Recently, Nicholls State University announced that they will be officially naming two buildings on campus in honor of two alumni of Nicholls who have had a significant impact on the University, according to this news release from Nicholls. Towards the start of the Fall semester, the Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana System officially approved the renaming of the two Nicholls buildings, and it was announced that an official ceremony commemorating the change is set to occur later in the Fall 2022 semester.
Nicholls State University will be renaming their College of Education and Behavioral Sciences Building to Dr. O. Cleveland Hill Hall. The building will be named after Dr. O. Cleveland Hill, a Mississippi native who was initially offered a scholarship and recruited to play basketball at Nicholls in 1968. Dr. O. Cleveland Hill became the first black athlete to wear a Colonel uniform, and as a sophomore, his teammates voted him team captain. This made him the first non-senior to serve in that position in school history.
After receiving his Bachelor of Arts in 1973, he joined the army and then returned to Nicholls as a student assistant basketball coach while completing his Master of Education degree. Dr. Hill served as the head basketball coach and assistant football coach at East Thibodaux Junior High School before being hired on as an assistant basketball coach at Nicholls. He stayed at Nicholls State University as an Assistant Professor of Physical Education, and in 1999, he became the Dean of the College of Education.
Dr. Steven H. Kenney, Jr. is the Assistant Vice President for Human Resources, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, and Title IX Coordinator at Nicholls. Dr. Steven H. Kenney, Jr. commented on the appropriateness of naming the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences Building after Dr. Hill by saying, “placing Dr. Hill’s name on the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences building, from what he represents, gives all Nicholls students the audacity to hope that if Dr. Hill can go from a student to the dean of a college, I can do this as well.”
Nicholls will also be renaming the College of Sciences and Technology Building to Dr. Marilyn B. Kilgen Hall. The building will be named after Dr. Marilyn B. Kilgen, who dedicated more than four decades of her life to Nicholls. After she had received her bachelor’s degree from the university in 1966, Kilden earned her doctorate from Auburn University before returning to Nicholls. She went on to teach Biology at Nicholls for 41 years.
Outside of teaching Biology at the university, Dr. Kilgen is also known for being a nationally renowned microbiologist and seafood safety scientist who has received more than $7.5 million in research funding. Her research has been reported in over 80 presentations and over 90 scientific publications; furthermore, she has served on committees for the United States Department of Education. Dr. Kilgen served as the head of the Nicholls Department of Biological Sciences for 12 years where her substantial impact was seen in the Department of Biological Sciences winning one of only 17 Departmental Excellence Through Faculty Enhancement awards, making Dr. Kilgen’s department the only undergraduate program in the state of Louisiana to win the coveted award.
Nicholls Dean of Sciences and Technology, Alcee Fortier Professor, and Distinguished Service Professor Dr. John P. Doucet also spoke about Dr. Kilgen’s impact by saying: “not only was Dr. Kilgen one of the foremost scientists and accomplished faculty members in the 75-year history of Nicholls; she is also the architect of the modern biology department, having renovated the undergraduate curriculum and created the graduate curriculum from scratch, both of which we still use today.
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