Research and Discovery
Your support provided critical seed funding for promising new ideas, empowered faculty and students to pursue bold interdisciplinary research, and expanded opportunities for hands-on inquiry across all academic disciplines. Through these investments, you helped increase knowledge, strengthen research, and advance transformative work that will improve lives far beyond campus.
Planted with Purpose: How One Family’s Legacy is Growing Research at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
The Vernon and Ruby Langlinais Endowed and Non-Endowed Research Funds in Sciences were created to provide early-stage seed funding for research projects that are driving new discoveries with a focus on championing interdisciplinary and collaborative work that has the potential to attract additional funding from the National Science Foundation and other federal and state resources. Learn more.
"I hope that we continue to invest in both the academic success and then the bold ambitions that we have on the R1 stage."
For Jeanine Piskurich, giving means investing time, talent, and treasures. As an alumnus and Trustee of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Foundation Board, her commitment reflects the power of the Together Campaign, where every investment makes a direct impact on students and groundbreaking research.
A New Vision for Engineering Education at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
The engineering workforce of today demands more than technical knowledge. It demands leaders who can communicate, collaborate, and navigate a rapidly changing global economy. Once finalized, the Engineering Center of Excellence (ECoE) will rise to that challenge.
Soon to be housed in the nearly 65,000 square foot Engineering Student-Centered Collaborative Building currently under construction, ECoE is designed to cultivate the professional skills that set the University’s engineering students apart, with an emphasis on critical thinking, communication, teamwork, community engagement, and global awareness.
Through a robust portfolio of programs and initiatives spearheaded by Dean Ahmed Khattab, including the Engineering Innovation Program, Dean’s Certificate for Leadership and Innovation, Study Abroad Ambassador Scholarships, Industry Partnership Program, and enhanced career-readiness programs, ECoE prepares students for the demands of the field.
“We are disrupting the traditional engineering education model to address the skills gap between those acquired in classical engineering education and those needed in the workforce,” says Greg Guidry, a mechanical engineering graduate and retired senior executive at Shell, who along with his wife Alexis, is among a group of early champions of ECoE.
“When I was going to school here, the professors — they cared.”
Greg Guidry, a 1982 alumnus and Chairman of the Engineering Advisory Council, understands what makes the University of Louisiana at Lafayette truly special. Every investment made in the University is an investment in Louisiana. By supporting students and groundbreaking research initiatives on campus through the Together Campaign, our community has ensured a brighter future for the region.
Music Education is in a Good Place Now, Thanks to Bobby Charles’ Lasting Gift to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Born Robert Charles Guidry in Abbeville, LA, Bobby Charles helped shape the sound of American music. The swamp pop pioneer penned some of the most beloved songs in rock and roll history, including “See You Later, Alligator,” “Walking to New Orleans,” and “It Keeps Rainin’.”
But behind the music was a hard-won lesson: the music industry is as much a business as it is a craft. And without a firm understanding of contracts, royalties, and the commercial side of the art form, even the most talented artists can find themselves taken advantage of, a reality Bobby learned personally.
This lesson became the foundation of his legacy. Through a trust managed by his lifelong friend and longtime University of Louisiana at Lafayette alumnus and Foundation emeritus board member Charles Sonnier, the Bobby Charles/BORSF Endowed Professorship in Music Business was established in Bobby’s name posthumously at the College of the Arts. The professorship supports faculty who are training student musicians in both the artistry and the industry knowledge to thrive in their trade through talent and business acumen alike.
The new professorship was announced at the world premiere of the Bobby Charles Documentary, “In a Good Place Now, The Life and Music of Bobby Charles”, in 2024, for two sold-out screenings at the University’s LITE Center, and carries forward Bobby’s determination to empower Louisiana’s next generation of musicians.