Louisiana State University in Shreveport originated with Act 41 of the 1964 Louisiana Legislature, which authorized the establishment of a two-year commuter college in Shreveport. On February 6, 1965, the LSU Board of Supervisors formally established Louisiana State University in Shreveport as a division of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College System. The campus is a 200-acre tract located on Highway 1 in south Shreveport.
LSU in Shreveport began its first session on September 21, 1967, offering basic freshman courses and extending the advantages of a great university system to the residents of northwest Louisiana. Sophomore courses were added in 1968.
Following approval by the Coordinating Council for Higher Education, Act 66 of the Louisiana Legislature authorized baccalaureate degree-granting status. Subsequent approval by the LSU Board of Supervisors resulted in the decision to add junior-level courses in 1973 and senior-level courses in 1974. The first class was graduated in 1975. The University was first accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in December 1975. Many baccalaureate degrees have since become available in the Colleges of Business Administration, Education, Liberal Arts, and Sciences. The Master of Education degree program began in 1978, the Master of Business Administration degree program in 1979, the Specialist in School Psychology degree program in 1982, the Master of Arts in Liberal Arts degree program in 1983, and the Master of Science in Systems Technology degree program in 1988. Continuing education programs are offered, as are seminars and workshops in specialized fields.
Mission
LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY IN SHREVEPORT is a comprehensive urban university committed to freedom of inquiry and to an environment in which people can teach, learn, and discover as well as enrich their lives. As the only public senior university in the largest metropolitan center in the region, the University increasingly helps determine the quality of life in the area. In serving the needs of this region and the state of Louisiana we emphasize programs that aid the economic, social, and cultural development of the area through outstanding teaching, research, and public service.
Responsibility
As a senior university, LSU in Shreveport recognizes its responsibility to meet the needs of students from diverse backgrounds in a changing metropolitan area. In carrying out this responsibility, the University ensures that each graduate explores a portion of human knowledge under the leadership of highly qualified and experienced faculty learns to think creatively and critically to solve problems in human and scientific contexts refines skills in oral and written communication to enhance professional growth and interpersonal relationships examines contemporary issues of professional ethics in each program conducts independent projects and communicates the results to others uses current technology in pursuing knowledge and developing professional skills demonstrates competence in a chosen field through examinations, applied research, field experience, and/or community service.
Pursuing these goals, LSU in Shreveport will continue to seek distinction as the key public comprehensive university in our region.
Mission: Student Affairs
The Student Affairs Division helps students establish personal autonomy, form satisfactory personal relationships, and set goals for their years at the University and after. The Division offers services to support students from the time they enter the University until the time they leave:
The LSU System
The Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College System is a multicampus, multipurpose system of higher education, accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, encompassing all Louisiana, and exerting a major influence on the economic, social, and cultural life of its citizens.
Law and tradition have assigned the University System a three-fold purpose: developing to the highest level the intellectual and professional capacities of its citizens through resident instruction; enriching instruction and establishing new frontiers of knowledge through research and scholarship; and providing all Louisianians with information useful in advancing the state's economy and culture through extension services.
The LSU System is composed of eight major administrative units, each headed by a chancellor, located throughout the state. Three of these--LSU in Baton Rouge, the University of New Orleans, and LSU in Shreveport--provide undergraduate and graduate instruction. Two-year campuses are located in Alexandria and Eunice. The LSU Law Center, located on the Baton Rouge campus, is a separate division of the LSU System. The Center for Agricultural Sciences and Rural Development, with headquarters in Baton Rouge, administers a system of agricultural experiment stations and the Cooperative Extension Service throughout Louisiana. The statewide responsibilities of the LSU Medical Center include the operation of two schools of medicine, one in New Orleans and one in Shreveport, as well as a dental school, a school of allied health professions, a nursing school, and a school of graduate studies.
Mission: Business Affairs
The Business Affairs Division ensures that the University uses the financial and physical resources entrusted to it with effectiveness, efficiency, and complete accountability. The Division carries out its mission in two ways:
LSU in Shreveport Foundation, Inc.
Chartered in 1984, the LSU in Shreveport Foundation was established to formalize and extend the close relationship of the community's leaders with LSU in Shreveport. The Foundation provides wise counsel from an honor group of individuals who desire to provide enduring and generous support to the University.
This not-for-profit corporation operates on the premise that state tax appropriations make it hard for an institution like ours to do more than maintain adequate daily operations. Wanting the University to achieve excellence, the Foundation solicits funds from private sources. Over the years, it has enabled the University to enrich greatly the educational experience of its students.
The LSU in Shreveport Foundation accepts unrestricted gifts that are used where the need is greatest; restricted gifts to be used for the purpose designated by the donor; special gifts such as art objects and rare library materials; and deferred gifts made through wills or bequests, life insurance policies, annuities, and trusts. Additional information about the Foundation may be obtained from the Office of University Relations, Administration Building Room 272, 797-5179.
The LSU in Shreveport Campus
The campus, located at One University Place on 200 acres of land between East Kings Highway and Louisiana Highway 1, is being developed in accordance with a master plan. The Science Building, the Library and the Physical Plant Complex were completed in 1967, followed by Bronson Hall in 1973, the University Center in 1979, the Business Administration-Education Building in 1980, the Health and Physical Education Building in 1982, the Administration Building in 1986, and the University Court Apartments in 1993. Noel Memorial Library opened in 1994.
Teaching
At all levels of instruction, LSU in Shreveport maintains high academic standards and emphasizes personal interaction between students and qualified, experienced faculty. A comprehensive library, including the unique Noel collection, supports learning in three kinds of programs:
The University provides opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty, to conduct research that often helps the community while advancing knowledge in a particular field. The University will continue to enhance research opportunities by promoting cooperative ventures with other educational institutions in the region, especially the Louisiana State University Medical Center and the Biomedical Research Institute.
Public Service
In fulfilling its commitment to public service, the University helps the metropolitan area and surrounding communities by providing:
Administration Building houses the administrative offices of the Chancellor, Business Affairs, Academic Affairs, Admissions and Records, University Computing Services, and Student Affairs. It is a two-story structure located on the southwest side of the campus.
William H. Bronson Hall is a four-story building containing classrooms; faculty offices; administrative offices for the College of Liberal Arts, the Division of Continuing Education and Public Service, and various departments; seminar rooms; the Writing Center; language laboratories; the Communications Center; and other special-use rooms.
Business Administration-Education Building houses classrooms for both the College of Business Administration and the College of Education as well as faculty offices. This three-story facility also houses a curriculum resource center, a faculty research reference area, and laboratories for the Departments of Accounting and Psychology, the College of Business, and university computer classes.
Fine Arts Laboratory houses four teaching laboratories
for art, painting, crafts, and sculpture; a darkroom; and a faculty office.
Health and Physical Education Building, housing
the Department of Health and Physical Education, is a two-story facility
that contains an indoor swimming pool; 6 handball/racquetball courts; basketball,
tennis, volleyball, and badminton courts; an exercise science laboratory;
a dance studio; a weight training room; gymnastics facilities; classrooms;
and faculty offices.
Multi-Purpose Classroom Building, formerly the Library Building, is being renovated.
Physical Plant Complex includes two buildings housing administrative offices, a workshop, storage rooms, and a central power plant to provide service to all major campus buildings.
Public Radio Network Facilities include broadcast studios and administrative offices for the regional network: KDAQ, KLSA, KBSA, and KLDN.
Science Building, a three-story facility, contains
laboratories for chemistry, physics, and biological sciences; classrooms;
and faculty and administrative offices for the College of Sciences. A 300-seat
lecture auditorium is adjacent to this building.
Shipping and Receiving houses campus mail and freight
operations.
University Center houses dining facilities, a lounge, exhibit rooms, conference facilities, a large auditorium, student activity rooms, student government offices, and the bookstore.
Other parts of the campus are described below as University Services.
University Services
Library
The Noel Memorial Library is crucial to the intellectual and cultural growth of the university community. It collects materials adequate to support the University's curricula, organizes these materials, and makes them readily available. The Library currently has over 250,000 books in its collection and subscribes to more than 2,000 journals. The reference section contains numerous hard-copy indexes and abstracts, and provides electronic access to multiple databases via the Louisiana Library Network. All these materials are organized in open stacks using the United States Library of Congress Classification system. The Library is also a select depository for United States Government Documents and receives selected documents from the State of Louisiana. The Archives and Special Collections preserve, organize, and make available primary materials relating to or originating in northwest Louisiana.
Librarians help individuals find information and offer classroom lectures on using specific reference materials. "Quick Guides" provide additional information on frequently used materials and services.
Museums and Galleries
The Museum of Life Sciences operates from a new modern building located between the original library building and KDAQ. It houses more than 25,000 dried or liquid-preserved scientific specimens: mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish, insects and other arthropods, and plants. The museum also has the best assemblage in the world of plants from northwestern Louisiana.
Valuable donations include 7,000 topographic maps and important collections of animals from Africa, South America, Mexico, and India. The Museum documents the diversity of flora and fauna of northwestern Louisiana and makes its holdings available to students, faculty, and visiting scientists; to other museums on loan; and to other institutions through an exchange system. The museum promotes local research and disseminates knowledge through scholarly scientific journals and other publications. The Museum's own publication, The Bulletin of the Museum of Life Sciences, is distributed world-wide to scientists and institutions. Informative programs and museum tours continue to increase in popularity and are the core of a vital public service for the Ark-La-Tex.
The Pioneer Heritage Center, founded in 1977 as a joint project of LSU in Shreveport and the Junior League, is a history laboratory offering a glimpse of how people in northwest Louisiana lived during the pioneer years from the 1830's to the early 20th century.
Located on the northeast side of the campus, the Pioneer Heritage Center consists of the Caspiana House, a raised cottage built in 1856 on the Hutchinson's Caspiana Plantation 15 miles south of the campus; the 1850 Thrasher House, a log double-pen "dog trot," moved 35 miles from near Castor, Louisiana; a detached kitchen; a typicallate 19th-century board- and-batten shotgun house from the Webb Plantation; the 1903 doctor's office from the Caspiana Plantation; the Webb and Webb Commissary (circa 1900) from the Webb Plantation; and the log single-pen blacksmith shop (circa 1870) from the Jack W. Grigsby farm in DeSoto Parish. Both Caspiana House and Thrasher House are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Trained volunteers offer tours and lectures that use these structures and related artifacts to demonstrate the region's early folk architecture and social history. The authenticity of everything in the Center is ensured by many primary sources: original letters, diaries, ledgers, plantation records, successions, interviews, photographs, and other archive materials from the period.
The University Center Art Gallery, governed by a committee composed of Student Activities Board members and Fine Arts faculty, introduces the student body and community to various styles of art. Besides annually exhibiting the works of students and faculty, the Gallery often displays works by artists from elsewhere in the region and from across the nation. Gallery hours are usually 8 A.M. to 4 P.M., Monday through Friday, but may vary with the University schedule.
On-Campus Housing
University Court Apartments, located on the north side of the campus, are a complex of 15 two-story buildings containing 140 apartments. The apartments can accommodate over 450 students in four-bedroom, two-bedroom, and efficiency units. The former features large living areas, private bedrooms, and full kitchens. Included in the complex are an outdoor pool, a jacuzzi, sand volleyball and basketball courts, and a clubhouse. The area is surrounded by an eight-foot fence with electronic access.
Public Radio
The University operates four radio stations affiliated with National Public Radio and Public Radio International and licensed to the LSU Board of Supervisors. KDAQ (89.9FM) originates from studios on campus and broadcasts to over 2,000,000 residents of the Ark-La-Tex. KLSA (90.7FM), which signed on in December of 1986, originates on the LSU in Shreveport campus and serves more than 600,000 residents in the Central Louisiana Region. KBSA (90.9 FM) serves El Dorado, Arkansas. KLDN (88.9 FM) has offices in the Museum of East Texas in Lufkin, Texas, and serves Lufkin, Diboll, Nacogdoches, and Livingston, Texas. Broadcasting 24 hours a day, the stations provide listeners a broad selection of programs-news and information, humor, classical music, jazz, blues. This cultural service of the University is supported by underwriters, corporations and foundations, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and listeners.
University Computing Services
Comprehensive computing services are provided for students, faculty, staff, and administrators. An IBM ES 9000 Model 120, located in the Administration Building, provides interactive processing from several campus locations for support of both academic and administrative activities.
Additionally, the university has access to the IBM 3090 and IBM 3084 computers at LSU in Baton Rouge for remote batch and on-line processing. Also available in some laboratories and classrooms are microcomputers that provide access to the campus local area network and to the Internet. The most commonly used computer languages and statistical and utility packages are available for instruction, research, or production. Short courses and seminars keep the academic community informed of software and hardware developments.
University Police
The University employs a staff of full-time commissioned and apprentice officers who maintain campus security around the clock. In or out of uniform, these officers possess all authority granted to peace officers under state laws. Each commissioned officer has graduated from the Basic Law Enforcement Training Program or has had equivalent training or experience. When they see or learn of crimes, officers ordinarily arrest the persons and turn them over to the local police.
University police also handle registration of motor vehicles and investigate traffic accidents. Questions concerning the operation and parking of vehicles should be directed to an officer when the vehicle is registered. Detailed traffic regulations are printed in the Student Handbook and in brochures available at the time of vehicle registration.
University Development
The Office of Development directs programs to advance the university. The office handles gifts from the community, whether deferred gifts from individuals, gifts from corporations and foundations, or annual gifts from alumni. The Office of University Relations oversees two other entities as well:
The Office of Media and Public Relations organizes and directs a campus news bureau, cooperating with editors of newspapers and magazines, with managers of radio and television stations, and with other individuals or groups in the dissemination of University related news. The Office also publishes and circulates LSUS News, an on-campus newsletter, Speakers Roster, LSUS fact sheets, and a campus calendar. The office provides consultation for other University publications, as well.
The Alumni Affairs Office directs the activities
of the University's alumni association, including alumni fund-raising,
scholarship programs, and the alumni annual fund. The office maintains
the alumni master file and coordinates the work of the Alumni Board of
Directors.