Christopher D’Elia recently celebrated his 10-year anniversary as dean of LSU’s College of the Coast & Environment, meaning he has the longest continuous tenure of any presently serving LSU dean. Since stepping into the role in 2009, D’Elia has greatly advanced the college, with an eye toward developing the Gulf Center for Environmental Protection and Synthesis, a proposed mission-control-like research center laid out in the LSU Strategic Plan 2025.
Business Report recently chatted with D’Elia for its Executive Spotlight Q&A. Read the full feature here, and check out a sample of what you’ll find:
For those who are not familiar with the LSU College of the Coast & Environment, tell us a little bit about the college and your role.
“LSU is a land-, sea-, and space-grant university that has more than 200 multidisciplinary faculty who explore coastal challenges holistically. As dean, I lead 45 faculty who conduct research on every continent, including two of the world’s top six scientists in wetlands and marshes. We prepare students for critical 21st-century jobs. To earn a degree from our college, our students must have research experience. Students earning our bachelor’s degree get the perfect blend of coastal and environmental science. All students to date have found employment or been accepted into graduate programs within two months of graduation. I wish that this program had existed when I was considering where to go to college. Students who complete our program know their stuff.”
The LSU CC&E is seen as a leader in environmental research and coastal resource management, which is critical to Louisiana’s future. What do you see as the state’s biggest challenges to addressing coastal issues? How is the college helping overcome them?
“The state’s biggest coastal challenge is land loss. We are losing more land than any other place in the United States. Because so much of our population lives in areas impacted by changing climate, Louisiana’s residents, communities and businesses benefit from our research and education. Our college is making new discoveries that help us to understand better the causes and impacts of these challenges. I like to say that we wrote the book on deltas and wetlands (lots of them, in fact). LSU’s College of the Coast & Environment has become much more than just a center of research excellence. It is a critical source of talent that our state, our nation, and other nations need to cope with ever-increasing coastal challenges.”
