Students interested in the legal profession should carefully select a degree program as soon as possible, preferably during the freshman year.

They should keep abreast of all qualitative standards for admission to law schools and be aware that a B.A. degree is a minimum condition for admission to most law schools. Since lawyers must read, write, and speak effectively, and since words are the basic tools of the profession, students should select courses that emphasize the English language, human institutions and values, and the ability to think creatively, analytically, and logically. Although not required, French is recommended for those planning legal careers in Louisiana.

The prelaw advisers in the College of Liberal Arts can provide information concerning this program, the Law School Admission Test, and other matters concerning students interested in the legal profession.
 

The College of Liberal Arts cooperates with the Division of Continuing Education and Public Service in offering occasional summer programs abroad.

Students may earn six hours of academic credit through participation in lectures and tutorials presented while visiting Continental Europe and England. Credit courses are offered for undergraduate and graduate students; noncredit courses, for members of the community. Further information is available in the College of Liberal Arts and the Division of Continuing Education and Public Service.
 

The Red River Regional Studies Center pursues interdisciplinary studies, research, and services directed toward all aspects of the Red River region, with a special emphasis on archival, historical, and social sciences services. The components of the Center include the library Archives, the Oral History Program, the Pioneer Heritage Center, and the Social Sciences Research and Analysis Project. Also associated with the Center is the Journal of the North Louisiana Historical Association.
 

The American Studies Program encourages innovative teaching and creative exploration of topics in the social sciences, humanities, and arts related to the general field of the American heritage. A sound knowledge of the history, culture, and values of the American experience is necessary for a sound civic education, and this privately endowed program attempts to meet this need for the students of LSU in Shreveport and the citizens of northwest Louisiana.

The program sponsors forums, seminars, and fellowships on the LSU in Shreveport campus, as well as travel and internship experiences that allow students to study each year in Washington, D.C. In cooperation with Continuing Education and Public Service, the College of Liberal Arts enables interested undergraduate students to develop a sequence of courses in American Studies.

Further information on the American Studies Program is available from the College of Liberal Arts or from the Director of the American Studies Program.
 

American Humanics is a leadership and academic program that can transform one from a willing worker to a productive professional. It is open to any undergraduate major or baccalaureate degree holder. The American Humanics Certificate Program at LSU in Shreveport is designed to compliment a student's major. With minimal additional coursework beyond the normal required for graduation, students can be certified and prepared for careers with voluntary youth and human service agencies. Questions regarding the LSU in Shreveport American Humanics Program should be directed to Professor Norman Dolch, Program Director, Bronson Hall Room 355.
 

The Women's Studies program offers courses and lecture series which encourage female students to explore their roles in their local community as well as in the global community to which we all belong. Its focus acknowledges the achievements of a diverse human culture and explores its capacity for growth and change. The program is housed for administrative purposes within the department of Fine Arts, Foreign Languages and Humanities within the College of Liberal Arts; its faculty, however, are drawn from many departments across campus.
 

A broadly based program of 33 semester hours, the Master of Arts in Liberal Arts (MLA) offers the mature student a graduate program that is interdisciplinary in nature and nonprofessional in intent. It is oriented towards broad-based learning rather than the highly specialized training of more traditional graduate programs. It seeks to make the liberal arts more accessible to adults from all walks of life--teaching, journalism, law, medicine, social work, business, government, industry--by meeting the special interests and needs of those already established in their chosen vocations.

The specific purposes and goals of the Master of Arts in Liberal Arts program include the following:

1. To offer a broad, liberal arts education at the graduate level that will enhance the personal intellectual growth that is an asset in any field or vocation.
2. To encourage diverse perspectives that will develop a more comprehensive understanding of the relationships among the liberal arts, which include such disciplines as communications, philosophy, history, the arts, the social sciences, the natural sciences, and literature and languages.
3. To provide multiple options of study within a flexible and coherent multidisciplinary framework, expanding vocational and avocational interests and stimulating intellectual inquiry.
4. To increase abilities in oral and written communication and competence in the evaluation of information, ideas, opinions, and value systems.

Policies and regulations pertaining to the Master of Arts in Liberal Arts degree program are discussed under "Graduate Programs."