The University of Louisiana System (UL System) is a public university system in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It enrolls more students than the other three public university systems in the state; as of October 2023, it claims more than 91,500 students throughout its institutions. Its headquarters are in the Claiborne Building in Baton Rouge.

History

The system was founded in 1996.

Member institutions

The University of Louisiana System has nine member institutions:

Administration

The system's president and CEO is Rick Gallot, replacing Jim Henderson in October 2023. Henderson was hired as president in 2016. One of the system's former supervisors is the late Jimmy D. Long of Natchitoches, considered an authority on educational funding and innovation. The large Finance & Facilities Planning Division was headed by Nick Bruno, Vice President for Business & Finance, for five years from 2005 to 2010, whereupon Bruno was selected to serve as president of the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

Past presidents

Crain, Clausen, and Moffett had previously been president of Southeastern Louisiana University. Jindal, a future Louisiana governor, was the youngest president of the University of Louisiana system at age 28.

Naming conventions

In 1999, the University of Southwestern Louisiana became the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Northeast Louisiana University became the University of Louisiana at Monroe, based on legislation passed in 1995. ULS policy requires both school's abbreviated names to include the municipality, precluding the use of "UL" alone. In 2013, Woodley stated that the policy does not address stand-alone usage of "Louisiana" including within athletics, where usage of particular monikers and acronyms became a point of contention. Soon after, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette's athletic moniker became the "Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns."