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By Judith Roberts<\/p>\n
Following her\u00a0lifelong\u00a0passion has brought her back to her alma mater.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yeager, Watson and Associates partner Stephanie Morse found her love for architecture early in life and now gets to see her dreams play out at her alma mater as the first female architect who has led and completed a Louisiana Tech building project \u2013 the George T. Madison renovation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was something I wanted \u2013 I adamantly went and talked to my other partners and said, \u2018We need to do this. I want to do something big for Tech,\u2019\u201d Morse said. \u201cI wanted to be involved in this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Morse, who received her degree in interior design from in 2003 and her architecture degree in 2006, both from Tech, said\u00a0while her field has been\u00a0mainly male\u00a0dominated, the team working on GTM has several females.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a female structural engineer, which doesn\u2019t\u00a0often\u00a0happen,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd we have a couple of interns right now who are female.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0very rare\u00a0in my world.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0just fun getting\u00a0a different perspective.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She said even though the work has been intense, it has been\u00a0a great experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0a lot of\u00a0hard work. I\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0tell you how many overtime hours I put in on this project,\u201d Morse said. \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0a very time-consuming process, but to see the outcomes of it?\u00a0Yeah,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0100 times worth it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n For the GTM project, Morse said the renovation planning process was an exciting challenge.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe challenge for GTM is that it\u2019s a box,\u201d she said. \u201cThe shell is there, but\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0a very short\u00a0box. It was built very economically in the \u201860s.\u00a0So\u00a0the floor to the next floor height is 12 feet \u2013 which, typically, people\u2019s houses now have 12-foot ceilings.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAlso, a lot of people\u00a0have to\u00a0go into that box, such as\u00a0most of\u00a0liberal arts\u2026We interviewed every group that would possibly have classes in there and talk to them about what their wants and needs were for the building.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Morse said many of the changes echoed how teaching has changed since the time GTM was first constructed.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cA majority of\u00a0them wanted spaces that could be used\u00a0multifunctionally. They wanted classrooms that\u00a0weren\u2019t\u00a0just lecture halls,\u201d Morse said. \u201cThe style of teaching now is so much more interactive than when it was when a building like GTM was originally built and everyone faced one direction. Twenty-first century learning need so many\u00a0different functions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Karl Puljak, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, much of the CoLA will be in the new GTM, but the School of Design, School of Music and School of Theatre will largely stay in their current homes. However, all of CoLA will have some representation in the renovated building with galleries, performance space and classrooms.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s incredibly meaningful to see a Louisiana Tech alumna \u2014 and a former student of mine \u2014 return to campus to lead a project of this scale and impact,\u201d\u00a0Puljak\u00a0said. \u201cStephanie brings extensive professional experience to this work, and her education and practice background in both architecture and interior design make her uniquely qualified to lead a complex project that will bring the many parts of the College of Liberal Arts together under one roof.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0especially excited about the collaborative and creative environment this new space will\u00a0inspire for\u00a0our students and faculty. Thanks to Stephanie and the team at YWA Architects.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Morse said she has always wanted to be an architect, but it\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0really come from her love for drawing.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhenever I was little, I liked to take things apart and see how they went back together,\u201d she said. \u201cMost people say, \u2018I like to draw,\u2019 or \u2018I like to do this.\u2019 I like to see how things go together, and I want to know how something works.\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0always thought the creative part of architecture was fascinating. I always thought to see something that you did be brought to life and that would help people was so much fun.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n And as the GTM project progresses over the upcoming months, Morse said she\u2019s excited to see how her project comes to life not only for her \u2013 but also for her children, who attend A.E. Phillips, located on Tech\u2019s campus.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0wait to see\u00a0the new entrance, the main entrance \u2013 I drop my kids off at A.E. Phillips, I turn onto Railway Avenue, and I turn east, and then you see GTM.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0the first thing you see,\u201d Morse said. \u201cAt that corner,\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0going to be a new entrance\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0going to be beautiful.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0going to have\u00a0a patio out front with railings, and\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0just going to be such a wonderful space.\u00a0So\u00a0to see that part of that building\u00a0go\u00a0up, every single day as I go to work \u2013\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0going to be so exciting.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0going to be so inspiring to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m\u00a0very humbled.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0very\u00a0excited,\u00a0very nervous.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a big\u00a0role,\u00a0to think\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0the first woman who is going to do this.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0wild. And not only the first woman for this university but your alma mater.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0really\u00a0very special.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n For the latest local news, subscribe FOR FREE to the Lincoln Parish Journal and receive an email each weekday morning at 6:55 right to your inbox. Just\u00a0CLICK HERE<\/a>\u00a0to sign up.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/KNIGHT-LAW-STORYBOARD.png\")
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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Judith Roberts Following her\u00a0lifelong\u00a0passion has brought her back to her alma mater.\u00a0 Yeager, Watson and Associates partner…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403401,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88],"class_list":{"0":"post-403400","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}