THIBODAUX — Nicholls State University celebrated the grand opening of the state-of-the-art Lanny D. Ledet Culinary Arts Building, the new home of the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute, during a public gathering and ribbon cutting held today at the Ledet Building on the Nicholls campus.

The opening of the new 33,000-square-foot culinary facility is the culmination of a three-year, $12.6 million project designed to double enrollment at the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute and provide Nicholls culinary students with advanced equipment and cutting-edge technology that will simulate culinary and hospitality industry working environments. The Ledet Building is equipped with six kitchens, three classrooms and a dedicated student study area. It is also the home of student-operated Bistro Ruth, a 96-seat restaurant named in honor of New Orleans restaurateur Ruth Fertel. Complete with a private Chef’s Table that seats six and President’s Dining Room that seats 12, Bistro Ruth offers elegant dinner service inspired by global culinary traditions and menus.

“We’ve waited such a long time for this,” said Chef Randy Cheramie, spokesman and instructor at the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute. “How thrilling it truly is to finally have a first-class, state-of-the-art facility in which to teach not only classical cooking skills and food service management practices but also to have this wonderful space in which to teach the history and tradition of South Louisiana culture and cuisine.”

The Ledet Building grand opening featured remarks by Nicholls President Bruce Murphy, Chef John Folse, Nicholls culinary faculty and students, and state and local officials.

“What a spectacular day for culinary education in America, and certainly for Louisiana,” said Folse, chairman of the Board of Advisers for the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute. “I had the pleasure this past Monday to teach for the first time in our new Lanny Ledet Culinary Building, with its magnificent kitchens, state-of-the-art equipment and technology, and beautiful Bistro named for a good friend, Ruth Fertel. I asked the group of about 100 students, ‘Do you all realize the uniqueness of the culinary program that you have chosen to entrust with your education?’ Because this culinary program at Nicholls State University is indeed a most special program.”

The grand opening also included a remembrance of the late Lanny Ledet, the building’s namesake and Nicholls business alumnus who worked in both culinary and hospitality operations at Golden Ranch Plantation in Gheens for over 25 years.

The Chef John Folse Culinary Institute opened in 1995 as the only four-year culinary arts degree program in Louisiana. The institute currently employees 13 industry-based faculty and staff and enrolls about 300 students from across the nation and globe.

To learn more about the Ledet Building and the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute, click here.

THIBODAUX — The Morgan City Oilfield Fishing Rodeo has donated $13,000 to Nicholls State University’s Department of Petroleum Engineering Technology and Safety Management, which will use the contribution to supplement funding for an extensive renovation of Gouaux Hall classrooms and labs, utilized extensively by PETSM students.

Last August, MCOFR presented Nicholls with a $10,000 check that the university allocated toward upgrading computers in the PETSM program.

“We recognize the value of educating our community, especially our oilfield industry,” said Loretta Dupre, events coordinator for MCOFR and Nicholls alumna. “We give back all the money raised each year, with most of it benefiting education.”

Founded in 2013 by Morgan City-based deepwater container specialist Tanks-A-Lot, the nonprofit MCOFR has hosted its fishing rodeo each May with the purpose of promoting community spirit in the local oil and gas industry while benefiting notable organizations for future growth within the community. Tanks-A-Lot employees, many of whom are Nicholls alumni, and countless volunteers have worked to ensure each rodeo is more successful than the one before. In 2015, in addition to supporting Nicholls, MCOFR gifted monetary donations to Relay for Life of Morgan City, the American Legion Freedom Fest, Boy Scouts of America and the South Central Louisiana Technical College.

“Having the support of a community-centric organization like the Morgan City Oilfield Fishing Rodeo means petroleum engineering technology and safety management — one of the fastest-growing programs at Nicholls — will continue to provide our local oil and gas industry with its next generation of top-notch leaders,” said Michael Gautreaux, executive director of PETSM.

THIBODAUX — Anne Beiler, founder of the international Auntie Anne’s soft pretzel franchise, will deliver the keynote address at the 2015 Louisiana Girls Leadership Academy’s closing ceremony.

LGLA, sponsored by the Louisiana Center for Women in Government and Business, will take place June 14-17 at Nicholls State University. The annual academy encourages girls entering grades 9-11 to develop the skills needed to fill future leadership roles through networking and mentoring opportunities with peers and female professionals. The 2015 theme is “Light the Torch and LEAD.”

LGLA participants are selected by a committee of the LCWG Leadership Councils based on criteria like involvement in school and civic leadership and service organizations, GPA and submission of both a student essay and letter of recommendation.

Beiler will deliver the keynote address at 3 p.m. June 17 in the Cotillion Ballroom at Nicholls. Her Auntie Anne’s soft pretzel franchise, now in over 1,200 locations worldwide, began as a way to support her husband’s vision to offer free counseling services in their community. Also scheduled to appear at the 2015 academy are author Alexis Jones and improv actors Crystal Rivers and Bear Badeaux.

The LGLA closing ceremony is open to the public. Tickets are $25 and may be purchased at nicholls.edu/continuing-ed/lgla. For more information about the academy, please call 985.448.4141.

THIBODAUX — Nicholls State University has named Dr. Lynn Gillette as its next provost and vice president for academic affairs, pending approval from the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors. Gillette will join the Nicholls administrative team on July 1, filling a vacant position that has been held on an interim basis since August 2014.

Gillette is the former president of Sierra Nevada College, a private liberal arts college of 1,000 students in Incline Village, Nevada. Prior to his tenure as president, Gillette also served three years as the college’s provost and executive vice president.

“The Nicholls provost search attracted a deep and diverse pool of more than 30 applicants,” said Dr. Bruce Murphy, Nicholls president. “The three finalists interviewed on campus were all fully qualified for the leadership role, with each candidate bringing his or her own set of strengths and expertise areas. Dr. Gillette’s experience most closely aligned with Nicholls’ strategic intent to grow enrollment, increase internationalism and expand online learning. He brings to Nicholls a proven track record of establishing and growing new academic programs, navigating the SACSCOC accreditation process and improving campus finances. With his background, I’m confident that Dr. Gillette will help further the university’s growth and bring a spirit of innovation to Nicholls academics.”

While at Sierra Nevada, Gillette led a progressive-minded administration that successfully established financial stability, developed strategic partnerships, introduced over a dozen new programs and gained reaffirmation of accreditation for the college. He also annually increased undergraduate enrollment.

“What attracted me to Nicholls State University is the incredible focus on student success and learning,” Gillette said. “That’s who I am at my core — I am in higher education for the purpose of seeing students succeed. I was impressed by the level of accreditation that Nicholls has attained, including the regional accreditation with SACSCOC and the specialized accreditations that signal to the marketplace that quality is a main focus of the university. I look forward to working with Nicholls faculty and staff and bringing an entrepreneurial spirit to the campus.”

Gillette has served 23 years in both public and private higher education administration, including tenures as vice president for business, administration and compliance at Spalding University; visiting professor of economics at the University of Kentucky; area chair in economics and statistics at the University of Phoenix; dean of the College of Business and Economics at Houston Baptist University; and dean of the School of Business at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas. Locally, Gillette served from 2004-13 as an adjunct professor of business at Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business, where he taught graduate-level management courses and received nine Outstanding Teacher of the Year awards.

A graduate of Harvard University’s Management Development Program, Gillette holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Richmond and a doctorate in economics from Texas A&M University.

Gillette, a native of Virginia, is married to Shannon Morse. He has two daughters: Jacquelyn, a doctoral student in accounting at the University of Rochester; and Danielle, an undergraduate student in chemical engineering at the University of Missouri.