LSU’s goal is to bring its entire online presence into compliance with established accessibility standards – WCAG 2.0 Level AA and WAI-ARIA 1.0 – by August 2019. This was determined by the university’s resolution agreement with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

Sites outside of the university-supported content management system (CMS), OU Campus, will need to be remediated by the managing unit by August 2019. Once the site is remediated, please submit appropriate remediation documentation via this form.

For guidelines, free tools and training opportunities, visit LSU Accessibility.

The Division of Strategic Communications is managing remediation for all OU Campus sites. If you are interested in migrating an external site into OU Campus, please contact Strategic Communications at stratcomm@lsu.edu.

Questions regarding non-OU Campus remediation may be directed to the Online Accessibility Working Group at oawg@lsu.edu.

As a reminder, LSU employees have off this Friday, April 19. Enjoy your long weekend!

Following the modernization of the university’s recruiting model last fall, LSU brought in its largest, most academically gifted and diverse freshman class in history. Now that those students have completed their first semester at LSU, the university is able to demonstrate their successful progression so far.

Last fall, LSU enrolled a record 5,812 freshmen, topping the previous record of 5,725 new freshmen enrolled in 2012. LSU increased its freshman class size without sacrificing quality or academic rigor. The 2018 freshman class has matched or outperformed previous classes in a number of areas, including:

• earning more credits in the first semester than the previous two incoming classes;
• equaling the 2017 freshman class GPA;
• Louisiana residents meeting the qualifications to retain their TOPS scholarships at a higher rate; and
• seeing an improvement in fall-to-spring retention levels.

Read the full story at lsu.edu/mediacenter/news/2019/04/09admissions.eb.php.

Now through May 15, make a gift of any amount to the LSU Foundation and be counted in the Faculty & Staff Campaign. You can even set up a small monthly gift by payroll deduction or credit card that will add up to a big impact over the course of a year. The campaign is focused on supporting the new Career Excellence & Enrichment Fund – directly benefiting faculty and staff – but your gift to any fund is appreciated. In 2018, 266 LSU employees gave to 78 funds through payroll deduction, for a total impact of $178,924! This is LSU’s first Faculty & Staff Campaign in nearly a decade. Thank you for considering how you can be part of making it a success!

The Tiger Twelve Class of 2019 has been announced. Tiger Twelve is an award that is presented to 12 exceptional seniors since 2003. The Tiger Twelve exemplify the seven tenets of LSU’s Commitment to Community, which explains LSU’s basic principles as an academic community.

This year’s recipients are:

• William Boles III, Microbiology
• Michael Brands, Biological Sciences
• Devon Clancy, Psychology, Sociology and History
• Macie Coker, Mechanical Engineering
• Joseph DeCorte, Mathematics and Biochemistry
• Alarii Levreault-Lopez, Petroleum Engineering
• Sheila Mallenahalli, Biological Engineering
• Olivia Obot, Biological Sciences
• Anesha Pink, Kinesiology
• Emilie Robillard, Early Childhood Education
• Madelyn Smith, Natural Resource Ecology and Management
• Sidney Thomas, Psychology

Read more about the recipients at lsu.edu/mediacenter/news/2019/04/15tgertwelve.eb.php.

The College of Engineering recently hosted the third annual Bengal Bot Brawl competition, in which mechanical engineering and electrical & computer engineering capstone design students, as well as members of the LSU Bengal Reauxbotics Club, compete to see which bot will come out on top.  Watch the video at youtube.com/watch?v=V8aDJuG-Bvs.

In honor of Staff Appreciation Week, staff members can buy lunch at The 5 and The 459 next week, April 22-26, for only $6. Additionally, when you show your staff Tiger Card at Smoothie King you will get $1 off a small or $2 off a medium smoothie.

The LSU Office of Innovation and Technology Commercialization invites you to attend the fifth annual Inventorship Showcase.

Held every spring, the Inventorship Showcase is an opportunity to recognize the work done by faculty, staff and students to advance innovation at LSU. We will recognize recent patent inventors, the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) Fellows inductee, NAI senior members, Excellence in Innovation recipients, and more. It is a chance for the LSU and Baton Rouge communities to honor the innovative efforts taking place at our university.

The showcase will take place on Tuesday, April 23, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Lod Cook Conference Center. Please invite your coworkers, friends and family to attend. Register at lsu.edu/innovation/2019inventorshipshowcase/2019registration.php.

Join Department of Geography & Anthropology Associate Professor Kristine DeLong as she shares her research on an underwater cypress forest discovered off the coast of Alabama. DeLong dived the underwater forest, excavated it and analyzed samples of the wood and ancient pollen to find out how old the ancient forest is. What she found offers a new look into a much colder, windier climate in this region than today. Learn more and register at lsu.edu/sciencecafe.