The sweeping live oaks of Nicholls State University are more than decorative features. Their broad canopies shade walkways, frame prominent campus landmarks, and create outdoor spaces where students can study, meet between classes, or participate in instruction beyond the classroom. According to this this news release from Nicholls, a newly established endowment now aims to protect that landscape while honoring the longtime grounds director whose work helped shape it.

Nicholls announced the Leonard Lasseigne Campus Beautification Endowment during a gathering at the Arlen B. Cenac Sr. Greenhouse. The fundraising initiative supports the preservation of the university’s historic live oaks, continued care for green spaces, and the establishment of recently planted trees. It also recognizes Leonard Lasseigne, who served as Nicholls’ director of grounds for more than 32 years, from 1967 through 1999.

Lasseigne’s influence on the Thibodaux campus began before his official tenure. In the early 1950s, he personally selected 45 young live oaks from Georgia Plantation near Labadieville and relocated them to Nicholls. Those trees helped establish the oak-lined landscape that later became one of the university’s most recognizable features. Nicholls is now home to more than 240 trees, reflecting decades of planting, maintenance, and campus development.

An honorary Nicholls alumnus, Lasseigne approached landscaping as a long-term investment in the university community. His children described the endowment as a meaningful continuation of their father’s work, explaining that he had created lasting roots for a place he valued deeply. By directing resources toward the trees he once cared for, the fund allows that commitment to remain visible long after his retirement.

Nicholls President Jay Clune emphasized that the live oaks contribute to campus life in practical as well as visual ways. In addition to providing shade in South Louisiana’s warm climate, the trees define informal gathering areas where students eat lunch, take study breaks, meet classmates, and occasionally attend outdoor lectures. Well-designed green spaces can become extensions of the educational environment by giving a campus recognizable places for reflection, conversation, and academic activity.

Maintaining mature live oaks, however, requires sustained attention. Guidance from the LSU AgCenter recommends monitoring canopies, removing dead or damaged branches, protecting root systems, and supporting heavy limbs when necessary. Although live oaks are considered among the region’s more wind-resistant tree species, age, saturated soil, root damage, disease, and severe weather can still threaten them. For a South Louisiana institution regularly exposed to tropical storms and hurricanes, preservation involves professional assessment and proactive maintenance rather than simply replacing trees after damage occurs.

The endowment offers three sponsorship levels connected to different areas of the campus landscape. A $5,000 Landmark Oaks contribution supports historic oak-lined locations such as Alumni Drive, Colonel Drive, and the Quad. These spaces have served as central routes and gathering places for generations of Nicholls students, employees, graduates, and visitors.

A $2,500 General Campus Oaks sponsorship helps maintain trees throughout the university grounds, including those that provide shade and continuity beyond the best-known campus landmarks. Donors may also contribute $1,500 toward Newly Planted Saplings. Those young trees were added during Nicholls’ 75th-anniversary celebration and are intended to extend the campus canopy as older trees mature or require replacement.

Each sponsored tree may be named for the donor, dedicated in honor or memory of another person, or used to recognize someone connected to the Nicholls community. Contributions may also be completed over time, making participation possible through planned installments rather than a single payment. Additional information is available through the university’s Office of Development, which manages philanthropic initiatives supporting Nicholls programs and facilities.

The Leonard Lasseigne Campus Beautification Endowment connects campus history with environmental stewardship. By preserving mature trees while investing in new plantings, Nicholls is treating its landscape as part of its institutional legacy. The initiative ensures that the live oaks planted through Lasseigne’s vision can continue shaping the university’s identity—and the everyday educational experience of its students—for decades to come.

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