Southern University One of Southeast's Hidden Gems





Southern's engineering program is one of the best in the country, with a lot of support through its math and physic programs. IMO, Southern should heavily invest more in its engineering program. When I finished in engineering in 89, most companies came to Southern's campus to recruit engineering graduates. I think companies like Boeing are looking to hiring more engineers to change its business model. Bottomline bean counters have damaged the brand and quality of products of a lot of good companies. A person definitely can get more bang for their buck through Southern's engineering program.
 
Once all the red type is done and they start construction on the new Science (Stem Complex) you will see a big push in the area.. The CS program program just in the last 4 year's with the help of DTX and cyber security is growing.

I did not know but SU's Master's programs in Urban Forestry, Rehabilitation, and Environmental Toxicology programs are all nationally ranked not among hbcus but among top-tier University's

SU nursing program is one of the best in Louisiana and among all HBCU, my only issue is that it should of been ONLINE YEARS ago... I don't know why the BSN OR MSN program is not online. I have always said to keep the money in the system especially in that field they should of work in the system for a online component with the branch campuses. Almost all of the ADN students at the Shreveport campus go to LTECH or NWST and SUNO is starting a nursing program soon.. The system needs to get its act together and get the ball moving. Delgado is the largest CC in the State and the biggest producer of ADN.., SUNO could be the feeder program with a BSN program thru SUBR
 
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I agree with both Jagsc and jag89. The engineering program at SU is absolutely a gem and has been top notch for a long time. The school of nursing has been Louisiana's "Nursing School of the Year" at least four times in the last 12 to 15 years. For several years the nursing school had a 100% passage on the nursing licensure examination. This fact lead to the state giving the nod to SU offering the doctorate in nursing. The law school is another gem as is the Mandela School of Public Policy. And like jagsc has said, once the $47 million STEM complex is built, engineering, mathematics, and physics will elevate to even higher heights. As a side note, my nephew was the only student to graduate from SU in physics(3.6 gpa) this past December, 2019. He transfered to SU from Louisiana Tech 21/2 years ago with a 3.45 gpa, a school which he hated, both racially and socially. However, he fell in love with SU and regreted that he had bypassed it in the first place. He received 11 offers from major universities all over the country to pursue their masters/doctorate programs, free of tuition and fees. A black man in physics is a rarity. He has decided to purasue his masters at SU, which he could do within a year having already taken multiple graduate level courses and done major graduate level research. He contends that having a masters degree in hand would make him even more attractive to larger schools as a doctoral candidate. I think SU should ramp up its recruitment of black physics students. Based on my nephew's experience, the sky is the limit.
 
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With the coronavirus happening I think that it is time for the University to really focus on online education. Tbh all Social Sciences and liberal arts degrees need to be online.

SU needs to focus it's on CAMPUS setting on STEM, AG, and Social Science Research.
www.subr.edu

Southern University selected as pilot institution for CIA recruitment, workforce program

The Southern University System and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on Monday entered into an unprecedented partnership to benefit students and faculty. The agreement will serve as the foundational framework for the university system’s participation in the CIA’s recruitment and workforce...
www.subr.edu www.subr.edu

Computer Science Department | Southern University and A&M College

Southern University and A&M College, the flagship of the Southern University System, is a historically Black, 1890 Land-Grant Institution. The University provides opportunities for a diverse student population to achieve a high-quality, global educational experience, to engage in scholarly...
www.subr.edu www.subr.edu
These programs(above) really needs to start being a springboard for the University among several other programs.

As I said in the post before Graduate( rehabilitation services, urban forestry, environmental toxicology are all nationally rank) again needs to be build upon success. ( more research funding, better research components.

Nursing Online (with the success of nursing I wonder if SU may look into a PA program or bridge program with OLOLUniversity (baton rouge)

Infrastructure needs to be at the forefront.. A lot of buildings need to be torn down asap. Cut down on maintenance, newer buildings needs to be consolidated and uniform.

I hate to even take it this far, but SU might have to bring a case to LA supreme court on funding.. I know people may not want to bring it that far...But if you look at SU compared to its research level HBCUS (NCAT, PVAM,Morgan State, we are falling behind when it comes to infrastructure etc..I would put FAMU on the list but I really can't respect a school where Half of your successful programs are bridge with FSU in some capacity.
 
JAGSC said:
With the coronavirus happening I think that it is time for the University to really focus on online education. Tbh all Social Sciences and liberal arts degrees need to be online.

SU needs to focus it's on CAMPUS setting on STEM, AG, and Social Science Research.
www.subr.edu

Southern University selected as pilot institution for CIA recruitment, workforce program

The Southern University System and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on Monday entered into an unprecedented partnership to benefit students and faculty. The agreement will serve as the foundational framework for the university system’s participation in the CIA’s recruitment and workforce...
www.subr.edu www.subr.edu

Computer Science Department | Southern University and A&M College

Southern University and A&M College, the flagship of the Southern University System, is a historically Black, 1890 Land-Grant Institution. The University provides opportunities for a diverse student population to achieve a high-quality, global educational experience, to engage in scholarly...
www.subr.edu www.subr.edu
These programs(above) really needs to start being a springboard for the University among several other programs.

As I said in the post before Graduate( rehabilitation services, urban forestry, environmental toxicology are all nationally rank) again needs to be build upon success. ( more research funding, better research components.

Nursing Online (with the success of nursing I wonder if SU may look into a PA program or bridge program with OLOLUniversity (baton rouge)

Infrastructure needs to be at the forefront.. A lot of buildings need to be torn down asap. Cut down on maintenance, newer buildings needs to be consolidated and uniform.
Click to expand...

I think one thing that set SU back was an enrollment decline several years ago. We are starting to grow our enrollment again (over 7800 on campus including the law school), but NCAT (over 11,000) and PV (over 9500) have in recent years experienced an explosion in enrollment growth, which might justify their construction boom. I know SU's current master plan calls for a system enrollment of 20,000 students by the year 2035, and I hope it can come close to that aggressive projection. The system currently enrolls just over 13,000 students.
 
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Earle said:
I agree with both Jagsc and jag89. The engineering program at SU is absolutely a gem and has been top notch for a long time. The school of nursing has been Louisiana's "Nursing School of the Year" at least four times in the last 12 to 15 years. For several years the nursing school had a 100% passage on the nursing licensure examination. This fact lead to the state giving the nod to SU offering the doctorate in nursing. The law school is another gem as is the Mandela School of Public Policy. And like jagsc has said, once the $47 million STEM complex is built, engineering, mathematics, and physics will elevate to even higher heights. As a side note, my nephew was the only student to graduate from SU in physics(3.6 gpa) this past December, 2019. He transfered to SU from Louisiana Tech 21/2 years ago with a 3.45 gpa, a school which he hated, both racially and socially. However, he fell in love with SU and regreted that he had bypassed it in the first place. He received 11 offers from major universities all over the country to pursue their masters/doctorate programs, free of tuition and fees. A black man in physics is a rarity. He has decided to purasue his masters at SU, which he could do within a year having already taken multiple graduate level courses and done major graduate level research. He contends that having a masters degree in hand would make him even more attractive to larger schools as a doctoral candidate. I think SU should ramp up its recruitment of black physics students. Based on my nephew's experience, the sky is the limit.
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Good point, I was looking at the list of graduates from SU one year and hardly any were in Engineering or Physics. SU graduates less than 50 engineering and physic graduates per year and I of course I know why that is. But I believe it can go up to over 100 with the right amount of support and recruitment of highly motivated students. And not all highly motivated students have stellar high school grades so they need to know how to spot STEM talent.

@JAG89 You're a pretty book smart man ... engineering is hard. Everybody I know with engineering degrees (very few people) were strong students.

@Earle Texas Southern and Jackson State also have impressive facilities which of course improves the reputation of the school. SU definitely needs to step up with investing in academic buildings b/c I hear so many students don't take SU seriously b/c most of the campus is literally falling apart. TSU has a nice size population from Louisiana and that's what they say when I ask why not SU. To be honest a lot of our campus was in really bad shape until 2008 ... Dr. Rudley fixed all that damn near immediately b/c he came from UH and knew what a college campus should look like. TSU today looks almost like a new campus compared to 15 years ago.
 
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tsugraytiger said:
Good point, I was looking at the list of graduates from SU one year and hardly any were in Engineering or Physics. SU graduates less than 50 engineering and physic graduates per year and I of course I know why that is. But I believe it can go up to over 100 with the right amount of support and recruitment of highly motivated students. And not all highly motivated students have stellar high school grades so they need to know how to spot STEM talent.

@JAG89 You're a pretty book smart man ... engineering is hard. Everybody I know with engineering degrees (very few people) were strong students.

@Earle Texas Southern and Jackson State also have impressive facilities which of course improves the reputation of the school. SU definitely needs to step up with investing in academic buildings b/c I hear so many students don't take SU seriously b/c most of the campus is literally falling apart. TSU has a nice size population from Louisiana and that's what they say when I ask why not SU. To be honest a lot of our campus was in really bad shape until 2008 ... Dr. Rudley fixed all that damn near immediately b/c he came from UH and knew what a college campus should look like. TSU today looks almost like a new campus compared to 15 years ago.
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Actually, several kids start off in engineering, but many can't keep up, so they transfer into other majors. I have a first cousin who started off in engineering at Southern. She wasn't able to keep up, so she dropped out of school all together. Later in life, she re-enrolled at Northwestern State University in accounting and graduated summa cum laude in her class. She thought engineering was too hard and demanding.

Not all facilities on SU's campus are old and dilapidated. The picture shown in the article is SU's engineering school (P.B.S. Pinchback Engineering Building). It's only a few years old. The article specifically mentioned that SU had a strong engineering program.

1588078634589.png
 
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JAG89 said:
Actually, several kids start off in engineering, but many can't keep up, so they transfer into other majors. I have a first cousin who started off in engineering at Southern. She wasn't able to keep up, so she dropped out of school all together. Later in life, she re-enrolled at Northwestern State University in accounting and graduated summa cum laude in her class. She thought engineering was too hard and demanding.

Not all facilities on SU's campus are old and dilapidated. The picture shown in the article is SU's engineering school (P.B.S. Pinchback Engineering Building). It's only a few years old. The article specifically mentioned that SU had a strong engineering.

View attachment 9857
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Engineering programs are very demanding and attracts serious students and increases on campus research which is why I was so excited when TSU added it in 2015. I know all SU facilities are not bad, I think the engineering building is the most impressive on campus (I been on campus so many times).
 
Tbh if SU gets its facilities up to par with HBCU institutions alot of schools will see a enrollment drop. I have always said just look at the product now, we still produce in engineering, nursing etc. The biggest draw back to recruit out of state is the facilities not the product.

The new STEM Complex will help alot, I would like to see a new student union building..

Future plans also will moved the law school off campus to downtown.. Hopefully they can expand and renovate and turn the law building into a academic facility

Hopefully they can start clearing land for this soon
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DXC one of the World's Largest Tech Firms moved its HQ to NOLA. They are already pumping millions into the ENGINEERING AND CS program.. I suspect the numbers will grow.
www.southerndigest.com

$25 Million and a New Building: Tech Partnerships Paying dividends for CMPS Department

The computer science department is a relatively newer program at Southern University, as it just moved into the former architecture building a little over three years ago. Despite this, the
www.southerndigest.com www.southerndigest.com

www.subr.edu

Southern University and Entergy announce $2 Million Engineering Education Initiative

Entergy has partnered with Southern University to further support their mutual commitment to developing engineering talent for the future. A $2 million grant to Southern University from Entergy and the Entergy Charitable Foundation will support classroom and lab infrastructure improvements, as...
www.subr.edu www.subr.edu
 
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tsugraytiger said:
Good point, I was looking at the list of graduates from SU one year and hardly any were in Engineering or Physics. SU graduates less than 50 engineering and physic graduates per year and I of course I know why that is. But I believe it can go up to over 100 with the right amount of support and recruitment of highly motivated students. And not all highly motivated students have stellar high school grades so they need to know how to spot STEM talent.

@JAG89 You're a pretty book smart man ... engineering is hard. Everybody I know with engineering degrees (very few people) were strong students.

@Earle Texas Southern and Jackson State also have impressive facilities which of course improves the reputation of the school. SU definitely needs to step up with investing in academic buildings b/c I hear so many students don't take SU seriously b/c most of the campus is literally falling apart. TSU has a nice size population from Louisiana and that's what they say when I ask why not SU. To be honest a lot of our campus was in really bad shape until 2008 ... Dr. Rudley fixed all that damn near immediately b/c he came from UH and knew what a college campus should look like. TSU today looks almost like a new campus compared to 15 years ago.
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Texas Southern has a very nice campus, indeed, although it, like Jackson State's campus, seem to be a bit cramped. It would have been nice if the state of Texas had allocated the necessary funding to expand the school's footprint into surronding neighborhoods in an effort to accomodate future growth. My neice is a second year pharmacy student at TSU. I agree that TSU has upgraded facilities significantly in recent years, as I had seen portions of the campus at night several years ago. I think it could use some more land mass as it does not appear to have much room for growth. Several of the newer buildings on Jackson State's campus were built during the administration of Dr. Ronald Mason, Jr., a Louisiana native, who subsequently became SU's president. Since his departure from JSU, campus construction appears to have slowed as its enrollment has declined. I can't say for sure that JSU's construction boom and enrollment growth were the result of Mason's management, but some of Jackson's fortunes appear to have left with him. We are proud of several of SU's facilities: John B. Cade, Blanks Hall. Higgins Hall, Pinchback Hall, Allain Hall, Felton G. Clark, J.S. Clark, the School of Philanthropy, to name a few. It is incorrect to say that "most of the SU campus is literally falling apart." Sure, there are several buildngs that could stand to be replaced or refurbished, but the situation with leaking roofs and other disrepair brought on by the failed administration of Governor Bobby Jindal, has largely been eradicated. SU has recently constructed or is currently in the planning stages of constructing the School of Philanthropy, the Alumni and EDC complex, and the $47 million STEM building. Soon, we will have a campus, in appearance, to match our extraordinary academic product and output.
 
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Say JAGSC, the law school, of which I am a grad, already has a downtown campus, located at North 4th and Laurel, I believe, across the street from the 21 story North Tower building. It is my understanding that the downtown building currently houses the law school's Evening/Night School classes that accomodates many law enforcement personnel who aspire to study law. Is the university planning to move the entire law school downtown? I certainly hope not! The university has lots of untapped land behind the laboratory school, South of Harding Blvd. near the river, and also west going towards the Mississippi River in the North campus that it could use for growth.
 
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Earle said:
Texas Southern has a very nice campus, indeed, although it, like Jackson State's campus, seem to be a bit cramped. It would have been nice if the state of Texas had allocated the necessary funding to expand the school's footprint into surronding neighborhoods in an effort to accomodate future growth. My neice is a second year pharmacy student at TSU. I agee that TSU has upgraded facilities significantly in recent years, as I had seen portions of the campus at night several years ago. I think it could use some more land mass as it does not appear to have much room for growth. Several of the newer buildings on Jackson State's campus were built during the administration of Dr. Ronald Mason, Jr., a Louisiana native, who subsequently became SU's president. Since his departure from JSU, campus construction appears to have slowed as its enrollment has declined. I can't say for sure that JSU's construction boom and enrollment growth were the result of Mason's management, but some of Jackson's fortunes appear to have left with him. We are proud of several of SU's facilities: John B. Cade, Blanks Hall. Higgins Hall, Pinchback Hall, Allain Hall, Felton G. Clark, J.S. Clark, the School of Philanthropy, to name a few. It is incorrect to say that "most of the SU campus is literally falling apart." Sure, there are several buildngs that could stand to be replaced or refurbished, but the situation with leaking roofs and other disrepair brought on by the failed administration of Governor Bobby Jindal, has largely been eradicated. SU has recently constructed or is currently in the planning stages of constructing the School of Philanthropy, the Alumni and EDC complex, and the $47 million STEM building. Soon, we will have a campus, in appearance, to match our extraordinary academic product and output.
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Texas Southern and Jackson State have dense campuses, I would not say cramped because I feel there's adequate space between buildings and things on campus. TSU is landlocked which is why we build up, the newer buildings are taller than years past. If you haven't seen our brand new library check it out. And TSU doesn't need to expand anymore anytime soon, our student growth has flatlined for a while now. And I'm very proud to announce my alma mater in conjunction with the State of Texas are investing millions to revitalize the community surrounding TSU which is HOT REAL ESTATE RIGHT NOW (no other SWAC school can say that) ... there are already several million dollar homes within a mile of campus. Also there's a huge state of the art research collaboration center for TSU, UH, and Rice about to open down the street. Third Ward ain't as dangerous and undesirable as it used to be ... it looks so much better today and will only get better.


www.houstonchronicle.com

Harris County to invest $30M in Third Ward street upgrades near UH, TSU

Harris County officials said Tuesday that they would invest $30 million in street and drainage improvements around the University of Houston and Texas Southern University campuses in Houston’s Third Ward to enhance pedestrian, bicycle and vehicular access to the area while also reducing street...
www.houstonchronicle.com www.houstonchronicle.com

Article about the research center below:

Transformation of Sears building into The Ion begins in May

Landmark’s renovation will create nucleus of innovation district in Midtown.
news.rice.edu news.rice.edu

JSU enrollment decline is an issue most public colleges and universities in Mississippi are experiencing. After all, Mississippi has had drastic decline in population over the last couple decades. I live in Atlanta and I know a lot of Mississippians (mostly JSU and MSU alums) here that are so happy to be out of that state.

www.clarionledger.com

University, community college enrollment down in Mississippi

Ole Miss, Jackson State, MUW among schools with declines; USM sees an increase.
www.clarionledger.com

My cousin is in her last year of nursing school at SU which is a fantastic academic program. Based on my observations, I felt like a sizable portion of the campus I seen was in bad shape. She even said the same. But of course people's standards are different ... what we consider in bad shape someone else considers decent shape. I'm rooting for SU just like I root for all HBCUs.

Article about SU's shocking campus condition below:
 
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From my understanding LSU has the River Research campus downtown eventually that area will soon become a research hub, SU law school is included in that..
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Tbh every building behind Mumford home side needs to be demolished.. I know the old gym is on the historic list (can't be touch). But all those dorms (football dorms) and buildings heading to the bluff site needs to be gone..

SU Archive Building, Both ROTC buildings, and SU Museum all on the bluff are protected by Federal Historic Laws.
 
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tsugraytiger said:
JSU enrollment decline is an issue most public colleges and universities in Mississippi are experiencing. After all, Mississippi has had drastic decline in population over the last couple decades. I live in Atlanta and I know a lot of Mississippians (mostly JSU and MSU alums) here that are so happy to be out of that state.

www.clarionledger.com

University, community college enrollment down in Mississippi

Ole Miss, Jackson State, MUW among schools with declines; USM sees an increase.
www.clarionledger.com
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2019 fall enrollment for Mississippi schools.

One good thing about JSU's enrollment decline is that appears to be declining at a much slower rate or flatten out, but when thousands of students are disappearing that becomes a major concern. With a much smaller enrollment drop, JSU can now focus on those key programs to grow back their enrollment.

Jindal was a disaster for higher education in Louisiana. Although not as bad as Jindal, Mississippi's schools could do a lot better if they could vote the right people in office.
 
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Here's one of my classmates in Civil Engineering at Southern University. He's currently the Acting Secretary of Illinois Department of Transportation. When I graduated in 1989, Illinois DOT offered everybody in my graduating class a position to work for them. I'm sure Omer would see to it that they continue to recruit from Southern. I was the only one in my class to go work for the City of Los Angeles, but several other engineers in previous classes were already working for the City. It was two of us working for the Department of Public Works and 4 or 5 working for the Department of Water and Power. And most of us had multiple job offers right out of college.

1588126775371.png

Secretary of Transportation

www.idot.illinois.gov www.idot.illinois.gov
 
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Honestly recruitment is not an issue at SU. The problem is facilities, research. Could SU reach 20,000 yes.. But it's going to take thinking outside the box..

Increase online degrees (social sciences/arts, education, and all liberal art/social science graduate degrees needs to be online And Nursing)..No questions ask..

Marketing Another Must( Must HBCUS have to understand that we are marketing to a different generation. I hate to say this especially when it's comes to STEM we cannot just look for our AA students. NCAT may produce more AA in engineering, but I can tell you this the majority of the STEM degrees are made up of (Africans,Asian, Middle Eastern at A&T. They receive backlash for leaving the MEAC, but when the decision came down they basically said our mission has change and we are not just a HBCU anymore.

Infrastructure this is a must.. You cannot avoid it.. Better facilities brings in more research money.

Donors. I can say this, over the past few years SU FOUNDATION has done amazing. With the new school of philanthropy I can see steady donorship continuing.

North Baton Rouge.. SU has to look past its campus.. Scotlandville is waiting to be tap for development. SU Needs to lead the way in development working with different sectors (housing, education, jobs.)

View: https://youtu.be/2RfLiQAmxwo

SU has a detailed paper version of this on the site Southern University Master Plan
 
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SU has so much potentials that IMO 20k plus is not an unreasonable goal. I've always stated that SU should be the backbone of developing Scotlandville. There shouldn't be such a disconnect between Scotlandville and Southern University. And now that East Baton Rouge Parish is majority Black, the same should be done in other parts of Baton Rouge, but Scotlandville is the immediate community that surrounds Southern University. The same goes for Jackson State in Jackson, MS.
 
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JAGSC said:
Honestly recruitment is not an issue at SU. The problem is facilities, research. Could SU reach 20,000 yes.. But it's going to take thinking outside the box..

Increase online degrees (social sciences/arts, education, and all liberal art/social science graduate degrees needs to be online And Nursing)..No questions ask..

Marketing Another Must( Must HBCUS have to understand that we are marketing to a different generation. I hate to say this especially when it's comes to STEM we cannot just look for our AA students. NCAT may produce more AA in engineering, but I can tell you this the majority of the STEM degrees are made up of (Africans,Asian, Middle Eastern at A&T. They receive backlash for leaving the MEAC, but when the decision came down they basically said our mission has change and we are not just a HBCU anymore.

Infrastructure this is a must.. You cannot avoid it.. Better facilities brings in more research money.

Donors. I can say this, over the past few years SU FOUNDATION has done amazing. With the new school of philanthropy I can see steady donorship continuing.

North Baton Rouge.. SU has to look past its campus.. Scotlandville is waiting to be tap for development. SU Needs to lead the way in development working with different sectors (housing, education, jobs.)

View: https://youtu.be/2RfLiQAmxwo

SU has a detailed paper version of this on the site Southern University Master Plan
Click to expand...
There is North BR development plan study going on right now involving SU and civic leaders in that area.
 
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