Celebrating Excellence & Building New Traditions at GSBLSU
Blog Post #3: Celebrating Excellence & Building New Traditions at GSBLSU
By Mike Highfield. President & Chief Academic Officer
The month of October has provided some wonderful opportunities to celebrate the people and relationships that make the Graduate School of Banking at LSU such a special institution. We recognized an extraordinary member of our faculty, gathered with our Board of Trustees in Florida, and launched what I hope will become a new annual tradition with our first-ever GSBLSU tailgate.
Of course, the tailgate was followed by LSU’s 31–0 victory over Mississippi State. As graduate of MSU, I enjoyed the tailgate considerably more than the football game, but I’ll come back to that.
Honoring Stephen David
On October 8 and 9, we held our 2026 Board of Trustees meeting at The Don CeSar Hotel in St. Petersburg, Florida. One of the highlights of that meeting was the opportunity to recognize my friend and longtime colleague, Stephen David, as the recipient of the 2026 T. Eugene Spragens, III Presidential Award for Teaching Excellence. I want to share a little about this award because I think its history tells us something important about what it represents.
In May 1999, T. E. “Gene” Spragens, Jr., a former president of the Graduate School of Banking at LSU and president and chairman of Farmers and Merchants National Bank in Lebanon, Kentucky, established this award in memory of his son, T. Eugene Spragens, III. His intention was to recognize an outstanding member of our faculty who demonstrated distinguished performance in the classroom while also supporting the School and its programs.
The first recipient was George A. Schloegel, then president of Hancock Bank in Gulfport, Mississippi, and a longtime member of our faculty. Since that time, the Spragens Award has become the highest honor we bestow upon a faculty member.
I think the criteria for this award are particularly important. This recognition is not simply about knowing your subject matter. We have many extraordinarily knowledgeable people on our faculty. It is about taking that knowledge and experience and making it meaningful to students. It is about engaging them, challenging them, and helping them become better bankers and better leaders. Equally important, it recognizes a commitment to the School that extends well beyond the classroom.
Stephen exemplifies all those qualities. His banking career began in 1981 at Peoples Bank and Trust. Over the next 44 years, he worked his way from management trainee to president and CEO and became one of Louisiana’s most respected community bankers. Along the way, he served as president and chairman of the Louisiana Bankers Association and developed relationships with banking leaders and communities throughout the state.
Stephen’s commitment to GSBLSU has been equally impressive. A graduate of the Class of 1990, he has served on our faculty for nearly three decades and was elected to serve as president of the School not once, but twice. That is a remarkable record of leadership and service, and it speaks to the confidence and respect he has earned from his colleagues.
But beyond those accomplishments, Stephen is, at heart, a coach. Throughout his career, he has mentored young bankers, developed future leaders, and spent countless hours coaching young people in baseball, football, basketball, and softball. I think there is a natural connection between being a great coach and being a great teacher. Both require the ability to challenge people, help them understand why things work, and allow them to learn from their decisions.
That is exactly what Stephen does through BankSim, one of the defining experiences of the Graduate School of Banking at LSU. BankSim is where students take what they have learned in the classroom and put it into practice. They make decisions about lending, investments, funding, capital, and profitability, and then they have to live with the results. Sometimes those decisions work out well. Sometimes they discover that running a bank is considerably more complicated than they expected. And sometimes I suspect Stephen knows exactly how badly a particular strategy is going to turn out, but he lets them discover that for themselves.
Stephen brings more than four decades of practical banking experience to that process. But what makes him an exceptional teacher isn’t simply what he knows. It is his ability to help other people learn. He asks questions, challenges assumptions, uses humor, and makes students think a little harder without making them feel foolish for not knowing the answer. That’s a gift, and it is one that has benefited generations of bankers who have come through this School.
On a personal note, Stephen has never missed an opportunity to give me a hard time about my Mississippi State roots. I’ve tried to explain that working at a school affiliated with LSU doesn’t necessarily mean I have to cheer for the Tigers on Saturday afternoons. He remains unconvinced.
And after this past Saturday’s game, I suspect I am going to hear about that 31–0 score for quite some time. Knowing Stephen, he probably won’t even have to mention it. A smile and a raised eyebrow will be enough. But that’s Stephen. He loves to give people a hard time, and if he’s giving you a hard time, there’s a pretty good chance he likes you. At least that’s what I keep telling myself!
When Gene Spragens established this award in memory of his son, he wanted to recognize faculty members who combined exceptional teaching with a genuine commitment to the Graduate School of Banking at LSU. I cannot think of a more fitting description of Stephen’s contributions.
The best teachers do more than share information. They share experience, build confidence, and challenge people to become better than they were when they entered the classroom. Long after the details of a particular lesson have faded, students remember the person who helped them see something differently. I think that describes Stephen David exceptionally well.
You have made generations of bankers better at what they do, and you have made the Graduate School of Banking at LSU better through your service, leadership, friendship, and especially your teaching. I am grateful for your contributions to this institution and for your friendship. Congratulations, my friend, on this well-deserved recognition!
The Tailgate
The following weekend brought another opportunity to celebrate the relationships that make GSBLSU special. On Saturday, October 17, we hosted our first-ever GSBLSU tailgate in Baton Rouge before the LSU–Mississippi State football game.
One of the things I have come to appreciate about this School is the remarkable network of relationships that exists among our students, alumni, faculty, trustees, and friends. Those relationships are an important part of the GSBLSU experience, and I believe we should create opportunities to strengthen them outside the classroom.
Our inaugural tailgate was a step in that direction. It was a wonderful opportunity to bring members of the GSBLSU family together, reconnect with old friends, make new ones, and enjoy some of the traditions that make LSU such a special place. While I would have preferred a different outcome on the football field, I can certainly appreciate the enthusiasm of our LSU friends. I just wish the Tigers hadn’t been quite so enthusiastic against my Bulldogs.
As I reflect on a busy October, I am reminded that institutions like GSBLSU are built on more than academic programs and professional development. They are built on people, relationships, shared experiences, and traditions that connect one generation to the next.
Recognizing faculty members like Stephen, who have devoted decades to this School, and creating new opportunities for our GSBLSU family to come together are both important parts of that mission. I am grateful to be part of an institution with such a rich history, and I look forward to building on that foundation in the years ahead.
And if next year’s tailgate happens to feature a 2:30 p.m. kickoff and a different opponent, I certainly won’t complain.
Geaux Tigers! And Hail State!
