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University of Louisiana
at Lafayette
French name l'Université des Acadiens
Established 1900
School type Public
Public school

The term public school has two distinct meanings depending on the location of usage:* in the United States, Australia and Canada: A school funded from tax revenue and most commonly administered to some degree by government or local government agencies....
, Coed
President E.






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University of Louisiana
at Lafayette
French name l'Université des Acadiens
Established 1900
School type Public
Public school

The term public school has two distinct meanings depending on the location of usage:* in the United States, Australia and Canada: A school funded from tax revenue and most commonly administered to some degree by government or local government agencies....
, Coed
President E. Joseph Savoie, Ed.D.
Location Lafayette
Lafayette

Lafayette, LaFayette, or La Fayette may refer to:...
, LA
Louisiana

The State of Louisiana is a U.S. state located in the U.S. Southern States of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans....
 USA
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
Campus Urban
Urban area

An urban area is an area with an increased Population density of human-created structures in comparison to the areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be city, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlet ....

Main Campus:
Other Campuses:
Total:
Enrollment 15,564 undergraduate
1,511 graduate
17,075 total enrollment
Faculty 713
Athletic teams Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns

Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns is the trademarked nickname of the athletic teams of The University of Louisiana at Lafayette. UL Lafayette, at that time known as the University of Southwestern Louisiana, was the first to adopt the nickname Ragin' Cajuns, using it initially in the 1960s to refer to its football team....
Mascot Cayenne
Colors Vermilion
Vermilion

Vermilion, sometimes spelled vermillion, when found naturally occurring, is an opaque Orange ish red pigment, used since antiquity, originally derived from the powdered mineral cinnabar....
 and White
Affiliations Sun Belt Conference
Sun Belt Conference

The Sun Belt Conference is a list of college athletic conferences that has been affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I since 1976 in sports....

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools is a regional educational accreditation agency for over 13,000 public and private educational institutions ranging from preschool to college level in the southern United States....
Homepage


The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, or UL Lafayette, is a coeducational public research university located in Lafayette
Lafayette, Louisiana

Lafayette is a city in and the parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the Vermilion River . The population was 110,257 at the 2000 United States Census; a 2007 census estimate put the Lafayette, Louisiana metropolitan area's population at 256,494....
, Louisiana
Louisiana

The State of Louisiana is a U.S. state located in the U.S. Southern States of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans....
, in the heart of Acadiana
Acadiana

Acadiana is the official name given to the French Louisiana region that is home to a large Francophone population. Of the 64 List of parishes in Louisiana that comprise Louisiana, 22 parishes, or about one-third of the total, make up Acadiana....
. It is the largest campus within the eight-campus University of Louisiana System
University of Louisiana System

The University of Louisiana System is one of four public University systems in the U.S. state of Louisiana.Since its formation in 1974, the University of Louisiana System, one of the nation's twenty largest public systems of higher education, has provided access to higher education through its eight universities located throughout the state...
 and is the second largest university in the state of Louisiana.

Founded in 1900 as an industrial institute, the university became known by its present name in 1999. The university is a member of the and is categorized as a Carnegie
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

Founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1905 and chartered in 1906 by an act of the United States Congress, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is an independent policy and research center, whose primary activities of research and writing have resulted in published reports on every level of education....
 RU/H: Research University (high research activity), the only UL system campus to receive the latter doctoral distinction and among the top 5% of all U.S. colleges.

UL Lafayette is recognized for excellence in computer science and its graduate program in evolutionary and environmental biology. It offers Louisiana's only PhD in Francophone
Francophone

The adjective francophone means French language-speaking, typically as primary language, whether referring to individuals, groups, or places. Often, the word is used as a noun to describe a natively French-speaking person....
 studies, only doctoral degree in cognitive science and only industrial design degree.

History


Timeline

  • 1898 - State approved the creation of an "industrial institute and academy."
  • 1900 - Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute (SLII) established.
  • 1901 - SLII opened Sept. 18 with 100 students and eight faculty members.
  • 1903 - 18 students were the first to graduate from SLII.
  • 1920 - Began a four-year course culminating with a bachelor of arts degree.
  • 1921 - SLII was upgraded to the Southwestern Louisiana Institute (SLI).
  • 1960 - SLI became the University of Southwestern Louisiana (USL).
  • 1984 - USL attempted to change its name to the University of Louisiana
    University of Louisiana

    At present, no single institution exists with the specific, official name of the University of Louisiana and no geographical designation. The historic public "University of Louisiana" became the private Tulane University of Louisiana....
    , which only lasted a few days until overturned by a district court.
  • 1999 - USL was renamed the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette).


Notable firsts

  • 1954 - Within months of the Brown v. Board of Education
    Brown v. Board of Education

    'Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka', Case citation , was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, which overturned earlier rulings going back to Plessy v....
     decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, SLI admitted 70 African American students, to become the first all white college in the Deep South
    Deep South

    The Deep South is a descriptive category of cultural and geographic subregions in the Southern United States. Historically, it is differentiated from the "Upper South" as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the antebellum period....
     to achieve racial desegregation
    Desegregation

    'Desegregation' is the process of ending racial segregation, most commonly used in reference to the United States. Desegregation was long a focus of the African-American Civil Rights Movement , both before and after the Supreme Court of the United States decision in Brown v....
    .
  • 1961 - Established the first university chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery
    Association for Computing Machinery

    The Association for Computing Machinery, or ACM, was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership was approximately 83,000 as of 2007....
     (ACM) for students.
  • 1994 - Created North America's first Francophone
    Francophone

    The adjective francophone means French language-speaking, typically as primary language, whether referring to individuals, groups, or places. Often, the word is used as a noun to describe a natively French-speaking person....
     studies Ph.D. program.
  • 2007 - The Cajun Advanced Picosatellite Experiment (CAPE) successfully launches the State of Louisiana's first university student built satellite.


Campus and other facilities

Campus:UL Lafayette's campus
Campus

A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a campus includes library, lecture halls, residence halls and park-like settings....
 consists of 137 acre
Acre

The acre is a Units of measurement of area in a number of different systems, including the Imperial unit#Measures of area and United States customary units#Units of area systems....
s (554,000 m˛) lined by live oak
Live oak

Live oak or evergreen oak is a general term for a number of unrelated oaks in several different sections of the genus Quercus that happen to share the characteristic of evergreen foliage....
 trees planted in 1900. Its quadrangle
Quadrangle (architecture)

In architecture, a quadrangle is a space or courtyard, usually rectangular in plan, the sides of which are entirely or mainly occupied by parts of a large building....
 is encircled by a "Walk of Honor" path which contains more than 80,000 bricks bearing the names of every graduate, beginning with the first graduating class of 1903.

Also centered in the main campus is Cypress Lake
Cypress Lake (Lafayette, Louisiana)

Cypress Lake is a swamp-like lake in the heart of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette campus that started as a American bison wallow. Today it is a unique university landmark that is a habitat for Iris versicolor, alligators, turtles, birds and fish, as well as a hangout for students and a point of interest for tourists visiting Lafayet...
, a swamp-like microcosm of the nearby Atchafalaya Basin
Atchafalaya Basin

The Atchafalaya Basin, or Atchafalaya Swamp, is the largest swamp in the United States. Located in south central Louisiana, it is a combination of wetlands and river delta area where the Atchafalaya River and the Gulf of Mexico converge....
, home to alligators, turtles, birds and fish.

Athletic complex:The athletic
Athletic

Athletic may refer to:* An athlete, or sportsperson* Athletic director, a position at many American universities and schools* Athletic type, a physical/psychological type in the classification of Ernst Kretschmer...
 complex and Cajundome
Cajundome

The Cajundome is a 12,068 seat multi-purpose arena in Lafayette, Louisiana. The arena was completed in 1985, during the administration of Mayor Dud Lastrapes, at a cost of $64 million....
 sit on 243 acres (983,000 m˛). The complex also includes Cajun Field
Cajun Field

Cajun Field is a stadium located in the city of Lafayette, Louisiana. Nicknamed The Swamp, it is the home field of the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns....
, Blackham Coliseum
Blackham Coliseum

Blackham Coliseum is a multipurpose arena in Lafayette, Louisiana. It was built on the University of Louisiana at Lafayette campus in 1950 as the home to the then named University of Louisiana at Lafayette Bulldogs, now called the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns basketball teams....
, several other athletic facilities for training and competitions, fraternity and sorority rows, and the physical education and recreational facilities.

Research park:Adjacent to the athletic complex is the University Research Park of 148 acres (599,000 m˛), which is home to the National Wetlands Research Center
National Wetlands Research Center

The National Wetlands Research Center was founded in 1975 as part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Office of Biological Services. Its headquarters are located in Lafayette, Louisiana....
, a NASA
NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the Federal government of the United States, responsible for the nation's public list of space agencies....
 , and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The nearby Center for Ecology and Environmental Technology has 51 acres (206,000 m˛).

Renewable resources labs:The university has a farm
Farm

A farm is an area of land, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibers and, increasingly, fuel....
/renewable resources laboratory with a 30 acre pond for crawfish and catfish
Catfish

Catfish are a very diverse group of Actinopterygii fish. Named for their prominent barbel s, which resemble a cat's whiskers , catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest, the Pangasius gigas from Southeast Asia and the longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores , and even to a tiny parasite species commonly called the ca...
 culture in Cade, Louisiana. It also has a 48 acre in New Iberia, Louisiana
New Iberia, Louisiana

New Iberia is a city in and the parish seat of Iberia Parish, Louisiana, Louisiana, United States, 30 miles southeast of Lafayette, Louisiana....
, which is among the world's largest private non-human, primate
Primate

A primate is a member of the biological order Primates , the group that contains lemurs, the Aye-aye, Lorisidaes, galagos, tarsiers, monkeys, and apes, with the last category including humans....
 breeding colonies. The university also has a horse farm in the center of Lafayette and several other farmlands around Acadiana.

Organization

UL Lafayette has 10 colleges and schools, one of the largest honors program in Louisiana and offers 80 undergraduate degree programs, 29 master's degree
Master's degree

A master's degree provides a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of profession. Within the area studied, graduates possess advanced knowledge of a specialized body of theory and applied topics; high order skills in analysis, Critical thinking and/or professional application; and the ability to problem solving a...
 programs, and 9 Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated Ph.D. or PhD for the Latin , meaning "teacher of philosophy", is an postgraduate academic degree awarded by University....
 programs, which are applied language and speech sciences
Applied linguistics

Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of study that identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems....
, biology
Biology

Biology is a branch of the natural sciences concerned with the study of living organisms and their interaction with each other and their environment ....
, cognitive science
Cognitive science

Cognitive science may be concisely defined as the study of the nature of intelligence. It draws on multiple empirical disciplines, including psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, linguistics, anthropology, computer science, sociology and biology....
, computer engineering
Computer engineering

Computer Engineering is a discipline that combines elements of both Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Computer engineers are electrical engineers that have additional training in the areas of software design and hardware-software integration....
, computer science
Computer science

Computer science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation, and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems....
, educational leadership, English
English studies

English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics , and English sociolinguistics ....
, Francophone studies
Francophone

The adjective francophone means French language-speaking, typically as primary language, whether referring to individuals, groups, or places. Often, the word is used as a noun to describe a natively French-speaking person....
 and mathematics
Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space, change, and related topics of pattern and form. Mathematicians seek out patterns whether found in numbers, space, natural science, computers, imaginary abstractions, or elsewhere....
. It is the sole Louisiana university with a separate College of the Arts.

The Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum permanent collection consists of more than 1,500 works of art, including paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, and photographs. This collection represents 18th, 19th and 20th century Louisiana, as well as the United States, Europe and Japan
Japanese art

Japanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture in wood and bronze, ink painting on silk and paper, and a myriad of other types of works of art....
.

Academic profile

UL Lafayette is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools is a regional educational accreditation agency for over 13,000 public and private educational institutions ranging from preschool to college level in the southern United States....
. All undergraduate programs at UL Lafayette that are eligible for accreditation
School accreditation

Educational accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of an educational institution or program are evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met....
 by professional agencies are accredited.

UL Lafayette was featured in the 2006 edition of America's Best Value Colleges, a Princeton Review
The Princeton Review

The Princeton Review is an United States educational preparation company. It offers test preparation for standardized aptitude tests such as the SAT and advice regarding college admissions....
/Random House
Random House

Random House, Inc. is the world's largest English-language general trade book publisher. It has been owned since 1998 by the large German Privately held company media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing....
 college guidebook, which spotlighted fewer than 100 U.S. schools. The university was included in the 2005 edition of The Best 357 Colleges, its MBA program was included in the 2005 edition of The Best 143 Business Schools and its business school was featured in the 2007 edition of The Best 282 Business Schools — all three publications of The Princeton Review. The university graduates about 1,100 students each fall and spring.

Colleges and departments




Student life


  • UL Lafayette students represent 53 states and possessions.
  • 709 are international students from diverse countries.


Academic achievements

A group of UL Lafayette students participating in the are building a small artificial satellite
Satellite

In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an Physical body which has been placed into orbit by human endeavor. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
, known as a CubeSat
CubeSat

A CubeSat is a type of miniaturized satellite for space research that usually has a volume of exactly one litre, weighs no more than one kilogram, and typically uses commercial, off-the-shelf electronics components....
, that will be launched into orbit from the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2006. In 2004, UL Lafayette students and faculty produced , one of 25 autonomous vehicles that competed in the U.S. Department of Defense DARPA Grand Challenge
DARPA Grand Challenge

The DARPA Grand Challenge is a prize competition for driverless cars, sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency , the most prominent research organization of the United States United States Department of Defense....
. CajunBot, which was featured on CNN
CNN

Cable News Network, almost always referred to by its initialism CNN, is a major US Cable News Network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first station to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television network in the United States....
, uses artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science which aims to create it. Major AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents,"...
 and GPS positioning to navigate a designated route while detecting and avoiding obstacles.

The biology department has several distinguished professors who are contributing significantly to research on restoration of Louisiana's coastal wetlands
Wetlands of Louisiana

The wetlands of Louisiana are water-saturated coastal and swamp regions of southern Louisiana.The United States Environmental Protection Agency defines wetlands as "an area that is regularly saturated by surface water or groundwater and is characterized by a prevalence of vegetation that is adapted for life in saturated soil conditions ."...
. The university also inaugurated the $29M technology initiative L.I.T.E., which offers the largest known three-dimensional-immersive auditorium for visualization of fully interactive 3D models and data sets for seismic analysis, computer-aided modeling, product stress test analysis and a host of other applications that require visualization of large data sets for scientists.

Organizations

  • is the university's weekly student newspaper and was established in 1904.


Greek life

UL Lafayette has several social, Greek-letter fraternities and sororities that back as early as 1920.


National Pan-Hellenic Council
National Pan-Hellenic Council

The National Pan-Hellenic Council is a collaborative organization of nine historically African American, international greek alphabet fraternities and sororities....
 (historically black, international Greek-lettered fraternities and sororities)


Academic National Organizations
Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia
Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia

Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia is a collegiate social fraternity for men with an interest in music. The fraternity is also referred to as Phi Mu Alpha or Sinfonia, and its members are known as Sinfonians....
 (1947) and Sigma Alpha Iota
Sigma Alpha Iota

Sigma Alpha Iota , International Music Fraternity. Formed to "uphold the highest ideals of a music education" and "to further the development of music in America", it continues to provide musical and educational resources to its members and the general public....
 (1943), although not affiliated with any certain conference or council, hold charters as campus organizations.

Athletics


UL Lafayette's sports teams participate in NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a voluntary association of about 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and University in the United States ....
 Division I (I FBS for football
College football

College football is American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American University, colleges, and United States military academies....
) in the Sun Belt Conference
Sun Belt Conference

The Sun Belt Conference is a list of college athletic conferences that has been affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I since 1976 in sports....
. Sports media often refer to the university as Louisiana-Lafayette. The letters "ULL" are used to identify the school by several publications and television stations based outside of Lafayette, although the university does not recognize it as an official designation.

Notable people


UL Lafayette notable alumni have held posts as business bellwethers, government and military leaders, Olympic and professional athletes, artists and entertainers. Also several distinguished faculty members have taught at the university.

Presidents

UL Lafayette has only had six presidents. Ray Authement holds the longest term of a U.S. public university president, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

On April 28, 2007, Ray Authement announced to the University of Louisiana System board and the UL Lafayette campus his resignation, effective when the new president is ready to take the position. The new President was announced on December 6, 2007 as E. Joseph Savoie

President Years
Edwin Lewis Stephens 1900-1938
Lether Edward Frazar
Lether Frazar

Lether Edward Frazar was the Democratic Party lieutenant governor of Louisiana under Governor Earl Kemp Long from 1956-1960, who had earlier, as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from Beauregard Parish, authored the state teacher retirement law....
 		 1938-1941
Joel Lafayette Fletcher 1941-1966
Clyde Lee Rougeou 1966-1974
Ray P. Authement 1974-2008
E. Joseph Savoie 2008-Present


External links

  • , official university website
  • , official athletics website
  • , official alumni website