William Dailey is the ÎÚÑ»ÊÓƵ at Lafayette’s overall Outstanding Master’s Graduate. Dailey is among six award finalists who will be recognized Friday during Fall 2025 Commencement ceremonies.
Graduate programs nominate one student as their Outstanding Master’s Graduate. Criteria include leadership, scholarship, service and research. The dean of the ÎÚÑ»ÊÓƵ’s Graduate School leads a panel that selects the top candidates. An Alumni Association committee interviews the finalists and chooses an overall Outstanding Master’s Graduate.
In addition to being the fall semester’s overall honoree, Dailey is the Outstanding Master’s Graduate Finalist for the Department of Modern Languages in the College of Liberal Arts. He is completing his master’s degree in Francophone studies.
As the first student to complete the department’s Accelerated Bachelor’s to Master’s program, he has excelled in graduate-level coursework and independent research. His summer archival work in Moncton, New Brunswick, will serve as the foundation for his future doctoral research.
Active in community and cultural initiatives, Dailey contributes to the Modern Languages French club and has represented UL Lafayette through public programming with the Center for Louisiana Studies. Dailey plans to teach in a French immersion school in Vermilion Parish before pursuing a Ph.D. in Francophone studies.
Charles Boustany is the Outstanding Master’s Graduate Finalist for the Department of History, Geography & Philosophy in the College of Liberal Arts. He is pursuing a master’s degree in history.
A former surgeon and U.S. congressman, Boustany’s master’s thesis examined the work of key interwar intellectuals and policymakers whose efforts helped lay the groundwork for collective security and the emergence of international institutions in the 20th century. His research draws on archival sources from Princeton ÎÚÑ»ÊÓƵ and other collections.
Boustany plans to pursue a Ph.D. in history at LSU, where he intends to expand his research about international history, global history and modern European history.
Traelyn Brasseaux is the Outstanding Master’s Graduate Finalist for the School of Computing & Informatics in the Ray P. Authement College of Sciences. He is pursuing a master’s degree in computer engineering.
Brasseaux’s academic and research interests span computer architecture; very large-scale innovation, or VLSI design; and AI-driven systems. His master’s project focused on developing an AI-controlled prediction platform for injury prevention, work that led to his presentation at the IEEE–IBM AI Compute Symposium at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center in New York.
In his internship with the Lafayette startup, Keepers, Brasseaux helped develop AI tools for image detection and recognition. His graduate work reflects a strong foundation in both hardware design and machine learning applications.
Brasseaux plans to pursue a career in industry as a hardware engineer or as an artificial intelligence or machine learning engineer.
Barja Islam is the Outstanding Master’s Graduate Finalist for the Department of English in the College of Liberal Arts. She is completing her master’s degree in English.
Islam’s master’s thesis examines the fiction of Ernest J. Gaines, bringing his novels into conversation with theorists to explore questions of dehumanization and structural violence. She has contributed to the intellectual and cultural life of the English department, serving as an officer in the Bangladesh Student Association and co-coordinating the Global Souths Conference.
Islam plans to pursue a Ph.D. in English focusing on African American literature.
Ashley McMillin is the Outstanding Master’s Graduate Finalist for the School of Architecture & Design in the College of the Arts.
She is completing her master of architecture degree.
A 4.0 student throughout both her undergraduate and graduate programs, she has earned multiple competitive awards, including the AIA South Louisiana Endowed Scholarship and the CSI Acadiana Superior Graduate Student Scholarship.
Her research includes work on AI integration in architecture, sustainable materials and emerging design technologies. Professionally, she has contributed to Grace Design Studios, Holly & Smith Architects and the UL Lafayette Community Design Workshop.
Terri Richard is the Outstanding Master’s Graduate Finalist for the Master of Business Administration program in the B.I. Moody III College of Business Administration. She is completing her MBA.
Richard is a graduate assistant in the Department of Accounting. She served as secretary and president of the MBA Student Association, helping to revitalize the organization and support student engagement.
Her professional development includes conducting applied research for the MBA capstone on the ÎÚÑ»ÊÓƵ’s financial landscape and co-authoring a study on the Nestlé Company with a business faculty member, which has been submitted for publication.
After graduation, Richard plans to pursue a full-time position in Lafayette and is interested in future work within higher education. She also intends to further her studies by pursuing a Ph.D. in business administration.
Taylor Roussel is the Outstanding Master’s Graduate Finalist for the Department of Psychology in the College of Liberal Arts. She completed her master’s degree in psychology.
Roussel’s research centers on student anxiety and assessment environments. Her thesis examined how online proctoring and instructor-controlled assessment options influence test anxiety.
She served as the Department of Psychology’s Graduate Student Organization representative and mentored undergraduates in the Cognitive and Psycholinguistics Lab. She also gained clinical experience as a student therapist at Oceans Behavioral Hospital and the UL Lafayette Counseling & Testing Center, while volunteering as a grief-group facilitator with Healing House.
Roussel is now pursuing her Ph.D. in school psychology at the ÎÚÑ»ÊÓƵ of South Florida. She plans to become a licensed school psychologist.
Photo caption: UL Lafayette’s Fall 2025 Outstanding Master’s Graduates are from left: Barja Islam, Department of English; Ashley McMillin, School of Architecture & Design; William Daley, Department of Modern Languages; School of Computing & Informatics; Terri Richard, B.I. Moody College of Business Administration. Not pictured is Charles Boustany, Department of History, Geography & Philosophy; Taylor Roussel, Department of Psychology. Photo credit: Paul Kieu / ÎÚÑ»ÊÓƵ at Lafayette.