Jenna Kuttruff

News Release Distributed 06/16/14

BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU College of Agriculture has named Jenna Tedrick Kuttruff, a 26-year veteran of the textiles, apparel design and merchandising program, as the head of new Department of Textiles, Apparel Design and Merchandising (TAM).

Kuttruff has served as interim department head since it was established last fall. Prior to that, TAM was a division in what was the School of Human Ecology, where she served as division head for two years. She holds the Doris Lasseigne Carville and Jules A. Carville Jr. Professorship.

“I want to help TAM be a department that focuses on the needs of the students and provides them with the education and skills that will allow them to contribute to and prosper in the textiles and apparel industries today and in the future,” Kuttruff said.

Kuttruff received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Southern Illinois University in the Department of Clothing and Textiles with double majors in apparel design and merchandising. At the graduate level she received a minor in higher education. She earned her Ph.D. at The Ohio State University.

Kuttruff subsequently taught textiles and apparel at Tennessee State University in Nashville and joined LSU’s faculty in 1988 as the first curator of what is now the LSU Textile and Costume Museum.

“Kuttruff is committed to improving the profile of this newly formed unit while growing both its undergraduate and graduate programs and supporting faculty in their pursuit of teaching, research and service,” said Bill Richardson, LSU vice president for agriculture and dean of the LSU College of Agriculture.

Kuttruff said the department plans to add two new tenure-track faculty positions and is currently upgrading technology that is vital to teaching and research.

“This is the type of change that I want to continue to help promote as department head,” Kuttruff said. “I will work with the TAM faculty to continually develop our programs to meet the changing needs of the 21st century.”

As part of a restructuring of schools and departments within the College of Agriculture and the LSU AgCenter, TAM became a new department. Kuttruff said this move was something faculty and students had been anxiously awaiting.

“This provides us not only with more autonomy but also the opportunity for growth, increased productivity and recognition,” Kuttruff said. “It will now be easier for prospective students to find us and learn about our program offerings and opportunities.”

The fashion design and fashion merchandising programs within the department were recently ranked among the best in the nation by Fashion-Schools.org.