s knowledge base.”

Rollins chaired the Information Literacy Committee of the Louisiana Academic Library and Information Consortium for three years. Data from institutional-awareness surveys of universities in 2002, 2006 and 2008 was used to support the article.

Applications for the 50th annual Ms. LSU Alexandria Pageant will be accepted through Dec. 17, announced pageant coordinator Kathryn Wimmert. The pageant, whose winner receives a $1,000 scholarship, will be held April 17.

The Ms. LSUA contest is open to any part- or full-time female student who has completed at least 12 college credit hours with a minimum 2.5 grade point average. Participants also must be an active member of an LSUA student organization. Participants compete in casual and evening wear categories and are interviewed about their platform topics.

Applications are available from the Office of Student Services in the Student Union. Additional information is available at 473-6545 or kwimmert@lsua.edu.

Wimmert and Jamie Funderburk of Woodworth, the reigning Ms. LSUA, will be available to answer questions about the pageant from noon-1 p.m. Nov. 16-20 on the walkway between the Student Center and campus bookstore.

Dr. Shonu Nangia, assistant professor of foreign languages at LSU Alexandria, will present a paper Friday (Nov. 13) at the Louisiana Assn. for College Composition meeting in Monroe. Nangia’s presentation, “When the Sword Is Mightier than the Pen: The Writer as Victim of the Politico-Bureaucratic Machinery,” deals with the persecution of author Taslima Nasrin in Southeast Asia.

“This female writer earned the ire of fundamentalists and became a global fugitive after militating for oppressed womanhood through her literature,” said Nangia. “The presentation illuminates what happens when a gentle and brave humanist becomes the victim of the very governmental systems that should have protected her.”

Nangia said Nasrin’s writing “trapped her at the intersection of populist politics and fundamentalism. There are powerful implications of her writing and her situation for us as teachers and scholars.”