New scholarship fund honors Centenary biology professors Ed and Beth Leuck
SHREVEPORT, LA — Friends and former students of Centenary biology professors Drs. Ed and Beth Leuck have established a scholarship in their honor. The Drs. Beth and Ed Leuck Endowed Scholarship will benefit biology students at Centenary College. Former student Dr. David King '97 initiated the process upon learning that the Leucks would be retiring, Dr. Beth as of June 2016 with Dr. Ed following in May 2017. A group of other former students joined him in making contributions to establish the endowment.
The Leucks have taught at Centenary for more than 35 years after joining the faculty together in 1980. The Centenary arboretum was renamed The Ed Leuck Academic Arboretum in 2011 in recognition of Dr. Ed Leuck's care and guidance since its establishment in 1984. Dr. Beth Leuck pioneered the Science Division's adoption of studio-format teaching, which integrates lecture and laboratory exercises and promotes group learning. Centenary was the first undergraduate institution in the United States to incorporate studio format teaching into all of its introductory-level biology classes. In recognition of their dedication to undergraduate biology education, Ed and Beth both have been named Outstanding Teacher of the Year, an honor determined through a Centenary-wide voting process and given to acknowledge devotion to excellence in the classroom.
During a February 2016 ceremony formalizing another scholarship for biology students, The King Endowed Scholarship, Dr. King referenced the significance of the personal relationships that Centenary professors, including the Leucks, form with their students.
"It was wonderful to have people who were mentors, who are still mentors, who I look up to still to this day….I am glad to be able to say that I was taught by some of the best professors at Centenary. And I became a better person because of that."