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Louisiana Tech University, located in Ruston, Louisiana, is a coeducational public university with an approximate enrollment of 12,000 students. First instituted as the Industrial Institute and College of Louisiana in 1894, and then as Louisiana Polytechnic Institute in 1921, it is perhaps best known for its engineering, professional aviation, arts and architecture programs and its athletics, especially football and women's basketball. Louisiana Tech is a selective-admissions university and is attended by students from 50 states and 70 countries. The university runs on the quarter system rather than the more widely used semester system.

Overview

Louisiana Tech operates on the quarter system while awarding semester hours. Three quarters (fall, winter, spring) equal two semesters at other universities. This means that a full-time student takes 8 to 12 hours at time, equating to fewer classes with more time per class. Class times are generally either twice a week at 1 hour 50 minutes, or three times a week at 1 hour 15 minutes. Louisiana Tech operates a satellite campus at Barksdale Air Force base in Shreveport and maintains an academic relationship with Grambling State University, the area's primarily African-American college which operates on a semester system, located a few miles west of Ruston in Grambling, La.

Its men's sports teams are known as Bulldogs; women's teams are called Lady Techsters. The Bulldog football team has earned a reputation of being something of a 'giant killer' from recently having defeated such teams as Fresno State, Alabama, Boise State, Oklahoma State, Miss. St., California, and Michigan State- all on the road.

Following Hurricane Katrina Louisiana Tech, like many other universities, opened its doors to those displaced by the storm. Students and non-students alike were welcomed into the Ruston community while the reconstruction efforts continued in southern Louisiana. Affected students were offered deferred tuition while non-students were allowed to stay in a dorm previously scheduled for demolition. Additionally, the Bulldog athletic program also opened up the football facilities including dorms, weight rooms, practice fields, and stadium to the Tulane Green Wave.

Louisiana Tech, a member of the University of Louisiana System, has recently moved up from the Fourth to the Third Tier in the prestigious US News & World Report listing of National Universities. The move up effectively acknowledges, in a national forum, Louisiana Tech's status as an academic institution on par with the much larger Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Requirements for admission for all applicants includes at least a 15 Composite ACT Score or a 710 combined SAT score, and at least a 2.0/4.0 high school grade point average. Average ACT Score of incoming freshmen as of the 2005/06 school year was 22.5.

Louisiana Tech supports 378 faculty, 69% who hold the doctoral degree. Racially, Tech's faculty as of 2005 is 91% white, 2% African American, and 7% other races.

Student life

The city of Ruston offers limited entertainment options, so students spend a large amount of their free time participating in on-campus activities. Students can participate in Greek life, religious sponsored activities, intramural athletics, or the Student Government Association. For students interested in more focused activities, Louisiana Tech offers many special interest organizations. Among these are a student-run radio station and closed-circuit television station Louisiana TechTV, as well as service organizations such as Circle K (Kiwanis) and Habitat for Humanity. Additionally, students often haunt one of several local bars or take roadtrips to Monroe, Louisiana (~30mi), Shreveport, Louisiana (~70mi), or Dallas, Texas (~200mi) in order to find entertainment. Due to Louisiana's presence in the Bible Belt, religion is a large component of many student's lives, as reflected in the abundance of on-campus religious organizations.

Though Louisiana Tech would not fit the traditional definition of a commuter school, a large number of students leave the campus on weekends. For this reason, many students refer to Tech as a "suitcase college." Some students opt to spend the weekend at home visiting friends, while others hold down jobs outside of Ruston. Though those students remaining on campus enjoy the increased availability of parking and other ammenities, administrators continue to search for ways to keep students in Ruston during the weekend. Things may be improving: In 2005, several chain restaurants opened their doors in anticipation of a movie theater chain which has announced an intent to build the first extant cineplex in northern Ruston.

Quick Facts

  • Type - Four-year selective admissions university awarding bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees
  • Enrollment - 11,710 students from 50 states and 70 countries
  • Freshman class - 1,914 students
  • Student/Faculty Ratio - 23:1
  • Average Freshman ACT - 22.5
  • Academic Calendar - Quarter system awarding semester hours. Three quarters (fall, winter, spring) equals two semesters at other universities.
  • Affordability - Approximately 80% of students receive some form of financial assistance. Tuition in 2004-05 is $3,647 for state residents and $7,442 for out-of-state students (based on 8 or more credit hours per quarter - excludes summer school)
  • Athletics - with 16 sports, the Bulldogs and Lady Techsters compete in the Western Athletic Conference of Division I of the NCAA
  • Louisiana Tech's colors are Red and Reflex Blue.
  • President Daniel Reneau began the biomedical engineering program at Tech while a professor in 1972.
  • In 2005, Louisiana Tech began the first undergraduate program in the nation in Nanosystems Engineering
  • Social Greek-letter organizations' memberships comprise approximately 10% of the undergraduate population. The campus has nine North-American Interfraternity Conference-recognized fraternities and four sororities recognized by the National Panhellenic Conference.

Points of interest

Notable alumni

External links

Louisiana Tech University | Universities and colleges in Louisiana

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Louisiana Tech University".

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