The following is a list of notable alumni of Louisiana State University. Academia Jonathan Alexander (PhD 1993), rhetorician and professor of English at University of California, Irvine. Ray Authement (MA 1952, PhD 1956), fifth president of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 1974 to 2008; the longest serving president of a public university in the United States; received two graduate degrees from LSU; father of Louisiana state archives Sally Clausen (three LSU degrees in 1967, 1971, and 1980), former Louisiana commissioner of higher education; former president of Southeastern Louisiana University John R. Conniff (MA 1923 English), New Orleans and Baton Rouge educator; president of Louisiana Tech University from 1926–1928 John B. Conway (PhD 1965), professor emeritus of mathematics at George Washington University Edwin Adams Davis (PhD in history from LSU), former professor of History at LSU; author of two textbooks Colleen Denney (BA 1981, MA 1983), Professor of Art History and Gender and Women's Studies at the University of Wyoming Ronald G. Douglas (PhD 1962), Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at Texas A&M University Kathleen Fitzpatrick, former professor of English at Pomona College; Director of Digital Humanities and Professor of English at Michigan State University Michael I. Jordan (BS Psychology 1974), leading researcher in machine learning at University of California, Berkeley Joomyeong Kim (PhD 1995), Russell Thompson, Jr. Family Professor of Biology at LSU Jeffrey A. Lockwood (PhD entomology), award-winning author and University of Wyoming professor of Natural Sciences and Humanities Ray Marshall, Professor Emeritus of the Audre and Bernard Rapoport Centennial Chair in Economics and Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin Leon C. Megginson (PhD 1952), later became an LSU faculty member in the business school, notable in part for his clarifying statements about Darwinism J. Tinsley Oden (BS 1959), pioneer in the field of computational mechanics; professor at The University of Texas at Austin Virgil Orr (BS, MS 1948, PhD 1950, chemical engineering), Louisiana Tech University vice president; former state representative from Lincoln and Union parishes Arthur T. Prescott (BA 1883), later M.A., first president of Louisiana Tech University (1895–1899) Bin Ramke, professor at University of Denver, poet, winner of the 1978 Yale Younger Poets Prize Charles P. Roland (PhD), historian at Tulane University and the University of Kentucky and specialist in the American Civil War and the American South Ralph L. Ropp (MA 1925), professor at Northwestern State University 1923–1949; president of Louisiana Tech University