University of Louisiana at Monroe

"ULM" redirects here. For other uses, see Ulm (disambiguation).

University of Louisiana at Monroe

Former name	Ouachita Parish Junior College (1931–1934) Northeast Center of Louisiana State University (1934–1949) Northeast Junior College of Louisiana State University (1949–1950) Northeast Louisiana State College (1950–1969) Northeast Louisiana University (1969–1999)
Type	Public university
Established	1931;93 years ago (1931)
Parent institution	University of Louisiana System
Academic affiliations	Space-grant
Endowment	$73 million [1]
President	Ronald Berry [2]
Students	8,854 [3]
Undergraduates	7,550 [3]
Postgraduates	1,304 [3]
Location	Monroe , Louisiana , United States 32°31′37″N92°04′26″W / 32.527°N 92.074°W / 32.527; -92.074
Campus	Urban Main Campus: 238 acres (0.96 km2)
Colors	Maroon and gold [4]
Nickname	Warhawks
Sporting affiliations	NCAA Division I FBS – Sun Belt
Mascot	Ace the Warhawk
Website	www.ulm.edu

The University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM) is a public university in Monroe, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System.

History

ULM road sign, 1969

ULM opened in 1931 as Ouachita Parish Junior College. Three years later it became the Northeast Center of Louisiana State University. In 1936 and 1937, its dean was Stephen A. Caldwell. ^[5]

Its name changed again in 1949, to Northeast Junior College of Louisiana State University. A year later, it became an autonomous four-year institution as Northeast Louisiana State College. In 1969, it granted doctoral degrees for the first time and was elevated to university status as Northeast Louisiana University (NLU).

In 1999, NLU, in conjuction with the University of Southwestern Louisiana wanting to rebrand to have a university with "Of Louisiana" in the title, agreed to rebrand, as agreed on by university president Lawson Swearingen. As such, it was changed so that both schools would include "of Louisiana" in their name to go along with a geographical indicator to reflect a state law that allowed the change if two schools agreed to it. ^{[6] [7]}

21st century

Bayou Desiard crosses the ULM campus.

ULM Library and Conference Center

A 2002 "Reclaim Our Campus" effort targeted recovery from financial and auditing difficulties. ^[8]

In 2010, James Erwin Cofer Sr., left the ULM presidency after eight years to head Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. He was succeeded by Nick Bruno as the eighth president of ULM.

Academics

Academic rankings
Master's
Washington Monthly [9]	290
National
U.S. News & World Report [10]	293-381

Department of Atmospheric Science

The Atmospheric Science program at ULM offers the only four-year Meteorology program in the state of Louisiana. ULM's Atmospheric Science program is the only undergraduate only program with a Polarimetric Doppler Weather Radar.

College of Business

The College of Business and Social Sciences (CBSS) seeks to prepare students for productive careers and responsible citizenship. The college benefits students, businesses and the community through research and service. ULM seeks excellence in business education by offering a student-centered learning environment that produces high-quality graduates and by engaging in research and service that benefits students, business and the community. ULM offers AACSB accredited ^[11] undergraduate and graduate MBA degree programs.

Marriage & Family Therapy

Master's in marriage and family therapy is accredited by both the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education and The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs. A doctoral program in marriage and family therapy was approved by the Louisiana Board of Regents in June of 1995. ^[12]

College of Pharmacy

Established in 1956, the College of Pharmacy ^[13] is accredited by the American Council on Pharmacy Education, including one of seven Toxicology programs in the U.S. In 2007, the College of Pharmacy moved from the main campus to the off-campus (Bienville) building. There are satellite campuses in Shreveport and Baton Rouge. ^[14]

The College of Pharmacy at ULM is Louisiana's only publicly supported comprehensive center for pharmaceutical education, research, and service. The college includes several modern specialized instructional and health service facilities and numerous affiliated off-campus teaching hospitals and pharmacies throughout the state.

In 1999, Milburn E. Calhoun, a New Orleans physician, philanthropist, and Pelican Books publisher endowed the million-dollar Mary E. and Darrell L. Calhoun Chair in Pharmacology, named for his late parents. ^[15]

Theater Arts

ULM is home to the Emy-Lou Biedenharn Recital Hall, named for the opera singer and daughter of the Coca-Cola entrepreneur Joseph A. Biedenharn. ^[16]

Natural History Museum

The university's Natural History Museum was home to the 6-million-specimen Neil Douglas fish collection and the 500,000-specimen R. Dale Thomas plant collection. In March 2017, museum staff announced that they had been told the collections would have to be divested to enable an expansion of the university's stadium, and that any specimens which had not been relocated to other institutions by July 2017 would be destroyed. ^[17] The specimens were subsequently distributed to other institutions, with the plant collection going to the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, the herpetological collection to the University of Texas at Arlington, the entomological collection to Mississippi State University, and the ichthyological collection to Tulane University. ^[18]

Campus gallery

• 
  Walker Hall, houses College of Arts, Education, and Sciences
• 
  Caldwell Hall, 1930s, now houses the dental hygiene and occupational therapy departments.
• 
  Helen Spyker Theatre
• 
  Intramurals Building
• 
  Straus Education Building
• 
  ULM Art Building, 1930s
• 
  Sugar Hall, former ULM Pharmacy Building
• 
  ULM School of Nursing
• 
  Bayou Village Apartments on the ULM campus
• 
  Fant–Ewing Coliseum and Malone Stadium on Bayou Desiard

Rankings

U.S. News & World Report as of 2015 ranks University of Louisiana at Monroe as follows: ^[19]

• Regional Universities (South) – 81st
• Best Undergraduate Business Programs – 338th
• Top Public Schools (South Regional Universities) – 39th
• Pharmacy School – 74th
• Speech Pathology – 181st
• Best Online Bachelor's Programs – 160th
• Best Online Graduate Business Programs – 87th
• Best Online Graduate Education Programs – 103rd

Athletics

Main article: Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks

ULM Warhawks Stadium

St. Patrick's Day Parade (2013) - ULM's Sound of Today band

Major sports

Teams participate in NCAA Division I (Division I FBS for football). ULM joined the Sun Belt Conference for all sports on July 1, 2006, after playing in the Southland Conference in all sports except football (swimming and diving team was in Sun Belt Conference, but was dropped in 2005). The school's sports teams previously competed as the Indians until 2006.

ULM moved from Division I-AA (now Division I FCS) to Division I-A (now FBS) in 1994 and played as a I-A independent 1994–2000. It became a football-only Sun Belt Conference member in 2001 and joined as a member in all sports in 2006. ULM shared the 2005 Sun Belt Conference football championship with Arkansas State University and the University of Louisiana–Lafayette (ASU received the conference's New Orleans Bowl bid due to tiebreaking procedures). Also, in 2012, ULM had their first winning season as an FBS school going, 8–5, and a bid to the 2012 Independence Bowl in Shreveport vs. the Ohio Bobcats, but lost 45–14. ^[20]

ULM basketball coaches have included Arnold R. Kilpatrick, Lenny Fant, and Mike Vining. Fant was the first ULM coach to win three hundred games. Current head coach Keith Richard is a former point guard and alumnus from ULM.

Since being in the Sun Belt, the Warhawks have won conference titles in men's basketball (2006–07 West Co-Champion) and baseball (2008 regular season and 2012 conference tournament).

The ULM football team posted its first six-win season since moving to Division I-A in 2007 going 6–6, which included a 21–14 victory at Alabama. On September 8, 2012, ULM beat number 8 Arkansas 34–31 in overtime to become the first Sun Belt Conference team to beat a top ten SEC team. This was their second ever win against a ranked opponent after defeating number 20 Richmond 14–8 in Monroe in 1973.

The football and baseball stadiums and ULM Activities Center were designed by architect Hugh G. Parker of Bastrop.

Other activities

ULM is home to several award-winning groups including the Sound of Today marching band and the competition cheerleading squad.

The ULM water ski team ^[21] is the most successful in the history of the collegiate sport, having won 28 National Collegiate Water Skiing Association championships since 1979. ^[22] In that year, Bayou Desiard was the host site of the national competition.

Greek life

Student body composition as of May 2, 2022

Race and ethnicity [23]	Total
White	61%	61
Black	25%	25
Other [a]	6%	6
Foreign national	4%	4
Hispanic	3%	3
Asian	2%	2
Economic diversity
Low-income [b]	46%	46
Affluent [c]	54%	54

ULM recognizes the following active fraternities and sororities. ^[24]

Fraternities	National Pan-Hellenic Council	Pan-Hellenic Council
Kappa Sigma Kappa Alpha Order Delta Sigma Phi [25]	Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Kappa Alpha [26] Delta Sigma Theta Kappa Alpha Psi Omega Psi Phi Phi Beta Sigma Sigma Gamma Rho Zeta Phi Beta [27]	Alpha Omicron Pi 1958 [28] Kappa Delta 1967 [29] Phi Mu 1956 [30] Kappa Beta Gamma

Notable alumni

Main article: List of University of Louisiana at Monroe alumni

Some of University of Louisiana at Monroe notable alumni include:

• Businessmen: Tim Brando, Marc Swayze, Willie Robertson, and Rob Redding
• Entertainers: Tim McGraw
• Football players: Chris Harris, Marty Booker, Stan Humphries, Stepfret Williams, Jimmy Edwards, Joe Profit, Roosevelt Potts, Bubby Brister, and Doug Pederson, head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars and formerly the Philadelphia Eagles
• Baseball players: Wayne Causey, ^[31] Ben Sheets, Terry Mathews and Chuck Finley
• Basketball players: Kristy Curry and Calvin Natt

• 
  Tim McGraw, country musician
• 
  Ben Sheets, former MLB player
• 
  Doug Pederson, head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars and former head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles

Notes

1. Other consists of Multiracial Americans & those who prefer to not say.
2. The percentage of students who received an income-based federal Pell grant intended for low-income students.
3. The percentage of students who are a part of the American middle class at the bare minimum.

References

1. "University of Louisiana Monroe Foundation Audit" (PDF). LLA Default Homepage. Louisiana Legislative Auditor. Retrieved January 20, 2022.
2. "Dr. Ronald Berry named 9th president of the University of Louisiana Monroe". www.ulm.edu (Press release). September 8, 2020. Retrieved December 15, 2020.
3. "Preliminary Headcount Enrollment Summary". Louisiana Board of Regents. September 2015. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
4. University of Louisiana Monroe Brand Guide (PDF). Retrieved August 3, 2022.
5. "Caldwell, Stephen Adol;phus". Louisiana Historical Association: A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography. Archived from the original on December 1, 2010. Retrieved March 15, 2011.
6. https://athleticnetwork.net/news-archive/athletics-ul-lafayette-may-have-gone-too-far-former-president-says-vote-in-poll/
7. https://www.thenewsstar.com/story/sports/college/ulm/2017/02/15/how-ulm-helped-ragin-cajuns-become-louisiana/97906872/
8. "Louisiana Legislative Auditor Report" (PDF). January 10, 2007. Retrieved October 26, 2009.
9. "2024 Master's Universities Rankings". Washington Monthly . August 25, 2024. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
10. "2024-2025 Best National Universities Rankings". U.S. News & World Report . September 23, 2024. Retrieved November 22, 2024.
11. "Welcome to the College of Business Administration". University of Louisiana at Monroe. Retrieved October 26, 2009.
12. Archived 2014-10-19 at the Wayback Machine ,
13. "College of Pharmacy at ULM". University of Louisiana at Monroe. Retrieved October 26, 2009.
14. "three-year requisite" (PDF). University of Louisiana at Monroe. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 8, 2008. Retrieved October 26, 2009.
15. Milburn E. Calhoun obituary, Monroe News Star , January 11, 2012
16. "Scott Rogers, "Family imprint seen in Monroe a century after arrival", April 21, 2013". Monroe News-Star . Archived from the original on October 25, 2014. Retrieved April 22, 2013.
17. University Threatens Destruction of Millions of Specimens if Museum of Natural History Collection Not Relocated, by Rhett Jones, at Gizmodo; published March 28, 2017; retrieved March 31, 2017
18. , by Alyssa B. Young, at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas; published November 22, 2017; retrieved November 18, 2018
19. "Rankings". rankingsandreviews.com.
20. "Jimmy Chung -ULM Warhawks Athletics". ulmwarhawks.com. September 9, 2012. Retrieved September 9, 2012.
21. "ULM water ski team". ULM water ski team. Archived from the original on September 20, 2009. Retrieved October 26, 2009.
22. "ULM Water Ski dominates field for 26th National Championship - ULM University of Louisiana at Monroe". www.ulm.edu.
23. "College Scorecard: University of Louisiana at Monroe". United States Department of Education . Retrieved May 8, 2022.
24. Student Life – Greek Archived April 12, 2006, at the Wayback Machine from the University of Louisiana at Monroe
25. "Zeta Pi Chapter of Delta Sigma Phi". Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved July 29, 2007.
26. "Theta Zeta Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. – A Bravenet.com Hosted Site". Sweetthetazeta.bravehost.com. Archived from the original on September 8, 2008. Retrieved October 26, 2009.
27. ITC Labs & Classrooms. "Beta Theta Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc". Geocities.com. Archived from the original on October 27, 2009. Retrieved October 26, 2009.
28. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved July 29, 2007.
29. "New Page 1". Archived from the original on September 5, 2007. Retrieved July 29, 2007.
30. "Phi Mu Fraternity- Alpha Rho Chapter". Tribe.ULM.edu. Archived from the original on January 15, 2008. Retrieved October 26, 2009.
31. McGuff, Joe (January 27, 1965). "Talk of the Times". The Kansas City Times. Missouri, Kansas City. The Kansas City Times. p. 13. Retrieved November 30, 2015– via Newspapers.com.

External links

• Official website
• ULM Athletics website