LSUE chancellor looks for enrollment increase

LSUE Chancellor Kimberly Russell said the campus has a goal to increase enrollment by 10 percent in the fall semester.
“We were at 2,500 last fall and we are hoping for about 2,750 this fall,” she told Eunice Rotary Club members Wednesday.
“We are thinking we are going to get there,” she said.
Russell is completing her first year as LSUE chancellor.
A program that allows high school students to enroll at LSUE may help boost enrollment.
“The good news for LSUE is we are on a path for growth,” she said. “I think we are really turning the corner. Our faculty and our division heads in our academic side of the house have to become entrepreneurial and they have to think about what is going on in my field today.”
LSUE was one of 44 universities and colleges selected in the nation for the dual enrollment program, he said.
“What that means is students can access federal Pell funding through our institution. We are the only one in Louisiana and one of 44 nationally to be able to do dual credit courses,” she said.
The program is important given the past seven to eight years of budget reductions from the Legislature, she said.
The concern was students and parents would not be able to afford tuition.
“What it looks like right now is we are going to take every high school in St. Landry Parish and become that partner to offer dual credit courses,” she said.
“We are going to be creating an early college academy at LSUE that is going to begin with only the senior classes this year since it is a pilot program,” he said.
Seniors will take college-level courses at their schools and at LSUE.
The ultimate goal is that when students graduate from high school, they will also earn a degree or certificate from LSUE, she said.
Less than half of the students graduating from parish public schools attend a community college or university, she said.
Russell also reported:
— LSUE was recognized by the Aspen Institute as one of six two-year colleges for its transfer rate to four-year institutions.
— Security is being increased on the campus. A second certified officer is to be hired and about 35 surveillance cameras are to be installed on the campus.
— LSUE is partnering with Acadian Ambulance to provide EMT training on the campus. “What were hoping to do is offer a paramedic associate degree in the future,” she said.
— A pharmacy technician program will be offered at LSUE in partnership with Louisiana State University Alexandria.
— LSU’s campuses are to be integrated into a system-wide information technology program.
— LSU has started a program in which students applying, but rejected by the Baton Rouge campus, are referred to LSUE.