For years to come, Louisiana Tech students who never knew English instructor Stephanie Pepper Sims will benefit from her dream of a multifunctional laboratory.

Sims and Dr. Tamara Powell, an assistant professor of English in Tech's College of Liberal Arts, worked for four months on a Board of Regents grant package they hoped would help offer students more up-to-date instruction.

"We professors at Tech want our students to have the latest, greatest everything, including technology, so they are prepared for the future," Powell said. "Stephanie and I collaborated on this. I would rather have her here with us than anything else, of course, but if I don't get a choice in that, then I'm glad to be a part of what is her legacy to the English department."

(Sims was reported missing in January, 2004, and her body was found in February. A man suspected in her death is awaiting trial in Jackson Parish.)

Powell said she never thought it was possible to receive the grant. "I told her, 'We're never going to get it,' and a Board of Regents grant is a lot of work, but Stephanie really pushed for this. It's what she wanted."

Sims' father, Howard Pepper, said his daughter mentioned that her colleague thought it was both impossible to get the grant, and that the equipment might not fit in the room anyway. But he said she was determined to try.

"She told me that they needed computers, but didn't really have any good ones," he said. "So she was going to get this computer lab."

As part of the grant proposal, a plan of the room had to be drawn, which meant measuring the room, making it accessible to disabled students, and fitting in 25 computers. Because of the small space, it was not an easy task.

"She asked me if I thought I could draw the plans, and I said, 'We'll do it,'" Pepper said. "We had to do a couple of attempts, and I finally got the computer space all in there."

"Her first impression was, 'Hey, I won't have a place to stand, but never mind. If we can get the computers, I don't need a place to stand.' She was determined to get them."

Determination and energy are words that echo through almost every description of Sims.

Suzanne Brown, a member of First Baptist Church in Jonesboro where Sims grew up, said she exuded energy and resolve in every area of her life.

"She helped me teach a class one summer at church, and she was so energetic and full of life," Brown said. "She was just so happy and positive all the time. That is what I remember most."

That energy and drive ultimately helped turn her dream into the computer lab in Room 207 of George T. Madison Hall at Louisiana Tech in Ruston.

In addition to the lab, a Tegrity cart, which allows interactive and live teaching from a computer, was purchased. It involves seamless switching between PowerPoint, close up video, snapshots, and screen recording.

More than 500 institutions and businesses use the Tegrity system for instruction.

With the Tegrity system, instructors can show DVDs in class, assist students in research, allow students to use word processors and expose students to streaming video production.

"For the university as a whole, it means that the students in business, engineering, education, nursing, and other fields will gain exposure to using technology in the writing process that they can carry over to their chosen field," Powell said.

After receiving the grant, there was more work to be done, Powell said, including the actual setting up of the lab.

"I was panicking when we got the grant because Stephanie wasn't here," Powell said. "I kept telling myself, 'I can't do this. I can't do this.' Then I would hear her in my head saying, 'You can do this! You can do this!' and we did it."

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