University of Louisiana at Lafayette

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University of Louisiana at Lafayette
French name	l'Université des Acadiens
Established	1900
School type	Public, Coed
President	Ray P. Authement
Location	Lafayette, LA USA
Campus	Urban
Enrollment	15,564 undergraduate 1,511 graduate 17,075 total enrollment
Faculty	713
Athletic teams	Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns®
Colors	Vermilion and White
Homepage	www.louisiana.edu

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, or UL Lafayette,^[1] is a coeducational public research university located in Lafayette, Louisiana, in the heart of Acadiana. It is the largest campus within the eight-campus University of Louisiana System and the second largest university in 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 Southeastern Universities Research Association and is categorized as a Carnegie 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.^[2]

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 studies, only doctoral degree in cognitive science and only industrial design degree.

Contents 1 Campus and other facilities 2 Organization 2.1 Academics 2.2 Colleges and departments 3 Students 3.1 Academic achievements 3.2 Campus life 3.3 Greek life 4 Sports 5 History 6 Notable firsts 7 Notable alumni and faculty 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Campus and other facilities

Campus

UL Lafayette's campus consists of 137 acres (554,000 m²) lined by live oak trees planted in 1900. Its quadrangle 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, a swamp-like microcosm of the nearby Atchafalaya Basin, home to alligators, turtles, birds and fish.

Athletic complex

The athletic complex and Cajundome sit on 243 acres (983,000 m²). The complex also includes Cajun Field, Blackham Coliseum, 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 m²), which is home to the National Wetlands Research Center, a NASA Regional Application Center, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The nearby Center for Ecology and Environmental Technology has 51 acres (206,000 m²).

Renewable resources labs

The university has a 600-acre farm/renewable resources laboratory with a 30-acre pond for crawfish and catfish culture in Cade, Louisiana. It also has a 48-acre New Iberia Research Center in New Iberia, Louisiana, which is among the world's largest private non-human, primate breeding colonies. UL also has a horse farm in the center of Lafayette and several other farmlands around Acadiana.

[edit] 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 programs, and 9 Doctor of Philosophy programs, which are applied language and speech sciences, biology, cognitive science, computer engineering, computer science, educational leadership, English, Francophone studies and mathematics. 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.

[edit] Academics

UL Lafayette is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. All undergraduate programs at UL Lafayette that are eligible for accreditation by professional agencies are accredited.

UL Lafayette was featured in the 2006 edition of America's Best Value Colleges, a Princeton Review/Random House 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.

[edit] Colleges and departments

[edit] Students

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

[edit] Academic achievements

A group of UL Lafayette students participating in the Cajun Advanced Picosatellite Experiment (CAPE) are building a small artificial satellite, known as a CubeSat, that will be launched into orbit from the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2006. In 2004, UL Lafayette students and faculty produced CajunBot, one of 25 autonomous vehicles that competed in the U.S. Department of Defense DARPA Grand Challenge. CajunBot, which was featured on CNN, uses artificial intelligence 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. 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.

[edit] Campus life

• Student Government Association
• The Vermilion is the university's weekly student newspaper and was established in 1904.

[edit] Greek life

[edit] Sports

Main article: Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns

UL Lafayette's sports teams participate in NCAA Division I (I-A for football) in the Sun Belt Conference. 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.

[edit] History

• 1898 - State legislature 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, which only lasted a few days until overturned by a district court.
• 1999 - USL was renamed the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette).

Presidents
UL Lafayette has only had five presidents. The current president, Ray Authement, holds the second-longest term of a U.S. university president, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

President	Years
Edwin Lewis Stephens	1900-1938
Lether Edward Frazar	1938-1941
Joel Lafayette Fletcher	1941-1966
Clyde Lee Rougeou	1966-1974
Ray P. Authement	1974-present

[edit] Notable firsts

• 1954 - Within months of the Brown v. Board of Education decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, SLI admitted 70 African American students, to become the first all white college in the Deep South to achieve racial desegregation.
• 1961 - Established the first university chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for students.
• 1994 - Created North America's first Francophone studies Ph.D. program.

[edit] Notable alumni and faculty

Main article: List of University of Louisiana at Lafayette 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.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• University of Louisiana at Lafayette, official university website
• List of departmental websites
• Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns^®, official athletics website
• UL Lafayette Alumni Association, official alumni website

Public universities in Louisiana
Grambling • LSU • LSU-Alexandria • LSU-Eunice • LSU Health Sciences-New Orleans • LSU Health Sciences-Shreveport • LSU Law • LSU-Shreveport • Louisiana Tech • McNeese • New Orleans • Nicholls • Northwestern State • Southeastern • Southern • Southern Law • Southern-New Orleans • Southern-Shreveport • UL-Lafayette • UL-Monroe

Sun Belt Conference
Arkansas–Little Rock • Arkansas State • Denver • Florida Atlantic • Florida International • Louisiana–Lafayette • Lousiana–Monroe • Middle Tennessee • New Orleans • North Texas • South Alabama • Troy • Western Kentucky