University of Louisiana System


The University of Louisiana System is a public university system in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It enrolls more students than the other three public university systems in the state. Its headquarters are in the Claiborne Building in Baton Rouge.

History

The system was founded in 1996. The system's universities enroll more than 90,500 students and offer more than 700 academic degree programs.

Member institutions

The University of Louisiana System has nine member institutions:
The System President and CEO is Dr. Jim Henderson, former president of Northwestern State University and former chancellor of Bossier Parish Community College. Henderson was named by the Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana October 2016, after a nationwide search to replace former president Sandra Woodley who resigned in November 2015. He began the role, January 1, 2016.
Interim System President Dan Reneau filled the top job from January through December 2015.
One of the system's former supervisors is the late Jimmy D. Long of Natchitoches, considered an authority on educational funding and innovation. The large Finance & Facilities Planning Division was headed by Nick Bruno, Vice President for Business & Finance, for five years from 2005 to 2010, whereupon Bruno was selected to serve as president of the University of Louisiana at Monroe.
From 2001 to 2008, the system president was Sally Clausen, the former president of Southeastern Louisiana University and from 2008 to 2010 the state commissioner of higher education. Future Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal served as the youngest president of the University of Louisiana system, at age 28.

Naming conventions

In 1999, the University of Southwestern Louisiana became the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Northeast Louisiana University became the University of Louisiana at Monroe, based on legislation passed in 1995. ULS policy requires both school's abbreviated names to include the municipality, precluding the use of "UL" alone. In 2013, Woodley stated that the policy does not address stand-alone usage of "Louisiana" including within athletics, where usage of particular monikers and acronyms became a point of contention.