These programs can expect:
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Biological Sciences: When the National Research Council assessed research
doctorates in the early 80s, LSU was rated satisfactory in only one life science
area. In the next NRC assessment, in the mid-90s, LSU had moved up, with "good"
ratings in 5 of 7 life science areas. Current strength is distributed over 12 or
so departments in several colleges, with the greatest concentration in this
newly created (7/1/97) unit in Basic Sciences. Biological Sciences is expected
to work with allied programs in Basic Sciences, Agriculture, and Veterinary
Medicine (as well as with the Pennington Biomedical Research Center) to lead LSU
in a domain booked to outpace all others in funding opportunities for some time.
Investment in this department supports the medical/biomedical area of Vision
2020, Louisiana's economic development plan, and will exploit the kind of
competitive advantage represented by a major new NSF/NIH grant for
macromolecular crystallography at CAMD. Biological Sciences will focus on
biomolecular structure, biological signaling, and biodiversity.
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Chemistry: Chemistry had the highest standard score at LSU in the last NRC
assessment and ranks second among departments at LSU in external funding. Given
the department's quality and potential, and Louisiana's dominant position in the
national chemical and petro-chemical industries, the case for investment in
Chemistry, one of four LSU departments designated by NSF in the late 60s as
Centers of Excellence, is clear and compelling. Like Biological Sciences,
Chemistry gains competitive advantage through the opportunities afforded by CAMD
for x-ray structure determination of complex biomaterials. The advancement of
Chemistry at LSU will support a number of Vision 2020 areas of emphasis: the
medical/biomedical area, the materials area, the environmental area, and the
oil/gas/petrochemical area. Chemistry will focus on materials science,
environmental chemistry, and biological chemistry.
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Chemical Engineering: Long the most distinguished of LSU's engineering
departments, Chemical Engineering has gathered enormous impetus with this year's
Gordon and Mary Cain endowment. A $10 million gift amounting to some $15
million with state matches, the Cain endowment includes five $2 million chairs
to be filled through national searches. Like Chemistry, Chemical Engineering is
critical to Louisiana's chemical, petro-chemical, and oil and gas industries.
The endowment represents a signal opportunity to advance this key department.
Chemical Engineering addresses much the same array of Vision 2020 emphases as
Chemistry. Chemical Engineering will focus on environmental protection,
industrial and plant safety, advanced materials processing, and process control.
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English: In the 30s and 40s, LSU had, arguably, one of the two or three most
influential English departments in the world, with Robert Penn Warren and
Cleanth Brooks setting the pace for English and American literary studies as
leading proponents of the New Criticism. Today, with powerful senior faculty
and with younger scholars and writers who have already become national figures
in their own right, English recently tied with Geography with the second-highest
standard score at LSU in NRC rankings and had, in those rankings, one of the
highest quotients for positive change in the nation. English supports Goal
Three of Vision 2020, with its emphasis on the rich cultural assets of
Louisiana. English will continue to focus on the development of its special
strength in modern literature and culture.
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French: Given our state's fascinating cultural heritage, the selection of a
highly ranked French Department is no less inevitable than the selection of
Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. Also a fast-rising department, French is
probably the very best bet for advancement into the top ten nationally of all of
the classical disciplines in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and
sciences at LSU. In the 1995 NRC assessment, the department was sandwiched
between Harvard and Brown (directly ahead of LSU) and Johns Hopkins and UCLA
(directly behind LSU). Like English, French is a field in which relatively
modest investment can secure rapid advancement. The two departments together
constitute an outstanding node of strength at LSU in literary and cultural
studies, with rich opportunities for synergy with a broad range of other
programs in the arts, humanities, and social sciences in several colleges.
French has recently received the coveted (and subsidized) designation of "centre
pluridisciplinaire" from the French Government. Like English, French supports
Goal Three of Vision 2020. The department will focus on Francophone literature
and literary and cultural theory.
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Geography: Another program with a great tradition at LSU (the legacy of Russell,
Kniffen, and others), Geography followed Chemistry at LSU in rankings by NRC
standard score and ranked 18th nationally in its discipline. Like French, this
is a discipline in which significant advancement within the academic
stratification system is eminently possible, as was made clear in the findings
of a recent internal program review site team. Geography has special
opportunities to optimize synergy with LSU's strong earth science departments
with respect to physical geography and with the anthropology wing of its
segmented department with respect to cultural geography. Geography thus supports
the environmental and cultural components of Vision 2020. Geography will focus
on the regional geography of Louisiana, the South, and Latin America; on
geographic information systems; and on physical/environmental geography,
including climatology, fluvial and coastal geomorphology, and biogeography.
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Geology & Geophysics: Geology and Geophysics, the second of LSU's historical NSF
Centers of Excellence on this list, has a key role to play in building on and
beyond its strong relationship with the oil and gas industry to lead an
integrated approach to earth systems science at LSU--the integrated study of the
aquasphere, the biosphere, the atmosphere, and the solid earth. In this effort,
Geology and Geophysics is expected to collaborate closely with the departments
of Oeanography and Coastal Sciences, Geography & Anthropology, Civil
Engineering, and Petroleum Engineering, and with centers and institutes such as
the Earthscan Laboratory, the Southern Regional Climate Center, and the proposed
LSU Hurricane Center. Geology & Geophysics supports the oil/gas/petrochemical
and the environmental areas of Vision 2020. Geology and Geophysics will focus on
earth systems science with emphasis on global change and dynamics, sedimentary
basin analysis, earth materials and fluids, and development of tools for
multidisciplinary data integration and visualization.
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Information Systems and Decision Sciences: The internet, virtual commerce,
enterprise systems and solutions, management information systems--the keys to
success in tomorrow's marketplace and to decision-making in complex environments
and organizations lie more than ever in knowledge management at the constantly
rising levels made possible by the ongoing revolution in information
technology. LSU's Department of Information Systems and Decision Sciences has
been steadily establishing itself as one of the nation's top centers for
teaching and research in this rapidly evolving area. On the undergraduate level,
the department's introductory course is bidding to rival mathematics and English
as a bedrock of basic literacy for the twenty-first century. The department has
attracted to its faculty some of the national leaders in the field. Information
Systems and Decision Sciences supports the software, Internet, and
telecommunications area of Vision 2020. Information Systems and Decision
Sciences will place particular emphasis on electronic commerce, enterprise
resource planning, instructional technology, and virtual organization.
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Mass Communication: Another fast-rising Information Age program, the Manship
School of Mass Communication has been engaged over the past half dozen years or
so in a trailblazing reconceptualization of its undergraduate curriculum and in
a deep refocusing of its graduate program, entailing the establishment of an
endowed Center for Media and Public Affairs and the launch next year of the
nation's first Ph.D. in Mass Communication designed to focus on public affairs
and political communication. These innovations have been driven by the premise
that today more than ever the management and use of news and information is of
incalculable social, political, and economic importance. With solid senior
faculty, outstanding holders of multiple endowed chairs, and a cadre of junior
faculty that is among the very strongest in the field nationwide, Mass
Communication aims to be one of the front-rank programs in the country. Mass
Communication supports the information technology, data, and cultural
dimensions of Vision 2020. Building strong interdisciplinary links with programs
such as Speech Communication and Political Science, Mass Communication intends
to be the national leader in media and politics.
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Mathematics: The third of the University's NSF Centers of Excellence on this
list, Mathematics at LSU built over the course of three decades between 1950 and
1980 an outstanding reputation in pure mathematics. In the last two decades,
mathematics has maintained its pure mathematics strengths (with special emphasis
on combinatorics, topology, and graph theory) and has also made significant
contributions to mathematical education reform efforts at the elementary and
secondary levels. The department is now moving toward interdisciplinary
engagement with science, engineering, and business departments on campus, with a
strong emerging emphasis on applied mathematics. This emphasis is critical to
supporting all of the scientific and high technology areas of Vision 2020.
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Music: With a strong history that includes national prominence in opera and band
performance going back to the 1930s, the LSU School of Music aims to be
recognized as one of the top 10 comprehensive schools of music in the nation by
the year 2005. In keeping with this aim, LSU music students have begun to
dominate national competitions. For example, at this year's Music Teachers
National Association Student Competition, LSU students won the Student
Composition Competition and the Collegiate Chamber Music Competition. Music is
developing strong interdisciplinary relationships with Theatre, within the new
College of Music & Dramatic Arts, with the College of Education in Curriculum &
Instruction (in music education) and Kinesiology (in a revitalized dance minor),
and with the School of Art (through the cutting-edge Music and Art Digital
Studio). Like English and French, Music supports the cultural dimension of
Vision 2020. The School of Music will focus on music education and on
performance studies.
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Physics & Astronomy: The fourth of the NSF Centers of Excellence, Physics &
Astronomy leads the University year after year in external funding. Physics has
competitive advantage to exploit with respect both to CAMD and LIGO (the Laser
Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory). Physics & Astronomy is
increasingly developing strength in applied physics. Physics & Astronomy
supports the Vision 2020 emphases on materials and micro-manufacturing. Building
on existing strengths in condensed matter physics and materials simulation, the
Department will focus on the physics of materials; building on existing
strengths in astronomy, space physics, and related areas, the department will
also focus on the astrophysics of compact objects.
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