The LSU Honors College is set to announce this afternoon a “transformational investment” by LSU alumnus Roger Houston Ogden, but not before the LSU Board of Supervisors will take up a proposition at its meeting earlier today to rename the college in honor of Ogden’s son, Roger Hadfield Odgen.
“The gift to be announced is among the largest in LSU’s history,” the university says in a release sent out in advance of its scheduled 3:30 p.m. press conference on campus.
According to the LSU Board of Supervisors meeting agenda for today, the supervisors will consider “approval from LSU A&M to name the LSU Honors College the ‘Roger Hadfield Ogden Honors College.’”
Roger Houston Ogden, a real estate developer, civic leader and philanthropist, long has been among the most avid supporters of the LSU Honors College. He previously established the Roger Hadfield Ogden Leaders Program at the college; under that program, as many as five undergraduate students are selected each year to receive $5,000 to support a project of their choice. He also donated $1 million to the college to establish the Roger H. Ogden Deanship, which also was named in honor of his son.
A native of Denver who grew up in Lafayette and Shreveport, Roger Houston Ogden is quoted in an article on the LSU Honors College website as saying he is an avid supporter of the college “because of what I think it means.” He said he views the college as “one of the foremost strategies” to stem “brain drain” in Louisiana education.
“With a robust, innovative Honors College program, we then can compete for those students in our state who have opportunities to go to Ivy League schools,” Ogden said in the article. “We now have a program that can sort of give them the best of all worlds: students can take small, tutorial-style classes in the atmosphere of a big flagship university.”
The article also notes that “thanks in no small part to Ogden’s generosity, the LSU Honors College has grown exponentially over the last five years.”
Roger Houston Odgen, a 1968 business graduate and member of the LSU Alumni Association Hall of Distinction, is principal and co-founder of Stirling Properties as well as managing general partner of Maurin-Ogden Properties in New Orleans. He was a member of the LSU Board of Supervisors from 1991 to 2004, and served as board chair from 2003 to 2004. —Steve Sanoski
