McNeese State University Football Program Launches QuickTake Sports Kiosk to Provide Athlete Vital Signs Tracking
October 2024
Falling For Your Dress: Autumn’s Signature Styles
October 2024
From the Desk of the McNeese Prez
We are so proud to announce that McNeese State University enrollment is up to 6,243, a 3% increase for the first time in more than 10 years!
Our administration’s number one goal is to stabilize enrollment. Our faculty and staff worked hard these last few months to make this happen. There was no other option. The steady decline of students was going to drive our beloved McNeese right into the ground. We are determined not to allow that to happen.
This semester, first time freshman enrollment is up by 10.4% over the fall of 2023 and graduate student enrollment is up by 7%. Transfer students are up 26%. We are throwing the doors wide open for students who started at another institution and want to return home to McNeese and complete their degree.
But McNeese is so much more than numbers! We are changing lives and giving our students the best start to their careers. One way we do that is internships, and students have an abundance of internship opportunities. This summer an agricultural sciences major interned at an alligator farm, a biological sciences major interned at MD Anderson Cancer Center and several computer science majors interned with Google, Microsoft, Meta and LinkedIn. A degree from McNeese can open almost any door our students knock on.
Angela and I have enjoyed meeting our students this fall. We visited with students and families as they moved into their dorms. They told us their hopes and dreams, and we reassured some nervous parents. On the first day of classes, we met students in commuter parking lots with a golf cart to drive them to their classes. We enjoyed chatting with them as they told us about their future plans.
It’s a great time to be a McNeese Cowboy! Geaux Pokes!
Chemistry Student Interns with NASA
McNeese State University student Carly Davis, a senior chemistry major from Kinder, spent her summer working with the Europa ICONS (Inspiring Clipper: Opportunities for Next-generation Scientists) internship program that supports the NASA Europa Clipper mission.
“I was able to learn how geochemistry is important in studying the solar system,” Davis explained. “Aspects like ocean habitability, the formation and active geological features are all areas geochemistry is needed.”
McNeese Alumni Assocation Announces 2024 Distinguished Alumnus
The McNeese State University Alumni Association has announced its 2024 Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Award recipients: Lake Charles attorney Brad Guillory and Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter.
This award recognizes McNeese graduates who have distinguished themselves in their chosen field of endeavor on a national or international level and is the highest award presented by the alumni association Guillory, a 1998 McNeese graduate, served as president of the McNeese Alumni Association from 2019-2023.
He received his Juris Doctor degree from South Texas College of Law in Houston in 2002. He was admitted to the Texas Bar in 2003, the Mississippi Bar in 2005 and the Louisiana Bar in 2006. He served as president of the Southwest Louisiana Bar Association in 2020 and 2021 and as president of the Southwest Louisiana Bar Association Family Law Section from 2014-2016.
Hunter graduated from McNeese in 2007 and credits his experience at McNeese for sparking his interest in public service and has established the endowed Dr. Robert Forrest History Scholarship through the McNeese Foundation.
Hunter was elected to the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury in 2011 and was in his second term when he was elected mayor of Lake Charles in 2017. He was elected to a second term in 2021. He is also a partner in The Villa Harlequin restaurant.
As mayor, Hunter has successfully enacted several key initiatives, including increasing funding for drainage improvements, focusing on economic development and launching the Partners in Parks Initiative, where more than $1.6 million in private funds and grants have transformed several city parks and re-invigorated programming through innovative partnerships.
Under his leadership, lakefront development has become a reality. Port Wonder, a science and nature center and state-of-the-art children’s museum, will open in early fall 2024.
Hunter also led the community through a string of natural disasters in 2020 and 2021. His tireless efforts gave Southwest Louisiana citizens a voice in Washington, D.C., as he advocated for the community’s needs and pointed out the lack of federal response.
