NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Leah Jackson (jacksonl@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

8/24/2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES-Dr. Greg Granger has been named acting director of the Louisiana Scholars' College at Northwestern State University. Granger, who officially assumed duties on Aug. 17, will lead the LSC while a search for a permanent director is conducted.

Granger has been a member of NSU's faculty since 1995, teaching political science. While serving as acting director at LSC, Granger maintains his title as social sciences program coordinator in the School of Social Sciences at NSU. Although he is not actively engaged in the tasks assigned to that position, he will teach two political science classes each semester. He held the Clyde M. Bostick Professorship of Social Science in 2000 and was promoted to associate professor of political science in 2001. He served as president of the NSU Faculty Senate in the fall 2003 semester and was Social Sciences Departmental representative for four years. Granger earned bachelor's and master's degrees in political science at Northeast Louisiana University and a doctorate at the University of New Orleans.

While serving as director of the LSC, Granger hopes to establish a more systematic process for student internships, bolster student retention and involve students in the American Democracy Project, a civic engagement program that encourages students to become active in government processes.

Granger's professional activities include serving as president and vice president of the Louisiana Political Science Association and a member of the International Studies Association. His areas of interest are international organizations like NATO, international law and American foreign policy, particularly arms control.

Granger said Scholars' College students "have not only the opportunity but the responsibility to participate in class" and that the honors education program gives students "the inspiration to be highly motivated."

He identified as his mentor Dr. Robert S. Jordan, who recently retired from UNO after 50 years in academia. Jordan spent 10 years as head of the United National Institute for Training and Research. Jordan earned Ph.D.s in political science and history from Princeton and Oxford universities.

"While he is world recognized as an author and a scholar, he is also a fantastic teacher," Granger said. "I try to model myself after him to some degree."

Granger grew up in Mamou. His wife, Pamela Francis, is working on her Ph.D. in English at Rice University.

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