PARTICIPATE
in Louisiana Public Square!

March 2004,
Baton Rouge,
Louisiana

By the People is produced by MacNeil/Lehrer Productions with primary funding from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and additional support from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Public Broadcasting Service.

By the People Citizen Deliberation
Biographies

Moderator • Panelists

October 16, 2004

Moderator:

Beth Courtney, President & CEO, Louisiana Public Broadcasting
Beth Courtney is President and CEO of Louisiana Public Broadcasting (LPB), which includes a statewide public television network with stations in Shreveport , Monroe , Alexandria , Lafayette , Lake Charles , Baton Rouge and an affiliated station in New Orleans . LPB also supports public radio throughout Louisiana and serves as the state’s educational technology resource center.

A past chairman of the board of America ’s Public Television Stations and former Vice Chairman of the board of the Public Broadcasting Service, she currently serves on the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Panelists:

Michael G. Groves, School of Veterinary Medicine, Louisiana State University
Selected as Dean of the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine in 1999, Michael Groves is responsible for the overall direction of the teaching, service and research performed by the School. Following his retirement from the army as a colonel in 1990, he joined the faculty as Head of the Department of Epidemiology and Community Health. In 1996, he was also appointed Director of the Louisiana Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory.

Dr. Groves served from 1964 to 1990 in the US Army, serving as commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Unit in Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia , from 1979 to 1982. Following his second tour of duty, he served for five years as the Director of the Department of Defense’s infectious disease research program at Fort Detrick , Maryland . In 1987, he became the Deputy Director of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Washington , D.C. which addressed a variety of military medical problems including medical defense against chemical and biological warfare.

Robert “Bob” Mann, Office of the Governor
Currently the Director of Communications in Governor Kathleen Blanco’s office, Bob Mann has served US Senator John Breaux in a variety of capacities since 1987, including as press secretary and state director. He has also served US Senator Russell Long as press secretary from 1985 to 1987 and was press secretary to the 1990 re-election campaign of US Senator J. Bennett Johnston. Mann is the author of four books including: A Grand Delusion: America ’s Descent into Vietnam ; The Walls of Jericho : Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Richard Russell and the Struggle for Civil Rights; and, Legacy to Power: SenatorRussell Long of Louisiana . He has also worked as a reporter for the Shreveport Journal and the Monroe News-Star.

Bradley Martin, The Manship School of Mass Communication, Louisiana State University
A veteran foreign correspondent and journalism educator, Bradley Martin has been named Manship Chair in Journalism. Martin previously had a one-year stint as the Scripps Howard Visiting Professional at Ohio University in Athens , Ohio . His earlier teaching and research positions include Fulbright fellowships in Japan and Korea , and a Stanford professional journalism fellowship. A Princeton University graduate in history, Martin also studied law at Emory University and served as a Peace Corps volunteer, teaching at Thailand ’s National Institute of Development Administration. He began his news career on The Charlotte Observer. After working as a national transportation reporter for The Baltimore Sun, he was posted to Japan in 1977. He served as Asia bureau chief and editor of Newsweek, The Asian Wall Street Journal, Asia Times and Asian Financial Intelligence.

James A. Richardson, Director of the Public Administration Institute, Louisiana State University
James A. Richardson is currently the director of the Public Administration Institute at Louisiana State University and the John Rhea Alumni Professor of Economics in the E.J. Ourso School of Business Administration. Dr. Richardson is also a member of the Revenue Estimating Conference, the committee that determines the amount of money that the state has to spend each year. He serves on this Conference with the Governor or his designee, the President of the Louisiana Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Dr. Richardson is a member of the National Tax Association, the American Economic Association, and the American Society for Public Administration. He also serves as the Chairman of the Research Committee for Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana. Each year, he and colleagues in the College of Business publish the Louisiana Economic Outlook. His teaching and research interests include economic forecasting, and state and local taxation issues.