Rotary of VP hears from new chancellor of LSUA and about new valve projects

While still on its high coming off of LSU’s national championship win against Clemson, the Rotary Club of Ville Platte heard from a native of the city who is now the chancellor of Louisiana State University at Alexandria.
“I really love Alexandria, and I really love LSUA,” said Dr. Paul Coreil. “We have professors who are so dedicated to the students.”
Dr. Coreil then said, “We are very blessed in Central Louisiana to have two LSU institutions within 40 miles. We have a junior college in Eunice and a 4-year institution in Alexandria. You can get an associate’s degree in Eunice, or you can get a 4-year degree in Alexandria. It’s an LSU degree, so you’re still part of the LSU system.”
LSUA is turning 60 years old this year, and Dr. Coreil gave some history about the school. “This university was started as a junior college in 1960,” he stated. “The president of LSU at the time was a general from World War II Troy Middleton. Students would do two years in Alexandria and finish at LSU.”
“In 2001,” he continued, “Alexandria’s civic leaders said they needed a 4-year public institution in Alexandria. They rallied the legislature and board of supervisors. They did almost the impossible to get another 4-year institution established in Louisiana.”
According to Dr. Coreil, one of the main advantages of going to LSUA is the low amount of student debt incurred. “Students graduate with much less debt,” he said. “Students at LSUA have the lowest debt of any institution in Louisiana when they graduate.”
The following week, Rotarian Abby Landreneau from Cameron-Schlumberger gave a recap of the company from the past year.
She reported 59-percent of Cameron’s employees reside in Evangeline Parish. The company paid over $11 million is salaries to Evangeline Parish residents in 2019 and paid almost $1.5 million in Evangeline Parish taxes. The amount in taxes was up a quarter of a million dollars from the year before.
Manufacturing Engineer Manager Jared Blanchard then told the Rotary Club about a new project awarded to the Cameron facility in Ville Platte.
“TC Energy takes natural gas from the Appalachian Basin down through Louisiana,” he said. “They’re going to have three brand new compressor stations that will compress the gas and push it from one location to the next.”
One of the new compressor stations will be near the north entrance of Chicot State Park.
Blanchard added, “Our facility is going to supply $6.5 million of 2-inch to 42-inch T-30 ball valves. These T-30 ball valves are the all welded ball valves that we manufacture from the raw material all the way up. It’s all Ville Platte hands, and those shop hours will generate jobs in the area.”