What I'd Like for You to Know About Me

Stan A. Napper

                                                       Fall 2008

 

            I am entering my 25th year on the faculty of Louisiana Tech University and my 5th year as Dean of the College of Engineering and Science.  I must bleed red and blue because my B.S. and Ph.D. degrees are from Louisiana Tech University in Biomedical Engineering.  I love my profession, this institution, and this community.  I love being a faculty member because I enjoy the interaction with undergraduate and graduate students.  I enjoy seeing the transitions and the maturing that occurs in college.  I like to teach, especially using cooperative and active learning methods.  I like being involved in research (some basic and some applied).  I like being involved in service activities through student organizations (like Tau Beta Pi, Biomedical Engineering Society, and Alpha Eta Mu Beta), through administration, and through various professional organizations (e.g. American Society for Engineering Education).

 

            I am called the Thigpen Professor, in honor of one my esteemed predecessors, Dean Jack Thigpen. As a Professor of Biomedical Engineering, my early research was in mathematical modeling of physiological systems but my later research was in engineering education and in exploring applications of artificial intelligence in biomedical engineering.  Projects have included expert systems for prescription of assistive devices (in augmentative communication and in adaptive driving), cognitive orthoses, and AI-based ECG arrhythmia diagnosis.  My primary professional goals now are to increase the ability of our College to serve students through excellent education and research.  I believe this will be achieved through continued innovation in our educational programs (e.g. integrated curricula and relevant courses) and in our research programs (providing opportunities for direct experience and for additional funding).  This will lead to an increased level of national prominence for Louisiana Tech University.

 

            My wife, Vicki, has studied long and hard for her demanding profession and I consider her the ultimate career woman.  She is a homemaker, loving wife and mother.  At home, we have five boys, one assistant parent (daughter), and one little girl.  Samuel is 23 and works as a Customer Service Representative for Community Trust Bank here in Ruston.  He is also pursuing an MBA at Louisiana Tech (following his BS in Finance from Tech).  Joseph is 20 and in his third year at Tech in Kinesiology; he works at The Locker Room.  Beverly Ann and Adam (twins) are almost 18 and in their senior year; Beverly Ann works at The Avenue and Adam works at Backus True Value.  Aaron is sixteen and a half and in the eleventh grade.  Daniel is 13 (seventh grade), and Mary Suzanne is nine and a half (fourth grade).  We are teaching them at home, which is one of the greatest privileges, responsibilities, and joys that you could know. Our oldest son, Benjamin, went to heaven ahead of us (in May 2002).  He was a wonderful friend and helper to me and to his siblings.  He was 19 and a sophomore here at Tech.

 

            I would also like for you to know that, as important and as time-consuming as my profession is to me, and as much as I love my family, my God is first.  The support, the hope, the source of my life is found in the Word of God (Holy Bible) and in my personal relationship with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Because I am able to personally confirm that God is real, alive, active, and true (even in the hardest of days), my view of the world is entirely Christian.  My desire is to represent Him well and to demonstrate His love and all the fruit of the Holy Spirit. My family leads a multi-generational Bible study class at Cook Baptist Church.  Cook has been a second family and home for us; ministering with us and to us for over 30 years (www.cookbc.com).