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Regular Session, 2014 ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 77
BY SENATOR LAFLEUR
A RESOLUTION
To commend President Scott Cowen and Tulane University for a tradition of academic
excellence and to designate Tuesday, April 22, 2014, as Tulane University Day at the
Louisiana Legislature.
WHEREAS, founded in 1834, Tulane University is one of the most highly regarded
and selective independent research universities in the United States; and
WHEREAS, Tulane traces its origins to the Medical College of Louisiana founded
in 1834 by seven young doctors as the Deep South's second-oldest medical school, which
by 1847 was part of the newly established public institution, the University of Louisiana; and
WHEREAS, Scott S. Cowen is Tulane University's 14th president and he also holds
joint appointments as the Seymour S. Goodman Memorial Professor of Business in Tulane's
A.B. Freeman School of Business and Professor of Economics in the School of Liberal Arts;
and
WHEREAS, TIME magazine has named President Cowen one of the nation's Top
10 Best College Presidents and he was one of only four university leaders nationwide to
receive the 2009 Carnegie Corporation Academic Leadership Award; and
WHEREAS, in 2010 President Cowen was elected to the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences, one of the world's most prestigious honorary societies. And in that same year
he was appointed by President Barack Obama to the White House Council for Community
Solutions, which advised the President on ways to reconnect and empower young people
who are neither employed nor in school; and
WHEREAS, President Cowen is also the recipient of The Times-Picayune's Loving
Cup, which each year honors a New Orleanian who has worked unselfishly for the
community without expectation of recognition or material reward and has been honored by
New Orleans City Business as one of the 30 "Driving Forces" in New Orleans in the last 30
years and by Gambit as New Orleanian of the Year in 2011; and SR NO. 77 ENROLLED
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WHEREAS, Since President Cowen's arrival in 1998, Tulane University has more
than quadrupled its undergraduate applications while experiencing all-time highs in student
quality; and
WHEREAS, President Cowen led Tulane through the most trying period of its
history when, in August 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans,
flooding 70 percent of Tulane's uptown campus and all the buildings of its downtown health
sciences campus; and
WHEREAS, Tulane is the nation's only university with a School of Medicine, School
of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and a National Institutes of Health-funded National
Primate Center; and
WHEREAS, Tulane University has provided medical care for tens of thousands of
patients at Charity Hospital and educated thousands of future physicians through medical
student training and residency programs at Charity and University hospitals; and
WHEREAS, research in many disciplines has flourished at Tulane through the
establishment of centers such as the Newcomb College Institute, the Roger Thayer Stone
Center for Latin American Studies, the Middle American Research Institute, the Center for
Bioenvironmental Research, the Murphy Institute of Political Economy, the Tulane Cancer
Center, the Newcomb College Center for Research on Women, and the New Orleans Center
for the Gulf South; and
WHEREAS, the Center for Bioenvironmental Research (CBR) is building on a rich
history of cross-disciplinary research and service and advancing the state's capacity in
environmental research on long-standing and emerging concerns; and
WHEREAS, the CBR is dedicated to realizing sustainability and creating a more
resilient coast by fostering innovation and research; and
WHEREAS, Tulane is ranked by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of
Teaching as a university with very high research activity; and
WHEREAS, in the fall of 2006, Tulane became the first research university in the
nation to have a public service requirement for all undergraduates; and
WHEREAS, Tulane has been named by the Corporation for National and
Community Service to the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for SR NO. 77 ENROLLED
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an unprecedented seven consecutive years; and
WHEREAS, Tulane students have contributed 480,000 service hours to programs in
New Orleans; and
WHEREAS, the Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiative's Advance Nola
program has more than doubled the number of students taking Advanced Placement math,
science, and English courses in high schools with more than 500 students enrolled in 2013;
and
WHEREAS, Tulane is New Orleans' largest private employer and a major economic
driver in the region, accounting for approximately $920 million in annual economic activity
and directly and indirectly creating 10,600 jobs throughout Louisiana; and
WHEREAS, the new Yulman Stadium is returning college football to campus after
a 30-year absence, and it will be a point of pride and economic stimulus for New Orleans
and give the Green Wave a true home field advantage; and
WHEREAS, President Cowen will be retiring on July 1, 2014, leaving a
distinguished legacy that Tulane University and the State of Louisiana will be forever
grateful for; and
WHEREAS, it is appropriate to set aside a special day in celebration of President
Scott Cowen and Tulane University.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
does hereby commend President Scott Cowen and Tulane University for a tradition of
academic excellence and does hereby designate Tuesday, April 22, 2014, as Tulane
University Day at the Louisiana Legislature.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
president of Tulane University.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE