Dear Colleagues,

On Monday we officially launched MikeGPT, a Large Language Model (AI) created entirely by LSU students, faculty, and staff. Exclusively available to LSU faculty and staff, MikeGPT is designed to answer LSU-related questions and assist with general tasks. With access to most of LSU A&M’s public data and documents, MikeGPT provides a secure and private alternative for your needs. You can access it through LSU’s single sign-on at mikegpt.lsu.edu. 

I want to extend my sincere thanks to the developers—James Ghawaly, Bibhushita (Mimi) Baral, Jacob Nguyen, and Brandon Walton—for their exceptional work on this project.  To my knowledge, there are only a handful of other universities that have been able to take this step, and we should be proud of this product. I believe that you will find, as I have through the beta testing stage in which a number of significant improvements were made, that “Mike” is a great place to start with questions about LSU policies, operations, contact information, and many other routine matters. You can also use it much like you would use ChatGPT for assistance with general tasks. 

Since the launch, more than 500 new first-time users have tested MikeGPT’s stripes. Shortly after launch, there was a surge of use to several hundred queries per minute, which caused some delayed response times, but the system is stable again now and currently averaging about 25 queries per minute. We expect usage to climb further once students are granted access in the spring semester.

MikeGPT is also helping to make LSU more efficient by identifying conflicting or outdated information, as updates to LSU websites have already been made as a direct result of prompts to MikeGPT. I encourage faculty and staff to try MikeGPT and provide feedback on its performance using the thumbs-up or thumbs-down icons. In addition, you are welcome to submit brief, open-text feedback to note why the model's response was or was not correct or helpful. 

In closing, I want to share my gratitude for all of your hard work this past semester. We have accomplished a great deal together as a team. I look forward to working with you in the new year. I hope you have a wonderful and restful holiday.

Sincerely,

Roy Haggerty
Executive Vice President & Provost

Caption: Dr. Gabriela González signing into the National Academy of Sciences. Photo courtesy of the National Academy of Sciences.

Membership in the National Academy of Sciences is considered a highly prestigious award. Dr. González is one of 26 LSU faculty members to receive a highly prestigious award.

Academic Affairs Announces Incentives for External Awards and Recognition Program

The LSU External Awards & Recognition Program provides LSU faculty and academic leadership with centralized strategic support to identify, apply for, and attain highly prestigious and prestigious pathway external awards. We are excited to announce three new features of the program:

• A $10,000 stipend for all recipients of Highly Prestigious Awards
• A $5,000 stipend for recipients of Prestigious Pathway Awards
• A course release program

In addition, we have created a request form that faculty may use to add awards to the Highly Prestigious and Prestigious Awards listing if it can be demonstrated that the award is highly competitive and brings international/national visibility to the University.

If you have any questions about the External Awards & Recognition Program, please contact Laura Choate at externalawards@lsu.edu.

Military Museum Featured on PBS

Louisiana PBS featured the William A. Brookshire LSU Military Museum as part of their Veterans Day programming. The episode features important military figures from LSU, the university’s legacy of service, and highlights some of the new exhibits. The museum is always looking for stories and donations of artifacts. If you have any information or material to donate, please contact the Director, James Gregory, at jgregory@lsu.edu.

Louisiana Lights: Where the Holidays Shine

Workday Student Roles

As the Workday Student implementation progresses, a critical body of work is identifying the roles needed in Workday Student for faculty and staff. Roles (and associated access) can range from the ability to view a student or a course to transacting activities such as registering for a course or processing a transfer or financial aid award. Learn more about Workday roles here.

Faculty Colloquium Featuring Dr. Bonni Stachowiak

Save the Date: LSU Online & Continuing Education’s 2025 Spring Innovation Series Event

Please save the date for the LSU Online & Continuing Education’s 2025 Spring Innovation Series event, Courageous Leadership: Reshaping the Future for Higher Education. The event will be held on Monday, February 14, 2025 from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lod Cook Conference Center. The event will feature:

• Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO, Coursera
• Dr. Jill Buban, Chief Growth Officer, EdPlus at Arizona State University
• A leadership panel

Registration information and additional details will be available soon. 

Nominations for Faculty Awards 

The University Faculty Awards, held on an annual basis, recognize faculty accomplishments and showcase superb teaching, research, and service at LSU. Nominations for the University Faculty Awards are due February 14, 2025. Click here to view the full descriptions of each of the faculty awards. Individual faculty members, department heads, or deans may initiate nominations. Learn more by visiting the University Faculty Awards webpage.

Faculty Annual Reviews in Elements 

The Office of Academic Affairs will launch 2024 Faculty Annual Reviews in Elements on Monday, January 13, 2025. We encourage faculty to begin updating their 2024 activities in Elements ahead of the launch of the assessment. Resources on updating your activities in Elements can be found on the Elements & Discovery webpage. Program Manager Mallory Danzy will host in-person trainings, virtual trainings, and drop-in labs to assist faculty and unit leaders in completing their annual reviews.

Call for Nominations: Carruth McGehee Award

Nominations are open for the Carruth McGehee Award for Excellent Research by a Junior Faculty Member. Associate professors in the departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Geology & Geophysics, and Physics & Astronomy are eligible for this $2,000 award. The nominator must be a tenured faculty member. Self-nominations are not permitted. Nominators should notify the chair of the committee, Dr. Oliver Dasbach, of their intention to nominate by Feb. 1, 2025. Complete packets are due March 1, 2025. Learn more about the Carruth McGehee Award.

Web of Science Access Ends December 31

As part of LSU’s transition to Scopus for research and discovery needs, LSU will discontinue its subscription to Web of Science on Dec. 31, 2024. LSU Libraries is committed to ensuring a seamless transition and equipping you with the tools to use Scopus effectively. If you haven’t already, please take advantage of our recorded training session (Password: ?LzzKa9L), which is available to all faculty. This session highlights Scopus’s robust capabilities and provides practical tips for integrating it into your research workflow. For more information, please contact Lois Kuyper-Rushing at lkuyper@lsu.edu.

Undergraduate Research Students

Looking for your next undergraduate research student? Add your name to the Mentor Database. Click here to read more about the database and to add your name. Have a position open now and need to recruit students more quickly? Click here to learn how LSU Discover can help your recruiting efforts.