The College of Art & Design is excited to announce that Grégor Trumel of the Consul General of France in Louisiana will give the commencement address at the LSU College of Art & Design graduation ceremony this spring.

Appointed by the president of the French Republic, Trumel assumed his duties as consul general of France in Louisiana in August 2014. He previously served as first counselor, press counselor, and deputy chief of mission at the Embassy of France in Denmark, and has also served in Paris and the Netherlands. Joining the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2000, Trumel has gained significant professional expertise in European diplomacy, particularly during the period of the Danish presidency of the European Union in 2012. He specializes in human resources and was head of executive management in Paris, a position that oversaw the activities of ambassadors, directors, and consul generals. A graduate of Sciences-Po (Political Studies Institute), Trumel has also studied economics and literature. He is passionate about modern music, especially the music of Louisiana—Cajun, zydeco, and rhythm ‘n blues.

LSU College of Art & Design Dean Alkis Tsolakis will present Trumel with an Honor Award for continuing the consulate’s 212-year tradition of preserving and enriching the cultural heritage of the state of Louisiana.

Trumel’s commencement token featuring the Residence of France, Prytania Street, New Orleans

At the commencement ceremony on May 15, the LSU College of Art & Design will grant 137 bachelor’s degrees and 23 master’s degrees: 26 Bachelors of Architecture and four Masters of Architecture; 67 Bachelors of Fine Arts, five Masters of Fine Arts, and one Master of Arts in Art History; 21 Bachelors of Interior Design; 23 Bachelors of Landscape Architecture and 13 Masters of Landscape Architecture.

Twenty-eight graduates selected for membership in Tau Sigma Delta will be honored in a robing ceremony and reception on Wednesday, May 13, 3–5 p.m., in the Design Building Atrium. Tau Sigma Delta is the honor society for art and design. These students make up the top 20 percent of the May 2015 graduating class.

Landscape architecture senior Erin Percevault, BLA, will graduate from the LSU Honors College, after presenting her Honors Thesis at the ninth annual Ogden Honors Research Colloquium in West Laville Hall on April 22, 2015. Erin was also selected the LSU’s Tiger Twelve Class of 2015 for demonstrating through scholarship, actions, and contributions the principles presented in the LSU Commitment to Community.

Graphic design student Juan Pilar Baldera Jr. is the student speaker for this year’s commencement ceremony. Juan has served as an ambassador for the LSU School of Art at recruitment events and open houses, where he has encouraged prospective students to embrace a career in the arts. He is a member of the Graphic Design Student Office in which students of the LSU School of Art work with faculty advisors to provide professional design services for local community organizations and university departments. Juan’s work will be on display, along with work by graduating graphic design seniors, at the exhibition Keep Unfolding, May 11–15, 2015, in the Design Building Commons, room 102. A reception will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 13.

Each year, one student from each program at the LSU College of Art & Design is selected by administration to receive Dean’s Medals. Medals are awarded to high-achieving students with remarkable levels of participation and interaction with students and faculty. This year’s Dean’s Medal recipients are:

• Mallory Lynn Estopinal, Bachelor of Architecture, and James Paul Canales, Master of Architecture, will receive medals on behalf of the LSU School of Architecture;
• Philomena Alice Baldwin, Bachelor of Fine Arts, and Veronica Kay Hallock, Master of Fine Arts, will receive medals from the LSU School of Art;
• Tracy R. Manuel will receive a Bachelor of Interior Design and a Dean’s Medal from the LSU School of Interior Design; and
• Erin M. Percevault, Bachelor of Landscape Architecture, and Anna Wray Shaw, Master of Landscape Architecture, will be awarded medals from the LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture.

Fifteen graduating seniors have been named Distinguished Communicators. These students have demonstrated exceptional communication skills, as well as a commitment to community service, excellence in their fields of study, and superior leadership skills:

• Kim Allen, BFA, advised by Darius Spieth;
• Bianca Bergeron, BID, advised by John Campbell;
• Eugenie Borchardt, BArch, advised by William Doran;
• Harrison Daigle, BArch, advised by Jason Crow;
• Mallory Estopinal, BArch, advised by Kristen Kelsch;
• Nathaniel Frank, BArch, advised by William Doran;
• Samantha Hardy, BFA, advised by Derek Ostrenko;
• Kyle Hymel, BArch, advised by Kristen Kelsch;
• Tracy Manuel, BID, advised by Marsha Cuddeback;
• Morgan Melancon, BID, advised by Marsha Cuddeback;
• Erin Percevault, BLA, advised by Kevin Risk;
• Kathryn Seal, BArch, advised by William Doran;
• Christopher Weimer, BArch, advised by William Doran;
• Teresa Williams, BArch, advised by William Doran; and
• Hannah Willson, BID, advised by Marsha Cuddeback.

Distinguished Communicators will celebrate their great accomplishments at the LSU Distinguished Communicator Medal Ceremony on Thursday, May 14, 8–9 a.m., in the Business Education Complex Auditorium, room 1510.

The College of Art & Design will honor four faculty members whose retirements occur at the end of the 2014–15 academic year.

• Associate Professor Michael Pitts has taught architecture at LSU since July 1983.
• Professor Christopher Hentz has taught jewelry making and metalsmithing, CAD, CAM, RP, digital fabrication, and three-dimensional design at LSU since July 1983.
• Professor Thomas Neff has taught photography at LSU since 1982. His series of portraits and written narratives of citizens in New Orleans who did not evacuate when Hurricane Katrina struck, Holding Out and Hanging On: Surviving Hurricane Katrina, was published by the University of Missouri Press in 2007. Neff’s work will be featured in an exhibition, Katrina + 10, at the Glassell Gallery at the Shaw Center for the Arts in downtown Baton Rouge, August 27–October 10, 2015.
• Professor Kimberly Arp has taught printmaking at LSU for 35 years. He received an education award from the Southern Graphics Council in conjunction with the exhibition 30 Years of Printmaking at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, which showcased 30 years of LSU student artwork archived and preserved by Arp.

The LSU College of Art & Design Commencement Ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. on May 15, 2015, in the LSU Student Union Theater. The ceremony will be followed by a reception for art and design graduates and their families in the LSU Design Building Atrium. The LSU School of Art is hosting a reception that afternoon at the LSU Foster Gallery, where senior BFA student work will be on exhibit at the BFA Senior Exhibitiion, May 6–15, 2015.