Your contribution, our future

• Support a cause that's important to you with a planned gift
• Put your assets to work with our tax-efficient charitable strategies
• Take advantage of the many benefits of making a gift

Generational grads and crawfish boil spark lifelong connection to UL Lafayette

It all began with a crawfish boil at Girard Park.

A.J. "Sonny" and Sandra Launey were set up on a blind date by a friend, meeting at an American Society of Civil Engineers student chapter gathering. As they proceeded to get married, start a family and have successful careers (during which Sonny was an adjunct professor in the College of Engineering), their connection to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette remained strong.

That connection continues with support including a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) from their Individual Retirement Account (IRA). This IRA charitable rollover gift for student programming in memory of one of Sonny's former students is in addition to a legacy plan to endow two graduate civil engineering scholarships from their estate.

The Launey generational degrees span almost the entirety of UL Lafayette's history. His grandfather, Aloysius Launey, received his associate's degree in 1913 and bachelor's in 1922 here. His father, Lowell Launey, completed his agriculture degree in 1940. Sonny earned his Bachelor of Science in civil engineering in 1968 and a Master of Science in civil engineering in 1969. Sonny and Sandra's son, Christopher '95, calls UL Lafayette his alma mater while their son, Patrick, a Mississippi State graduate, is a big Ragin' Cajuns fan.

The Launeys decided to give back and honor their family by naming the University in a planned insurance policy. Once received when their estate is realized, this will create two new funds: the Lowell & Miriam Launey and Dovic & Elaine Fontenot/BoRSF Endowed Superior Graduate Student Scholarship in Civil Engineering and the Francis Voorhies and Aloysius Launey/BoRSF Endowed Superior Graduate Student Scholarship in Civil Engineering. The first is named for Sonny and Sandra's parents, and the second honors his grandfather and great uncle Francis, who was the first four-year degree graduate of then-Southwestern Louisiana Institute (SLI) in 1922.

Family ties are important to the Launeys, and the familial atmosphere is what made his collegiate experience so special. He transferred to then-University of Southwestern Louisiana in 1963 and immediately felt the difference in faculty, curriculum and resources. After graduating he served in the United States Air Force for 5 1/2 years, retired from Freeport-McMoRan, Inc. in New Orleans and remains affiliated with Denson Engineers, Inc. of New Orleans.

"The educational foundation I received here helped launch my career - I was able to compete with the best. There were depth and quality in the faculty, but they also cared about their students," Sonny said.

That relationship building inspired his own connections to students in his eight years as an adjunct professor, and the familiarity with the Department confirmed their commitment to its growth. "The research on campus has increased so much. It's very impressive, and we hope to recruit and retain top-notch Ph.D. students with these endowed superior graduate scholarships," he said.

Sonny also serves on the Civil Engineering Advisory Board and the Alumni Association Board of Directors, and he was honored as a College of Engineering Wall of Honor alumnus in 2017. Sandra had a successful nursing career working in various hospitals in the state, and both have volunteered through their church, Our Lady of Lourdes and many other charitable organizations.

Education and giving back are essential to the Launey family, and they encourage others to reflect on where they received the foundation for their success.

For Sonny, it's UL Lafayette.

"It's part of who I am. This place is magical - it's home."