2023 Homecoming & Alumni Awards
Centenary celebrated Homecoming 2023 with a week of events for students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the Shreveport-Bossier City community. In addition to student spirit events and athletic contests, the Centenary College Choir presented its annual “Rhapsody in View” concert at First Baptist Church of Shreveport on November 4 and 5 to close out the Homecoming weekend. The College also held a special announcement event for its $50 million capital campaign, Forward: The Campaign for Our Third Century.
Two events honoring outstanding Centenary alumni have become centerpieces of the College’s Homecoming festivities: the Alumni Awards Dinner and the Forward 5 Luncheon, a special recognition for five young alumni.
Alumni Awards Dinner
The Alumni Awards Dinner was held on November 2 and honored alumni who have brought distinction to Centenary College in a variety of ways. The 2023 honorees are:
Alumni Hall of Fame – Herb Lang ’98
Herb Lang is a 1998 graduate of Centenary College and 18-year veteran of The World-Famous Harlem Globetrotters. Herb grew up in Arkansas and was a standout student-athlete at Brinkley High School before coming to Centenary. While playing basketball for the Centenary Gents, Herb led the Trans-America Athletic Conference in scoring and won the National Association of Basketball Coaches Slam Dunk Contest on ESPN in 1998. Following his graduation that year, Herb was invited to the Globetrotters training camp and spent the next 18 years with the organization as a player and coach. After retiring from basketball in 2017, Herb has continued his globetrotting as a keynote speaker, actor, and best-selling author. He is proud to have played the role of former Globetrotter Louis “Babe” Pressley in the movie Sweetwater. Sweetwater tells the story of Nathaniel “Sweetwater” Clifton, a Globetrotters star who made history as the first African-American player to sign an NBA contract. Herb has visited nearly 100 countries and has had the opportunity to interact with many influential individuals worldwide, most notably President Barack Obama and Pope Francis. He has also participated in numerous popular TV shows and contests, including HGTV’s 100 Day Dream Home, The Price is Right, and three seasons of CBS’s The Amazing Race. He appeared on Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? along with his fellow Globetrotters on a special celebrity week. Herb raised $25,000, the most out of all his fellow players. In total, the Globetrotters raised over $45,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation that week. These experiences have allowed him to spread his mantra, #kindnessisfree, a principle that he was taught as a child that still guides his daily life and interactions.
Alumni Loyalty Award – David Henington ’82
Following his graduation from Centenary in 1982, David began serving on the Alumni Board as the 1982 Class Agent. He continued in that role until 1989 and also served as the Alumni Board President from 1988 to 1989. While serving on the Alumni Board, David worked for, in his words, “two Christmases” at Toys-R-Us and then moved to banking. In 1989, David returned “home” to Centenary as the Director of Donor Research and Records. Over a 30-plus-year career in Development at Centenary, David served as Director of Annual Giving, Senior Director of Alumni Relations, and Senior Director of Planned Giving.
David has also been a consistent, generous, and thoughtful supporter of the College, one example being the Henington Family Endowed Scholarship. David established this scholarship in honor of his Grandmother Ninny on her 100th birthday to recognize her dedication to education—a dedication that he observes extends to other members of his family. Since his retirement from Centenary in 2019, David has remained a dedicated participant in the Centenary alumni community. He is also an active volunteer in other community organizations where he continues to exercise his superpower: connecting people to each other and to Centenary.
Young Alumni Leadership Award – Matthew Wallace ’10
Matthew Wallace earned a bachelor of science degree from Centenary in business and psychology with a minor in finance. While at Centenary, Matthew was honored to serve as SGA President, Rotaract President, an officer in Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE), and a co-founder of The BIG Event. He went on to complete his MBA at LSU in 2012 with a focus in healthcare and public administration. For the last 20 years, Matthew has been a devoted public health professional; he believes that when our people are healthy, our communities are healthy and thriving. He works to achieve this goal by focusing on the intersection of public policy and healthcare practice. Professionally, Matthew has worked for the Nurse Family Partnership, Easterseals Louisiana, and currently is the Director of Advocacy for CHRISTUS Health in Louisiana, the tenth largest health system in the country, with ministries in Louisiana in Shreveport, Alexandria, and Lake Charles. In the community, Matthew has served on the board of the March of Dimes for 20 years, chairs the board for HOBY Louisiana, serves as the chapter advisor for TKE, and is a member of the Rotary Club of Baton Rouge.
Honorary Alumna – Mary Sue Rix
A native of Huntsville, Texas, Mary Sue Rix attended Baylor University, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics and education. Following her graduation from Baylor, Mary Sue moved to Houston and taught high school mathematics in the Spring Branch School System for six years. After her third year of teaching at Spring Branch, Mary Sue was privileged to receive a National Science Foundation Fellowship that enabled her to spend a year at LSU pursuing a Master of Arts degree in mathematics. Mary Sue left Texas after receiving an offer to teach mathematics at Warren Wilson College in western North Carolina. Three years later, Mary Sue was offered the Dean of Students position at the college. She loved living in the midst of the magnificent beauty of the Blue Ridge mountains and having the opportunity to work with college students. Mary Sue earned a second master's degree, this one in Guidance and Counseling, at Western Carolina University, while working as the Dean of Students. Nine years after assuming the Dean's position, Mary Sue felt the need to get closer to aging relatives in Texas, so she relocated to Jackson, Mississippi, where she became a financial aid director. After two years in Mississippi (and still trying to get back to Texas), Mary Sue applied for and was hired for the financial aid director's job at Centenary College.
Mary Sue was an active member of the Louisiana Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, the Southwest Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, and the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. She was honored to serve as President of LASFAA and SWASFAA and to be on the Board of NASFAA.
Mary Sue retired from Centenary in 2012, following 26 years as Centenary's Financial Aid Director. At some point in the early 2000s, Mary Sue began helping keep statistics at Centenary basketball games. She still enjoys this activity.
Bentley Sloane/CLC Award – Adam Philley ’09
Adam Philley graduated from Centenary College of Louisiana in 2009 with a bachelor of music degree in sacred music. During his time at Centenary he served as worship leader of the weekly chapel service, Stepping Stones, for three years; was a member of the Christian Leadership Center and the Centenary College Choir, serving as Male Vice President and President; and was a founding member of the Centenary Musical Theater Group. He also worked at First United Methodist Church as a music associate and at the Shreveport Little Theatre helping found their Academy during this time.
After graduating, he began his career in the church as the director of music at Asbury United Methodist in Bossier City. He then attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he received a master of music degree in choral conducting. After graduate school he returned to Shreveport to work at Asbury again as well as begin his career in higher education as a professor at Bossier Parish Community College. In 2013 Adam founded Shreveport-Bossier’s first semi-professional choral ensemble, the Prísma Vocal Ensemble. Prísma is celebrating its tenth year and continues to be active in the area. In 2015 he began his tenure at Broadmoor United Methodist Church in Shreveport as well as became an adjunct professor at Centenary. Adam is currently the associate director of choral activities and assistant professor of voice at Northwestern State University and continues to serve at Broadmoor UMC. He also serves as the music director at B’nai Zion Congregation in Shreveport where he leads weekly Shabbat services. He currently serves as the secretary of the board of directors for the Carrefour Collaborative Music Project as well as the Southern Region Auditions Chair for the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Adam is still involved with the Shreveport Little Theatre and Academy where he serves as the Academy resident music director and music directs the summer musical each year.
Over the past 15 years Adam has found a home in the United Methodist Church. He has been involved on a conference level as a member and chair of the Annual Conference Design Team. In 2019, in response to the church’s stance on human sexuality, Adam ran for the Louisiana delegation to General Conference. He was elected as Louisiana’s first openly gay delegate and attended the General Conference in 2024. Adam has been a part of the first Queer Delegation Caucuses for the South-Central Jurisdiction as well as the Louisiana Annual Conference.
Forward 5 Lunch
The second annual Forward 5 Luncheon on November 3 recognized five young alumni, across a variety of fields, for having made a significant impact in business, research, leadership, public service and/or philanthropic endeavors. This year’s honorees include two current Centenary faculty members, biology professor Dr. Rebecca Murphy and chemistry professor Dr. Kathrine Weeks.
Dr. Rebecca Murphy ’06
Rebecca received her B.S. in biology at Centenary in 2006, and her Ph.D. in biochemistry at Texas A&M in 2012. She was hired at Centenary immediately after earning her doctorate, and this is her 12th year at the College where she is currently an associate professor of biology. Her expertise is in plant molecular biology with an emphasis on gene expression and gene identification for agriculturally important traits, specifically grain production and bioenergy. She has collaborated with several R1 universities including the University of Arizona and the Boyce Thompson Institute/Cornell on several projects funded by the National Science Foundation (totaling about $2.5 million in funds) to study transcriptome level gene expression of specific types of RNA and RNA modifications in important crop species. This work has resulted in the creation of a federally-supported summer research program for Centenary undergraduates, and through this program nine students have been funded to work on the campus of Cornell University since 2019. She has mentored 16 students in research since 2013, all of whom have gone on to pursue M.D., Ph.D., P.A., or M.D.-Ph.D. degrees.
Rebecca has also contributed to her field through co-authored publications describing genes that influence bioenergy traits in sorghum and the development of computational tools for large data analysis, and she contributed to the development of browser-based community tools to provide visual maps of gene expression in crops. In addition to outstanding work in scholarship, she has a special interest in science communication and making science more accessible to a general audience and has previously partnered with organizations like STARBASE 2.0, SciPort: Louisiana’s Science Center, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to demystify and disseminate scientific information to the public. Due to consistent contributions to scientific outreach and interdisciplinary collaborations, Rebecca has been invited to participate in several public forums, covering topics such as the role of genetic modification in society, diversity in STEM, and education related to COVID-19 and vaccines. Her use of community outreach in pedagogy has resulted in her work being featured in Course Hero’s Best Lessons series and a nomination for the American Association for the Advancement of Science Early Career Award for Public Engagement with Science.
Rebecca also contributes consistently to the campus and engages with students as the faculty mentor for the Centenary chapter of Beta Beta Beta National Biology Honor Society and the newly-founded Women in STEM organization. Through her commitment to the delivery of high-quality education and inclusive pedagogy, she has been chosen by students as an Honorary Maroon Jacket. In her role as the coordinator of the CELLULAR program and External Advisory Committee for LSU’s CURIOUS program, and other collaborations with LSUS and LSUHSC, she has helped increase placement of Centenary students in external research labs, particularly students from underrepresented groups.
Dr. Kathrine Weeks ’06
Kathrine Weeks grew up on an alligator farm in south Louisiana where she developed an interest in conservation, sustainability, and biological sciences. She received her BS in biochemistry from Centenary College in 2005 where she worked as a summer research student in Dr. Ernie Blakeney’s lab purifying and detecting enzymes for industrial applications. In 2006, she joined Dr. Eric Aamodt’s lab at LSU Health in Shreveport as a graduate research fellow and studied the effects of antipsychotic medications on the insulin signaling network. Using the tractable genetic model organism C. elegans, Kathrine discovered that these drugs activate the insulin signaling network. This finding is consistent with the known effects of antipsychotic drugs on patients’ metabolism, including altered gene expression and drastic changes in appetite and weight. As a result of this discovery, Kathrine earned her PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology from LSU Health in 2010. With a growing interest and expertise in the insulin signaling network, Kathrine pursued a postdoctoral fellowship in Dr. David Harrison’s lab at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, where she was trained in mouse genetics and studied the role of insulin signaling in longevity. Her work helped deduce the mechanism by which the immunosuppressant drug rapamycin extends lifespan and health span in mice. She was also the first scientist to utilize C. elegans as a model organism at the Jackson Laboratory and used them as a rapid, cost-effective tool for screening compounds for their ability to extend lifespan before testing them in expensive mouse models.
Kathrine joined the faculty at Centenary in 2014, and she is currently an associate professor of chemistry and oversees the biochemistry program at the College. Her exposure to research as an undergraduate student was an invaluable experience that heavily influenced her career path, and she believes all students should have the opportunity to pursue research. As a result, she maintains an active research program that recruits undergraduates interested in learning how to design and execute experiments. Her research focuses on genetic and pharmaceutical interventions in the aging process and aims to delay the onset of age-associated diseases. Her research students present their findings annually on campus and at national conferences.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kathrine collaborated with colleagues at Centenary to implement data-informed health safety policies on campus. She recognized the air-borne nature of the virus and emphasized the importance of adequate ventilation and air filtration before the CDC acknowledged its airborne transmission. She used descriptive analogies and effective visuals to explain how the virus spreads, how to minimize transmission, and the effectiveness and limitations of health safety measures. Kathrine partnered with scientists at the CDC, the Emerging Viral Threats Laboratory, LSU Ag Center, and Centenary College to teach the public about Sars-CoV-2, COVID-19, and public health safety measures.
Josh Johnson ’12
Josh Johnson is an Emmy-nominated writer, stand-up, actor, and NAACP award-winner from Louisiana by way of Chicago. He is currently a writer on The Daily Show, and is a former writer and performer on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where he made his late-night debut in 2017. In addition, Josh is Comedy Central’s ‘most watched comedian ever’ with 40M+ views to date across their platforms. As a stand-up, Josh headlines clubs, colleges, and festivals around the world. In 2015, he was named one of Comedy Central’s “Comics to Watch,” in 2016 a “New Face” at the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal, and in 2018 the winner of the “New York's Funniest” competition at the New York Comedy Festival.
Josh’s most recent stand-up special, Josh Johnson: Up Here Killing Myself, premiered on Peacock in 2023 to rave reviews touting Josh as a “naturally gifted story teller.” Comedy Central released Josh’s first hour-long special #(Hashtag) in June 2021.
His self-released comedy and music mixtape album, Elusive, was described by Vanyaland as “live stand-up observational humor with musical compositions. Both elements wade in and out of political and social waters between the two “arcs” of the multi-genre epic.” Josh also co-hosts the weekly podcast, The Josh Johnson Show (with fellow stand-up Logan Nielsen). His other credits include, CONAN (TBS), @Midnight, Kevin Hart's Hart of The City, The New Negroes, and This Week at The Comedy Cellar on Comedy Central.
Josh graduated from Centenary in 2012 with a major in theatre. He lives in New York and can be seen performing regularly at The Comedy Cellar.
Kirk Reedstrom ’16
Born in Houston, Texas, Kirk Reedstrom spent most of his childhood drawing and reading Calvin & Hobbes. He studied at Centenary College of Louisiana where he sang in the Centenary College Choir, performed with the Hurley School of Music, became the Jazz & Blues Director of 91.3FM KSCL, and collected internships like Pokémon cards, which included roles at Blade Studios, Ropeadope Records, the Bossier Arts Council, the Carreno Group, and Moonbot Studios, where he worked as a production intern on the Oscar award-winning animated short, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. During his time at Step Forward NLA, he assisted in numerous community projects which included the first NWLA Early Childhood Policy Summit, the NWLA Teen Advisory Committee, NWLA Thrive, and Shreveport’s Smart City: Workforce Analysis Workshop. Kirk currently lives in Shreveport, Louisiana, with his wife, Sarah Duet, and their temperamental cat, Nash. When he isn’t working as the manager of social media and digital services for Shreve Memorial Library, Kirk spends most of his time making funny books for kids with heartfelt characters and a little bit of mayhem. He is the creator of “Somebody Write This Book,” a monthly-ish newsletter of drawing and story prompts and has trained as a Primetime Storyteller with the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. He is an active member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and a Roster Artist with the Shreveport Regional Arts Council, and his comics zines have been featured in Salon, Relief Journal, The Quaranzine, and All Things Considered. Duck And Moose, his debut graphic novel series for kids, was published by Disney-Hyperion in March 2024.
Dr. Tierra Range Mosher ’16
Tierra Range Mosher grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana, and attended Centenary from 2012 to 2016 on full tuition academic scholarship as a Nancy M. Christian scholar. During her time at Centenary she served as an RA, Student Ambassador, Maroon Jacket, calculus and organic chemistry tutor, member of the tennis team, an officer of the Alpha Epsilon Delta health honor society, Chief Justice of the Honor Court, awardee of a $14,000 grant through the American Chemical Society to study block co-polymer solar cells at the National University of Singapore, and institutional awardee of the General Chemistry Achievement Award, Outstanding Achievement in Organic Chemistry, Virginia Carlton Mathematics Award, and Resident Advisor of the Year. She graduated summa cum laude with a dual major in biology and biochemistry. After graduating from Centenary, she attended LSU Health Shreveport School of Medicine where she became passionate about serving the community she grew up in, and founded an organization called Medical Students Against Addiction which served to educate and spread awareness about drug addiction and to help those in recovery maintain hope and establish a positive future. She raised thousands of dollars for local halfway homes, and the organization continues to serve as a pillar in the community to this day. She was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society for her advocacy efforts in addiction medicine and also received awards for outstanding achievements in diversity, equity, and inclusion as well as pediatrics prior to her graduation from medical school. She then moved to Houston, Texas, to complete a pediatrics residency through Baylor College of Medicine at Texas Children’s Hospital. During her time in residency, while serving as a frontline provider in the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tierra used media as an outlet to communicate with the general public about medical concepts through her YouTube channel ‘DOCGIRLFITNESS’ which led to a passion for medical journalism. It was also in pediatrics residency where she decided that she wanted to serve the pediatric population through making an impact in obesity medicine. She completed her pediatrics residency in June 2023 and is now a first-year pediatric gastroenterology fellow at Stanford University where she is developing the tools necessary to pursue a career in obesity medicine and medical correspondence. As part of her fellowship, she will be granted full funding to obtain a master’s degree which she plans to receive in bioethics, and will also be completing an internship in medical correspondence in New York through ABC News in the Spring of 2025.