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BATON ROUGE—-Dr. Teresa A. Summers, retired LSU System Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs and a former Louisiana Professor of the Year, who dedicated her academic career to preparing students for a future of constant change while promoting research and nurturing diversity as an administrator, died on Saturday in Baton Rouge. She was 60.
“She died following a long and courageous battle with cancer dating back to 1971,” said her husband, Dennis.
“The achievements and impact of Teresa Summers on the LSU community were remarkable,” said LSU System President Dr. John Lombardi adding, “Her imprint appears in many places as a force for those academic qualities that define high quality and dedicated service. She will surely be missed by her many friends and colleagues, and the institution remains poorer for her absence.”
LSU System President Emeritus Dr. William L. Jenkins, who was a colleague at the Main Campus and the LSU System, described Dr. Summers as a “magnificent faculty member” who was loved and respected by her students and greatly admired by her contemporaries. “She contributed a great deal within her own discipline but also was a fine person who was deeply, deeply committed to the advancement of LSU and the state,” Jenkins said.
Dr. Summers, an expert in apparel merchandising, development of marketing techniques, and Internet promotional strategies, retired last May, following a 33-year career at LSU that included holding the Cliff and Nancy Spanier LSU Alumni Professorship as well serving as division head of textiles, apparel design, and merchandising in the LSU School of Human Ecology from 1994 to 2001. An early advocate of adopting Internet technology in the classroom, she frequently incorporated Web design into her teaching, offering students distance learning via compressed video and individual websites customized for her courses.
Emphasizing the importance of hands-on experience, Dr. Summers’ students worked with some of the world’s largest retailers on projects that included staging major promotional events and visual merchandising projects. Her research included developing marketing opportunities and surveying consumer attitudes about clothing, ranging from evening gowns to handbags, fashioned from Louisiana alligators, ostriches and emus.
“Dr. Summers was the consummate professor. Her teaching, research and service to the university were all accomplished with a stylish flare,” said Dr. Ken Koonce, dean of LSU College of Agriculture. “She will be missed by her many students and all who worked with her.”
In 2001, Dr. Summers’ innovative teaching style and scholarship contributed to her being named Louisiana Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. She described winning the award as “very humbling” and “beyond what I ever aspired to achieve.”
A native of Colfax, Louisiana, Dr. Summers in 1971 received a Bachelor of Science in home economics with an emphasis in merchandising. She was awarded a Master of Science in home economics with an emphasis in textiles and clothing from LSU in 1974 and a Ph.D. in merchandising from Texas Woman’s University in 1983.
Dr. Summers joined the LSU faculty in 1975 as a researcher, assuming teaching duties eight years later. She served as associate dean of the College of Agriculture where she taught 15 different courses focusing on the science and design of textiles and apparel, product development, market segmentation, promotion and entrepreneurship. She also developed the human ecology international field study program, the first international field study program offered by the College of Agriculture.
She never lost her compassion for graduate students, especially those she mentored. In 2006, in conjunction with the LSU Foundation, Dr. Summers lead the successful LSU System President’s Hurricane Relief Fund, which awarded more than $50,000 to assist graduate students affected by Hurricane Katrina.
During her tenure at the system office, she also collaborated with LSU research and public relations officers as well as Baton Rouge Business Report writers and designers to produce two widely praised publications on innovations produced by LSU System researchers. She also worked closely with chief academic officers at LSU institutions, reviewing proposals for new academic programs, centers, and institutes.
In addition, she established the LSU System Task Force on Diversity and worked closely with the staff of the Louisiana Board of Regents, ensuring that academic concerns of System campuses were appropriately represented at all Regents forums.
“Teresa represented the best of LSU,” said Dr. Laura Lindsay, her longtime friend, LSU communication professor and former provost. “Her contributions were amazing. She was an outstanding scholar, a master teacher, an extraordinary mentor, and an innovative leader. I will always remember her enthusiasm and eagerness to take on any responsibility that she believed would benefit LSU. She brought grace and dignity to every part of her life and to all who knew her.”
Dr. Summers was honored numerous times for her academic journal articles. She was the lead author on the first place paper in the 2000 Intersectional Paper Competition at the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists International Conference and Exhibition. She received the 2000 Highly Commended Author award at the Literati Club Awards for Excellence held by the MCB University Press. She also won the 1999 LSU Distinguished Faculty Award, the 1999 National Association of Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Teaching Award and co-authored the 1999 presentation selected for the Peter A. Soderbergh Award for Outstanding Presentation at the Teaching in Higher Education FORUM.
In addition, Dr. Summers was the recipient of the 1998 Faculty Research Award from the LSU School of Human Ecology and the 1997 Lifetime Achievement Award from The Fashion Group, International, ALPHA Region. She was named the 1997 Sedberry Outstanding Undergraduate Teacher in the LSU College of Agriculture, the 1997 Outstanding Teacher in the LSU School of Human Ecology and won the 1997 Gamma Sigma Delta LSU Chapter Outstanding Teaching Award. From 1995-2000, she was named to the Teaching Merit Honor Roll awarded by the LSU College of Agriculture and the LSU Chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta.
Her industry memberships included the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists; the American Collegiate Retailing Association; the International Textiles and Apparel Association; The Fashion Group, International; Alpha Lambda Delta; Gamma Sigma Delta; Kappa Omicron Nu; Phi Upsilon Omicron; Sigma Xi; and the Society for Marketing Advances.
In 2004, Dr. Summers spearheaded LSU’s efforts to achieve reaffirmation of accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission of Colleges as director of the Office of Accreditation and Institutional Effectiveness.
“Dr Summers’ leadership in the success of our accreditation was critical to LSU’s stature and mission as a Flagship institution,” said Dr. Chuck Wilson, LSU vice provost for academic affairs. Over the years, she also served on the University Planning Council, the LSU Faculty Senate, the LSU Commission on the Status of Women, and the LSU Agricultural Center’s Internet Delivery Steering Committee.
Her husband, Dennis Summers of Baton Rouge, survives Dr. Summers as well as her daughter, Joanna Summers of St. Augustine Florida; her mother, Estelle Anderson of Colfax, Louisiana; her sister, Peggy Laird of Austin, Texas and numerous other relatives.
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