When CHSE alumni show up in your community it will be better. They are changemakers
and heart-changers. They leave an imprint - not a light one, but one that alters the
landscape, challenges minds, forges new futures, and reimagines the status quo.
Our alumni have a fierce devotion and deep-rooted passion to change lives and make
a significant positive impact on the world around us in woven into our DNA.
CHSE ALUMNI CHANGING LIVES
D-D Breaux (BS Health Physical & Safety 1976, MS Health Physical & Safety 1978) is the longest tenured coach of any sport in SEC history. Breaux built the LSU women's
gymnastics program into a national powerhouse. During her tenure, the Tigers placed
among the top-10 teams nationally 31 times in 43 seasons with program-best second
place finishes in 2016, 2017 and 2019, third in 2014, fourth in 1988 and 2018, fifth
in 2008 and 2013 and sixth on four separate occasions. The Tigers are the three-time
defending Southeastern Conference champions. Breaux’s squad won the inaugural SEC
Championship title in 1981 and returned to the top once again in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
The three-peat marked the fifth time in SEC history a team has won three or more SEC
titles in a row. Her team has also gone on to finish second on five occasions and
third seven other times.
Jyric Sims (BS Kinesiology 05) serves as president and CEO of Medical City Plano and Frisco, a health system within
HCA Healthcare, that includes a 603-bed level 1 trauma medical center, 92-bed level
3 trauma medical center and more than 3,200 employees. He previously served as President
and CEO of Medical City Fort Worth, COO of Tulane Health System in New Orleans, Louisiana,
COO of St. Lucie Medical Center in Port St. Lucie, Florida and in executive roles
in Houston, Texas and Little Rock, Arkansas. Prior to HCA, he worked as an administrative
fellow and director of operations at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Rachel Balkovec (MS Kinesiology 2011) is a minor league manager for the New York Yankees and has worked in professional
baseball for 10 years. She is the first woman to be a full time strength and conditioning
coach and also the first woman to be a full time hitting coach in the history of professional
baseball.
Lt. Col. Michael C. Shaw (MS Human Resource Education 2012, PhD Human Resource Education
2015) is a military professor in the Strategy and Policy Department. He most recently graduated
from the Army War College. An Army aviator, his past assignments include battalion
command, Army staff, commander's initiative group, and various other command and staff
positions. Past operational tours include in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation
Enduring Freedom, Operation Spartan Shield, and Operation Inherent Resolve.
Johnnie W. Jones, Jr. (MS Social Work 1975, PhD Textiles, Apparel & Merchandising 2018) doesn't let his age stop him from learning. In fact, he graduated with his PhD from
LSU when he was 83. Jones received a Master’s of Social Work from LSU in 1975 and was about nine hours
short of his PhD when he received a job offer from the Department of Corrections.
He would retire 25 years later as the warden for the women’s prison. When he returned
to school he had to start all over again. His dissertation was about racism and religion
and specifically the perceptions of racism and the stress that black families experience
as a result, and how religion serves as a coping strategy.
Hall of Distinction
SInce 2011, the college recognizes and celebrates our alumni, or individuals who make
significant positive impacts to the College mission, their profession, their community,
academia, or government. Recipients exemplify the mission of CHSE to address the complex human issues and policy
decisions facing Louisiana, the nation, and the world through their gifts, talents,
and time.
LSU alumna, Janis Pardue Hill, PhD, a retired university professor and lifelong educator, has recently published a memoir about her father’s journey as a prisoner of war on the Bataan Death March that occurred during World War II. In Telling His Story: POW #1000, Pardue Hill, as primarily a compiler and editor, provides the details of his story.
School of Information Studies alumna, Mackenzie Roberts Beasley (MLIS, 2018), recently found herself at the center of an amazing archival discovery as part of the team that located one of the oldest films of New Orleans. The film shows the February 22, 1898 Rex Parade following the year's Mardi Gras theme of Harvest Queens, as highlighted by The New York Times' feature article on the discovery. Founded in 1872, the Rex Carnival Krewe continues holding one of the most anticipated parades each Carnival season.
SLIS Alumna Cara Chance was named a 2023 I Love My Librarian Award Honoree. Cara was the only person from Louisiana to receive this award, and she is one of three public librarians to be honored. Cara is currently the Regional Branch Manager at the Lafayette Public Library.
LSU Office of Research & Economic Development, or ORED, honors the exceptional research and scholarship of two LSU faculty as Distinguished Research Masters each year. In addition, the LSU Alumni Association and the LSU Pinkie Gordon Lane Graduate School sponsor the Distinguished Dissertation Awards presented to two doctoral students whose research and writing demonstrate superior scholarship.
Mackenzie Roberts Beasley, a Shreveport native and 2018 graduate, helped uncover a piece of Louisiana history - long-lost Mardi Gras footage of the 1898 Rex parade. A family friend, who was the historian for Rex, asked Beasley for help finding any Mardi Gras Rex parade footage. Beasley, an audiovisual archivist, searched through Internet databases and even called friends for help.
Share Your Story
College of Human Sciences & Education graduates are shaping communities worldwide.
We are proud of our alumni and want to stay in touch and share your stories, advice,
and reflections from your time at LSU.
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