Lake Superior State University

Lake Superior State University is a small public university in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan. It is colloquially referred to as Lake State, Lake Superior State and LSSU.

Lake State is Michigan's smallest public university with an enrollment around 3,000 students. It is known for its academic programs such as fisheries and wildlife management, engineering, teacher education, nursing, geology, business management, fire science and criminal justice.

Lake State offers primarily bachelor's and associate's degrees, but also grants a Master of Arts in Curriculum and Instruction and many certificates. The university also offers joint programs with Sault College and Algoma University College in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Due to its remote location in the Upper Peninsula, it is one of three Michigan public universities that functions as both a university and a community collegeFerris State University and Northern Michigan University also function as both universities and community colleges.http://www.michigancc.net/cci/cclinks/index.tml.

Lake State was the first college in the United States to offer an accredited four-year Fire Science program. It is now one of three such programs in the nation.

LSSU is also one of only three universities in the United States to offer the robotics specialization in the Technology Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology accredited manufacturing engineering technology bachelor of science degree. LSSU is home to one of the best robotics educational facilities in North America.

The university's college radio station is WLSO, and its student newspaper is The Compass.

History

The insitution now known as Lake Superior State University was established in 1946 to address the needs of returning World War II veterans and to provide educational opportunities to the people of the Eastern Upper Peninsula. The 115-acre campus overlooks the St. Mary's River and the Soo Locks in the Michigan side of Sault Ste. Marie. The area that currently makes up the campus of Lake State served as Fort Brady from 1894 to 1944. Fourteen buildings on campus are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Much of the university's upbringings can be credited to Michigan College of Mining & Technology, which is now known as Michigan Technological University. The mining and technology college opened the Sault Ste. Marie Residence Center of the Michigan College of Mining & Technology, which was commonly shortened to Soo Tech. The original class consisted of 272 students. The institution was later renamed Lake Superior State College of Michigan Technological University in 1966. The college received autonomy from Michigan Tech in 1970 and was known as Lake Superior State College until 1987 when the institution was granted university status.http://www.lssu.edu/admissions/history.php

Traditions

Banished Words List: Each new year brings another installment of Lake State's List of Words and Phrases Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness. It has been going strong since New Year's Day 1976 and receives significant media coverage. Word-watchers pull nominations throughout the year from everyday speech, as well as from the news, fields of education, technology, advertising, politics, and more. A committee gathers the entries and chooses the best in December. The list is released on New Year's Day. http://www.lssu.edu/banished/

Hoholik Victory Bell: The bell, located outside the Norris Center and Taffy Abel Arena, is rung after each home victory. Fans gather around the bell as members of the hockey team make their way outside in the cold temperatures to ring the bell. This tradition was started after the bell was hung in the early 1980s. The original bell was replaced in 1992 after extensive damage from the 1992 NCAA Championship celebration.http://lssulakers.cstv.com/trads/lasu-trads.html

Ship's Horn: An authentic ship's horn is located within the Taffy Abel Arena, where the Lakers play home hockey games. The horn is mounted high on the wall behind the goal a visiting team defends for two periods. The powerful horn, operated on compressed air, blasts after each Laker goal and at the end of each home game.http://lssulakers.cstv.com/trads/lasu-trads.html

Snowman Burning: Each March, students, alumni and townsfolk gather around a 10 to 12 foot snowman on campus and light it on fire. The snowman burning is derived from a German tradition in which the mayor of the town burns a snowman to declare an end to winter. The snowmen are usually made out of wood, recycled paper, along with some straw, wire and some paint. In 1992 the event was canceled due to protests from the Environmental Awareness Club, a student group at Lake State. This decision upset many in the community, and the tradition was resumed in 1993.http://www.lssu.edu/snowman/

Snowmoblie Race: The city of Sault Ste. Marie puts on the annual I-500 snowmobile race held at a one-mile oval behind the Norris Center on the campus of Lake State. The event draws many crowds and is held the first Saturday of February.

Unicorn Hunters: The group officially retired in 1987, but their legacy lives on. The Unicorn Hungers largely existed to stir up media attention for the small university. The group established the banished words list and snowman burning. They also put on stone-skipping tournaments and started a literary magazine. As their name suggests, they also searched for unicorns. Once an ABC News crew found their way to the campus and filmed students "questing for unicorns." The university shows its playful side as it issues Unicorn Questing licenses.http://www.lssu.edu/banished/uh_about.php

Athletics

The school's nickname is the Lakers, but in some instances the athletic program is called the Soo Lakers in reference to the school's hometown. The most prominent sport at Lake State is men's ice hockey, which is the school's only NCAA Division I program. Division II sports at Lake State consist of men's and women's basketball, cross country, softball, track & field, men's and women's tennis and women's volleyball. Each of these teams participate in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, where Lake State is a charter member.http://www.gliac.org/media/history.asp The ice hockey team is a member of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.

The Lakers were once one of the nation's most feared collegiate hockey programs. They have appeared in the NCAA Tournament 10 times and have won three national championships at this level (1994, 1992 and 1988). The Lakers were tournament runner-up in 1993. They also won two NAIA national championships in 1974 and 1972 while playing in that association. The Lakers have taken the CCHA regular season title three times (1996, 1991 and 1988) and have won the CCHA conference tournament four times (1995, 1993, 1992 and 1991). Many of these players have gone on to play professionally in the NHL and other leagues. In recent years, however, the Lakers have struggled with a slew of subpar performances that found them at or near the bottom of their conference. Many long-time fans and alumni were spoiled by the team's past successes and found this unacceptable. In 2006, the Lakers finished sixth, which was their best performance since 2000. Some point to this as the start of a rebirth while others think that the Lakers will remain a mediocre team in a conference with perennial powers such as Michigan and Michigan State.http://www.uscho.com/archives/

Other athletic programs play in the shadow of the hockey team at Lake State, but the women's basketball team has found recent success. They were the 2005, 2004, 2003 and 2002 GLIAC North Division regular season champions. The Lakers also took home the conference tournament championship in 2004 and 2003.http://www.gliac.org/archive/2005/womens/basketball/honors/wbasketball_record_book.pdf

The men's basketball team captured the 1996, 1978 and 1976 GLIAC regular season titles. In 1996 they also won the tournament championship. http://www.gliac.org/archive/2005/mens/basketball/honors/mbasketball_record_book.pdf

Prior to becoming the Lakers, this institution's sports teams were known as the Hornets. They also fielded a football team under the Soo Tech moniker from 1948 to 1950. http://lssulakers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/121605aaa.html

Notable alumni

Sports

Bates Battaglia 1994-1997 Washington (NHL)*

John Grahame 1994-1997 Tampa Bay (NHL)*

Brian Rolston 1991-1993 Boston (NHL)*

Doug Weight 1989-1991 St. Louis (NHL)*

manager Paul Boyer 1988-1993 Detroit Red Wings (NHL)

References

External links