Select From: Mission Statement History of UNO University Administration and Governance Board of Regents The Louisiana State University System The University of New Orleans Accreditation

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Mission Statement

The University of New Orleans (UNO), the urban research university of the State of Louisiana, provides essential support for the educational, economic, cultural, and social well being of the culturally rich and diverse New Orleans metropolitan area. Located in an international city, the university serves as an important link between Louisiana and both the nation and the world. The university strategically serves the needs of the region through its undergraduate and graduate programs and through mutually beneficial collaborations with public and private bodies whose missions and goals are consistent with and supportive of UNO’s teaching, scholarly, and community service objectives.

• The university’s technological and cultural alliances connect the institution, its faculty, and its students to the community.

• Joint projects with public schools, governments, foundations, businesses, and civic groups enrich opportunities for learning and community growth.

• Research and graduate programs focus on fields of study in which UNO is nationally competitive or responding to specific state or regional needs.

Approved June 4, 2004

LSU System Board of Supervisors

Minutes of June 3-4, 2004: http://www.lsusystem.lsu.edu/pdf/minutes/minutes_jun2004.pdf

More about the University of New Orleans Mission...

   >>top

1.2 History

The University of New Orleans, originally called Louisiana State University in New Orleans, was legally established by Act 60 of the 1956 Louisiana Legislature, in the wake of a citizens’ movement to bring tax-supported higher education to the metropolitan area. Greater New Orleans, with more than a fourth of the state’s population, was without a public college or university until that time. As a branch campus of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LSUNO was conceived as a liberal arts college for commuting students, which might within a few years develop into a true urban university.

An ideal campus site was acquired when the United States Navy abandoned its air station on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain in late 1957, and the Orleans Levee Board leased it to the LSU Board of Supervisors. A quick renovation of barracks, service clubs, and other existing facilities made it possible to begin classes in September 1958, a year ahead of the original schedule. The inaugural convocation was held in a vacant aircraft hangar. A total of 1,460 students, all freshmen, arrived for this occasion. This was double the number originally anticipated.

By September 1961, when the new school had become a full four-year institution, the enrollment exceeded 3,000, and the faculty had grown from the original 63 to 150 members. A Junior Division had been established for the academic administration of freshmen, and senior academic divisions had been established in liberal arts, in sciences, and in business administration. Dr. Homer L. Hitt, the first employee and the chief administrative officer, had been promoted from Dean of LSUNO to Vice President of LSU in Charge of LSUNO.

Two new permanent buildings, the Liberal Arts Building and the Sciences Building, and a central utilities plant were completed and in operation by the time of the first commencement in the spring of 1962. The architectural style, established by master planners, was described as a modern adaptation of Louisiana tradition. The first commencement was held in a circus tent temporarily erected on the campus for that purpose. The initial class of graduating seniors numbered 115.

In the summer of 1962, the senior academic divisions were designated colleges. In 1963, a school of education was established, as well as an evening division and a graduate division. The Vice President in Charge was designated Chancellor, following the establishment of an LSU System of Higher Education and signaling the end of LSUNO’s status as a branch of the Baton Rouge campus. The school of education became the College of Education in 1964. In 1966, the graduate division became the Graduate School.

To the original 178-acre site, a 17.5-acre strip along its western boundary was added in 1963. This land was also acquired from the Orleans Levee Board, and it brought the total campus acreage to 195.5. Still more acreage was obtained in 1964, half a mile east on the Lakefront, when the United States Army abandoned its Camp Leroy Johnson facility and the Levee Board made this site, too, available to the University. A 50-acre parcel of this 150-acre site was released to the Gulf South Research Institute in 1965. The remaining 100-acre East Campus subsequently became the location of a Special Education Center, various outdoor sports facilities, and a multipurpose Senator Nat G. Kiefer/UNO Lakefront Arena.

In September, 1969, when the enrollment exceeded 10,000, LSUNO became the second- largest university in Louisiana. By this time it had developed into a large academic complex embracing several colleges, schools, and institutes, offering graduate work in many different fields and awarding both the master’s and the Ph.D. degree. Moreover, a residence hall for both men and women had been completed. In February, 1974, the LSU Board of Supervisors approved a name change, and LSUNO became the University of New Orleans. The new name more accurately defined the institution as the metropolitan campus of the LSU System.

By the fall of 1983, UNO had an enrollment exceeding 16,000 and had five senior colleges: Liberal Arts, Sciences, Education, Business Administration, and Engineering, in addition to its Junior Division and Graduate School. It also had a School of Urban and Regional Studies; a School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Administration; a School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering; and various centers, institutes and divisions for specialized research. A new Metropolitan College offered courses at off-campus locations in the evening hours, as well as credit and non-credit work in the evening on the campus. It also administered the nation’s largest summer program in Europe, UNO Innsbruck, which had been a continuing success since the early 1970s. In an administrative reorganization in 1988, the Junior Division was replaced by a system that enrolled all incoming students in one of the senior colleges or schools.

Currently, the UNO main campus contains twenty three permanent buildings plus a dormitory, a housing complex for married students and a complex of contemporary, apartment-styled, student housing units. Land has been set aside for a new dormitory complex and fraternity and sorority houses. A state-of-the-art Recreation and Fitness Center, the Chemical Sciences Building, and the newly completed Homer L. Hitt Alumni and Visitors Center (named for our founding Chancellor) have recently been opened. The Hitt Center is built around a red brick smokestack, one of the few reminders of the naval air base that became the UNO main campus. Completion of Kirschman Hall, which will house the College of Business Administration, is expected in Spring 2005. A University-sponsored Research and Technology Park is adjacent to the main campus. The East campus, approximately one mile from the main campus, houses athletic fields, the Alumni and Development Center, and the Senator Nat G. Kiefer UNO Lakefront Arena. UNO owns satellite campuses in downtown New Orleans, in the suburbs of Jefferson Parish, and in Slidell, in neighboring St. Tammany parish. The Ogden Museum of Southern Art is located in the Arts District near the central business district.

UNO is in the process of revising its Master Plan to include additional, state-of-the art student housing, a new University Center, phase two of the Research and Technology Park, and new landscaping and student-centered outdoor learning spaces.

University of New Orleans students now enjoy a broad range of extracurricular activities, including NCAA Division One intercollegiate athletics and an extensive program of intramural sports, many of which are housed in the Recreation and Fitness Center opened in 2002. There are frequent exhibits and programs in music, drama, ballet, and the fine arts. Culturally, socially, economically, and intellectually, the University is one of the major assets of the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana. Its achievements so far give promise of a distinguished future.

>>top

1.3 University Administration and Governance

The University of New Orleans, as a member of the Louisiana State University System, is governed by the Louisiana State University Board of Supervisors, which in turn is under the jurisdiction of the Louisiana Board of Regents.

Higher education institutions in Louisiana are governed by four management boards under the Board of Regents. These boards manage the Louisiana State University System, the Southern University System, the University of Louisiana System ; and the Louisiana Community and Technology System.

Additional information about the board can be obtained from their web sites.   >>top

1.4 The Board of Regents website can be found at: 

http://www.regents.state.la.us/

1.5 The Louisiana State University System website is at:

http://www.lsusystem.lsu.edu/

1.6 The University of New Orleans

The chief administrative officer of the University of New Orleans is the Chancellor. The Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost is directly responsible to the Chancellor.  Other vice chancellors include the Vice Chancellor for Research and Sponsored Programs, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, University Relations and Campus Services, Vice Chancellor for Financial Services, and the Vice Chancellor for Governmental Affairs, and Vice Chancellor for Property and Facilities Development.

The Chancellor of UNO is responsible to the President of the LSU System, the Board of Supervisors and the Board of Regents for the entire operation of the campus. He makes recommendations to the LSU System President on appointments and dismissals of both academic and non-academic staff, and he implements educational and administrative policies for the campus within the limits of the authority granted to him by the Board of Supervisors. He is a member ex officio of all faculties on campus.

Matters affecting the faculty and the academic program are under the jurisdiction of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost and, for graduate-level and research concerns, the Vice Chancellor for Research and Sponsored Programs.   >>top

1.7 Accreditation

The University of New Orleans is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award baccalaureate, masters, and doctoral degrees. >>top

<<previous section	next section>>
<<back to Table of Contents
<<back to Academic Affairs Home Page