NATCHITOCHES – Robert Crew started photography as a way to help his students, but over the next 40 years photography grew into an enjoyable avocation.

     Crew will display two exhibits in the Orville J. Hanchey Gallery at Northwestern State University beginning Monday, Nov. 30. “Here Comes the Bride: Four Decades of Bridal Fashion and Portraiture” will be in Gallery 2 and “Places and Faces: Photographs of Louisiana Architecture and Characters” will be in the Main Gallery. The exhibits will run through Dec. 31. The Galleries are open weekdays from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. while the university is in session.

     “These exhibits include a lot of my favorite photographs,” said Crew, who is the executive assistant to the president at NSU. “They include wedding photos, characters and shots that I needed to shoot such as still shots and statues.”

     The characters include Natchitoches attorney Tom Murchison and a Clarence man known as “Slim,” who walked from Clarence to Natchitoches daily always declining rides because he said, “I am in a hurry.” The exhibit will also feature wedding photographs he has taken through the years to illustrate the evolution of bridal fashion.

     Crew has been executive assistant to the president since 1997. He earned his bachelor’s degree at NSU in 1965 and his Master’s of Education at Northwestern in 1968. A classroom teacher in Caddo and St. Mary’s Parish from 1965 until 1970, Crew worked in the Louisiana State Department of Education from 1970 until 1997.

     Crew began taking photographs when he was teaching at Oak Terrace Junior High in Shreveport. Students at the school wanted to have a yearbook, and principal Stan Powell said he would buy a camera if someone would learn to use it. Crew volunteered.

     “As my photography got better, our yearbook improved,” said Crew. “I realized I had a lot to learn about taking pictures.”

     The following summer, he worked at Urbach Photography Studio in Shreveport and took a class in yearbook photography at the University of New Mexico.

     “The rest I’ve learned through experimentation, trial and error and practice,” said Crew. “I think you have to have an eye to see the shot before you take it.”

     Initially, Crew stuck to taking photographs of “things that didn’t move.” He started taking wedding photographs as a favor to a fellow teacher then agreed to continue doing it.

     “Shooting wedding was very stressful. You only got one shot in most instances because this was before digital photography and Photoshop,” said Crew. “For some reason I was fortunate and my photos always came out.”

     But he admits things didn’t always go smoothly.

     “One time, I was loading and reloading in the dark thinking I was using color film. After about six shots, I realized I had the wrong film,” said Crew. “I turned the cake around, turned the bride and groom around and never missed a beat.

     “At another wedding, the groom and the uncle of the bride got into a fight. I didn’t know whether to keep shooting or help break up the fight. The bride asked me to help break up the fight, so I did.”

     As Crew got more experience, he gained more opportunities to do professional work. He was the official photographer at two inaugurations of former Gov. Edwin Edwards and was photographer for the Louisiana Teachers Association.



   

     NATCHITOCHES – The Mrs. H.D. Dear Sr. and Alice E. Dear School of Creative and Performing Arts at Northwestern State University will present the annual Christmas Gala Thursday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. and Friday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.

     Tickets are $10. NSU, Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts and BPCC@NSU students are admitted free with a current student I.D. Reservations or advance sales are not available.

     The Gala is an NSU 125th Anniversary event. The theme will be “Northwestern Through the Years” written by Coordinator of Theatre and Dance Scott Burrell.

     Each area of the School of Creative and Performing Arts is involved in the Gala. Students and faculty from theatre and dance and music perform and handle technical work. Students and faculty in fine and graphic arts create the Gala poster and program.

     Performances will be by Northwestern Theatre and Dance, the NSU Jazz Orchestra, the Wooden Soldiers, the Rockettes, the Demon Dazzlers, Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony Orchestra, NSU Choirs and the NSU Percussion Ensemble. The Jazz Orchestra will provide music 30 minutes prior to curtain time.

     For more information, call (318) 357-4483.

     NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State University will be closed Nov. 23-27 for Thanksgiving. Administrative offices will reopen and classes will resume Monday, Nov. 30.

     NATCHITOCHES - A Northwestern State University Multicultural Christmas Concert will be held Tuesday, Dec. 1 at 7:30 p.m. at the Treen Auditorium at the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts. Admission is free and open to the public. Canned foods will be collected at the concert to support the  DOVES program. The concert is sponsored by the Louisiana Folklife Center at Northwestern and the NSU Office of Cultural Diversity.

     Performing groups include the Lifted Voices Choir from NSU, the Back Porch Band, the NatNaz Chorale, the Shekinah Glory COGIC Choir, the Natchitoches Central High School Concert Band, Hardrick Rivers and the Korean Christmas Choir.
 
     For more information contact the Louisiana Folklife Center at (318) 357-4332 or visit http://louisianafolklife.nsula.edu.

     NATCHITOCHES - Northwestern State University bestowed the honor of Professor Emeritus on Dr. William Dennis of Natchitoches, who served in NSU’s Department of Engineering Technology from 1972 until his retirement in 2003.  During his tenure, Dr. Dennis made outstanding contributions to the department’s growth, according to Dr. Thomas M. Hall Jr., professor and department head. 

     “Dr. Dennis saw great change in the department during his 30 years,” Hall said.  “Initially created as industrial arts education at the end of World War II, the department grew and changed over the years—always staying relevant and true to its mission of producing graduates who would be productive members of the local and regional workforce and society.  As he began his tenure at NSU, industrial arts had spawned degrees in industrial technology and electronics engineering technology, and a new degree in computer technology was being created.  It was in this environment of growth and change that Dr. Dennis came to make his mark.”

      Dennis served as department head from 1997-2000.  During his career, he saw the initial accreditation of the industrial technology degree in 1982 and wrote numerous proposals for funding for equipment and developing curriculum guides and safety manuals for industrial arts in state high schools. He fostered partnerships with area industry and oversaw the development and accreditation of the electronic engineering technology curriculum. He helped create the industrial engineering technology degree in 2002, which was accredited that same year. 

     “While these are but a few of his significant contributions, Dr. Dennis always sought ways to bring technology into the department,” Hall said.  “Through his constant interface with industry, he was always able to stay current and drive the department to remain relevant in a changing world.”

     Upon Dennis’s retirement in 2003, Hall noted, he was the last of the industrial arts faculty members in the department.

     Dr. Austin Temple, dean of the College of Science and Technology, made note of Dennis’s contributions to the department during a time of transition. 

  “Bill readily offered to teach new courses and participated in course redesign, which was no small contribution to the department,” Temple said.  “This is a capstone.  This puts closure on a career and indicates what a fine job Bill did as a teacher and researcher in the department.”

     “I enjoyed my 31 years at Northwestern,” said Dennis, who described the transition from “shop-type application to engineering technology implementing research and design.  The department now emphasizes the implementation of design and includes design, drafting and research.” 

     “Yet, through the years he changed with the needs of industry.  He not only adapted to change in the department, but also created change—always moving forward,” Hall said. 

     The luncheon in Dennis’ honor was held in conjunction with Northwestern’s year-long celebration of its 125th anniversary, which has been highlighted with  activities within the College of Science and Technology throughout the month of November. 

     NATCHITOCHES - Northwestern State University will host its 35th Annual Basket Day Saturday, Dec. 5 from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. in the Williamson Museum in Room 208 of Kyser Hall. Admission is free and open to the public.

     Those attending will be able to browse through vendor exhibits showcasing authentic Native American arts and crafts from regional tribes. Basket Day is held each year on the same day as the Natchitoches Christmas Festival.

     NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State University and Bossier Parish Community College have signed a Memorandum of Understanding allowing BPCC students in five degree programs to transfer to Northwestern without losing any credit hours.

     The agreement covers associate and baccalaureate programs in music, telecommunications/journalism, theatre, industrial control systems/electronic engineering technology and art/fine arts. Both institutions have worked together so that each course at BPCC in these degree programs has an equivalent course at Northwestern.

     “The relationship between Northwestern and Bossier Parish Community College runs long and deep and we are grateful for that,” said Northwestern President Dr. Randall J. Webb. “We have a good working relationship, and hope these agreements will lead to students who choose to continue their education after graduating from BPCC to enroll at Northwestern.”

     BPCC has branch campuses on Northwestern campuses in Natchitoches and Leesville-Fort Polk to accommodate students who do not meet NSU’s admissions standards. Northwestern has also set up a branch campus on BPCC’s main campus.

     “Bossier Parish Community College and Northwestern have established a model for how two institutions can work together,” said BPCC Chancellor Jim Henderson. “Both institutions are responsive to the needs of the region and work to make the most of their resources.”

     NSU and BPCC collaborated to pilot the successful Center for All Louisiana Learners (CALL) Program which helps adult learners complete a college degree. They are also partnering in a Title III grant to better prepare nursing students for clinicals.

     Webb and Henderson said Memorandums of Understanding for additional degree programs are being discussed.

     NATCHITOCHES – Dr. Jeffrey Anderson, an assistant professor of history at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, will present a lecture about the development and practice of hoodoo in the African-American community of the Southern United States Tuesday, Nov. 17 at 4 p.m. in the Ora G. Williams Television Studio (Room 142) in Kyser Hall. Admission is free and open to the public. The lecture is sponsored by the Louisiana Folklife Center.

     Anderson first became interested in hoodoo while still an undergraduate student attending Samford University in Birmingham, Ala. According to Anderson, Hoodoo is widespread in the African-American population, “but largely invisible” to the white community. He continued his research into the history of hoodoo in the South while receiving his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Florida. He found that outside of the Mississippi River Valley, hoodoo is commonly referred to as “conjure.” Anderson has published two books on the topic, Conjure in African American Society (Louisiana State University Press, 2005) and Hoodoo, Voodoo, and Conjure: A Handbook (Greenwood Press, 2008).

     While he does not practice or promote “conjure” or “hoodoo,” Anderson views hoodoo as a fascinating element of Southern culture and will discuss how hoodoo functions in society. He will begin with the late Antebellum period and discuss the relationship between hoodoo and slavery. Anderson will then show how the practice of hoodoo has evolved to match the changing needs of African-American society. Anderson observes, “they don’t need a spell to protect escaped slaves anymore,” but in the current economic climate, spells to “help find a job” are a lot more useful.