BusinessReport.com

When Eric Monday was attending LSU, he watched the ballot boxes for a student government election roll down the street in the back of a pickup truck. Outraged at the ineffective method of collecting votes, he marched into the office of the vice chancellor of student life to demand change.

“I went down and saw the assistant at the time, and I said, ‘This has got to stop,’ Monday says. “She looked at me and said, ‘Well, stop talking about it and starting doing something.’”

Monday immediately took that advice to heart. That was how he became involved in LSU’s student government, which eventually led him back to the same office to which he once complained.

He has been serving as the interim vice chancellor for student life since March, but his career has been dedicated to serving the students and community that surround LSU. Monday’s official position is associate vice chancellor for finance and administrative services, but he has taken to the office of student life as if he was always meant to be there. After all, he worked as an assistant in that same office as an undergraduate.

In the months since Monday has taken the interim position, he has radically altered the makeup of the office. One of the first projects he began was the First Year Experience to help serve and retain first-year undergraduate students. He also started “Monday on Mondays,” where he attends lunch on campus at the 459 Commons, behind Acadian Hall, to engage students in a less intimidating environment.

Monday says he is amazed how often students aren’t even aware of the programs and services available to them through the university.

“We had a student recently that said, ‘I didn’t know we had career services,’” he says. “We have to do a better job of communicating the services we already have, rather than just adding new ones.

“We talk about having an open door, but there’s a natural barrier. We just engage students. It’s not hundreds, but we’re connecting with five or 10 students in that time frame, and it is good feedback.”

Age: 35

What is your best business advice?

“Success is defined by doing the things that the average person doesn’t want to do.”

Click here for the complete list of 2008's Forty Under 40 winners.