Student Success and Teaching
Your generosity established hundreds of new scholarships, removing financial barriers for students to pursue their dreams. Your support also created new professorships to attract world-class faculty and advanced hands-on learning environments, ensuring every UL Lafayette graduate is prepared to lead and serve in Louisiana and around the globe.
Where the Classroom Meets the Canyon: Geosciences Students Learn by Doing
The Paul C. McWilliams and Patrick T. McWilliams Endowment for the Study of Geology provides annual support for Field Camp, weekend field trip expenses, and student scholarships, ensuring that future generations of Ragin’ Cajun geologists have the same opportunities that shaped Paul and Pat’s lives and careers. Learn more.
“We’re always growing, we’re always expanding, and we’re always becoming better.”
For Dr. Azmy Ackleh, serving as Dean of the Ray P. Authement College of Sciences is just one part of his impact. As a donor to the Together Campaign and a member of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette community for over 30 years, his commitment to advancing UL Lafayette continues to shape its future.
The Mosing Student-Athlete Performance Center: Where Champions Are Made
When Donald Mosing competed as a football and track & field athlete for the former SLI Bulldogs, he learned firsthand what it took to excel as both an athlete and a student. Decades later, he and his wife, Janice, made sure every Ragin’ Cajun who followed would have the resources to succeed, both on and off the field.
Unveiled in 2017, the 100,000 square foot Donald and Janice Mosing Student-Athlete Performance Center features a 12,000 square foot weight room, a 150-seat auditorium, a nutrition station, and cutting-edge sports medicine and hydrotherapy areas – serving student-athletes across all sports.
For today’s student-athletes who are managing the demands of competition and academics, access to this state-of the-art facility makes all the difference in their health and wellbeing. “The contributions of the Mosing family make it possible for us to provide the best support and resources for our athletes, allowing them to perform at the highest level,” noted Travis Soileau, Associate Director of Athletics for Sports Medicine.
D’Wanye’ “Lunch” Winfield, student and starting quarterback for Ragin’ Cajuns football added, “the sports medicine and hydrotherapy areas have been game-changers for my recovery. I wouldn’t be where I am today without this facility.”
“I am so thrilled I made the decision to become a Ragin’ Cajun.”
Natalie, a senior goalkeeper for Ragin’ Cajuns Soccer, has felt the strength of community support on the field as fans cheer her on to victory, and in the classroom through academic scholarships she has earned.
Through the Together Campaign, the generosity of our community has directly supported expanded opportunities for students. Whether in the classroom or in competition, donor support has provided resources that elevate the student experience.
Reimagining Nursing Education Through Philanthropy
When Lafayette-based LHC Group committed $20 million to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s nursing program in 2022, it was (and still is) the largest private philanthropic investment in the University’s history. It set in motion a transformation that would reshape the future of healthcare education in Acadiana.
The investment, spearheaded by LHC Group Chairman and CEO, Keith Myers and his wife Ginger Myers, established what is now the LHC Group • Myers School of Nursing. It also endowed the College’s internationally accredited simulation lab program, established the University’s first endowed deanship, created new faculty research and development funds, expanded scholarship opportunities for students, and supported new endowed professorships – all of which have built a stronger, more sustainable foundation for nursing education.
The partnership has also made the College’s long-awaited physical expansion viable, bringing a new Health Sciences Campus closer to reality and unlocking the capacity to enroll more of the qualified students that Louisiana’s healthcare workforce desperately needs.
For the Myers family and LHC Group, the motivation was simple: a shared belief that investing in our healthcare providers means investing in everyone. “The presence of UL Lafayette – and the well-educated, highly skilled healthcare professionals it produces – enables companies like [LHC] to grow within the region and expand well beyond,” Myers said at the time.