At LSU in Shreveport, we are very pleased to be stepping outside of the traditional model of higher education. We are Northwest Louisiana’s public comprehensive university and as such, we offer bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs meeting the needs of individuals and employers in this part of the state and beyond. Through our extensive online degree offerings, we have extended our programs’ reach to all of Louisiana and students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries. Having said that, it’s important to note why it is in our interest to enroll students from such a wide range of locales. When individuals from all over the country and indeed the world, send their money to Shreveport, we invest it here, hiring faculty and staff who live and work right here in Shreveport, paying taxes, shopping at our stores and eating at our restaurants and thus providing direct benefit to our community.
We have developed our vibrant program mix intentionally to meet the needs of our community, matching student interests and workforce needs in the region with programs. Moreover, we have been regularly launching new, cutting-edge programs in high need areas, in order to meet evolving needs for well-educated workers. And we are not stopping there. As a result of this, LSU Shreveport has been the fastest growing university in Louisiana over the past ten years and over the same period, we are the third fastest growing comprehensive university in the United States. Thanks to this growth, LSUS now awards more degrees every year than any other university in Louisiana, except for our main campus in Baton Rouge and we award more graduate degrees than any other university in the state. Further, we are setting graduation records nearly every semester. Most recently, we graduated more than 1,600 students at our Summer 2026 Commencement – for an all-time summer record. Overall, we graduated nearly 5,000 students over the past year.
As this region’s public university, LSUS is here to educate our students, but also to support the community in numerous other ways. We provide economic forecasting for the region through our CBER (Center for Business and Economic Research); we support nonprofits throughout the state through our INAR (Institute for Nonprofit Administration and Research). One of our newest initiatives is our Center for Northwest Louisiana Regional Impact, which works to connect local businesses, governmental and other entities with our faculty, staff and students. Soon, we plan to launch a Small Business Development Center on our campus, to assist small businesses in the region to get started and thrive. Finally, we recently entered into a partnership with the Martin Luther King Neighborhood Association’s Connected Learning Center, where we will be providing workforce training in medical billing and coding. As we grow this partnership, we expect to offer other workforce training opportunities, helping residents of northwest Shreveport gain much-needed skills in an in-demand area.
We are engaged in these initiatives because we are a critical supporter of the economic growth and vitality of this region we all call home.
As Chancellor of LSU in Shreveport, I am incredibly proud of the work our faculty and staff are doing in this community every day, making northwest Louisiana a better place to live and work.
Dr. Robert T. Smith, LSU Shreveport Chancellor