Since opening its classrooms to students in 1967, LSUS has become a linchpin in the Shreveport-Bossier educational community. Anchored along the picturesque Red River in southeast Shreveport, the beautifully landscaped LSUS campus serves as home to more than 4,200 students.

"We have nearly 40 undergraduate degree programs and a dozen master's degree programs," Chancellor Vincent Marsala said. "Our highly qualified faculty has the highest percentage of doctoral degrees in the state, and our student-teacher ratio is one of the lowest."

Student access to technology is a top priority. All classrooms have Internet connections - well above the national average of 64 percent - and Moodle, an online course management system, makes course material available to students 24/7. In all, students can sit down in front of nearly 1,000 computers in subject-specific labs, high-traffic areas such as Noel Memorial Library and The Port restaurant, and a campuswide computer lab with extended hours.

"We also have a number of centers and institutes," Marsala said, "that serve as valuable economic development and educational resources to the community, as well as to our students who are interested in business, industry, nonprofits and health care.

Among the units are the high-profile Center for Business and Economic Research, the Small Business Development Center and the Louisiana Consortium for Insurance and Financial Services. The Institute for Human Services and Public Policy is a major player in health care and nonprofit education and dialog both locally and nationally, and the Red River Watershed Management Institute is receiving growing national attention for its benchmark wetlands research.

Recent enhancements and developments have focused both campus and community attention on extracurricular student activities. In addition to myriad on-campus festivals and events, the Student Organizations Council has staged musical and comedy concerts at the Strand Theater and Municipal Auditorium.

A breakthrough season for the LSUS Pilots baseball team in 2003 produced an NAIA Region XIII championship, an Atlantic South Super Regional championship and a third place finish in the NAIA World Series. This fall, men's and women's basketball will resume play after more than a half-decade hiatus, and women's soccer will follow a year later. Basketball coaches Ronnie Howell (women's) and Chad McDowell (men's) are two of the most successful high school coaches in the region, and expect to bring that success to LSUS.

All of these improvements continue to enhance the reputation of LSUS. As the state's regional university serving Shreveport-Bossier and the Ark-La-Tex, it has proven itself to be an institution of quality.