Grants That Make a Difference

Louisiana State University has announced a three-year, $3.5 million grant from Shell Oil to leverage the school's scientific and academic expertise in support of environmental and business recovery efforts that have been underway since hurricanes Katrina and Rita battered the region.

Approximately $3 million of the gift will be used to establish a coastal ecosystem research project in the Breton Sound area along the Mississippi River Delta immediately south of Plaquemines Parish. The initiative will be managed by the university's School of the Coast and Environment. $1.2 million will be used to endow a chair, which the Louisiana Board of Regents is expected to supplement with an additional $800,000.

The research data acquired at the Breton Sound facility will be evaluated at the SCE’s existing “Shell Coastal Environmental Modeling Laboratory,” also financed by the company via $700,000 in previous donations. The significance of the Breton Sound research project was summarized by LSU Interim Provost Harold Silverman: “Shell’s funding of a comprehensive and systemic study of a large and important portion of coastal Louisiana should provide long-term benefits to the state based on exceptional interdisciplinary science aimed at understanding restoration mechanisms.”

The remaining $500,000 will be used to fund an effort at LSU's E.J. Ourso College of Business to provide business counseling and related assistance for women- and minority-owned businesses in several Louisiana parishes hardest hit by the hurricanes. Instruction will be provided by college faculty and graduate students via a mobile classroom — a converted eighteen-wheel truck retrofitted with educational technologies.

The donation is the largest one-time cash pledge from an energy company in LSU's history. This first major corporate contribution in the Forever LSU campaign "is an important step in what has been a long and mutually productive relationship between LSU and Shell," said LSU chancellor Sean O'Keefe. "We are proud of this great partnership and dedicated to taking our collaboration to new heights with this generous gift."

“The $3.5 million donation signifies an important expansion in an LSU/Shell relationship that has been steadily improving over the past several years, due to a number of factors, including a highly responsive campus workforce development team and an outstanding, multidisciplinary academic and research effort that is positioning LSU as a global leader in coastal and environmental studies,” said Jeff Hale, senior director of corporate and foundation relations with the LSU Foundation.

Recipient Contact Information:
Recipient Name: Louisiana State University
Address: 3960 West Lakeshore Drive
Baton Rouge, LA 70808
Phone: 225-578-3811
URL: www.lsu.edu

Grantmaker Contact Information:
Grantmaker Name: Shell Oil
URL: www.shell.com/home/

The selection of organizations for the "Grants that Make a Difference" is based on criteria such as programmatic interests, geographic focus, and size of funding programs to ensure the broadest possible representation of the region's nonprofit sector.
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