LSU Shreveport expanding cyber security academic with fierce for the future campaign
SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – LSU Shreveport raised $13.7 million with the help of generous donors contributing through the LSUS foundation that will enhance on-campus infrastructure and academic programs.
Three years ago, LSU campuses across the state came together to embark on an ambitious campaign effort. The Fierce for the Future Campaign raised a total of $1.5 billion, with each campus contributing a large sum.
“Fierce for the Future was really an umbrella campaign. It had themes tied to the strategic plan,” LSU Shreveport Chancellor Larry Clark said.
The money raised by each campus will go directly toward enhancing student and faculty resources.
Clark explains one of these gifts to the campus will include a Cyber Collaborative immersive learning experience. The state-of-the-art equipment will give students the tools to understand real-world cybersecurity threats.
“We do have a focus area in cybersecurity among other areas in computer science. And what we’re going to be building with the security operations center will be studying the attacks that come every day against our computer system, but working the modeling,” said Clark.
Chancellor Clark shared that AEP SWEPCO also provided a sizable donation.
The state donated a little over $2 million dollars with the hope of sharing this knowledge across campuses.
The Spring Street Historical Museum was also gifted to the campus as a donation through the campaign. The university was gifted the museum during the pandemic but has not met its full potential since the transfer. Chancellor Clark explains the plans for the museum this year.
“We have this year with Dr. Cheryl White overseeing, we have seven academic internships that are being done with the Spring Street Museum. That’s exciting. That’s taking us beyond the classroom,” explained Clark.
Campus infrastructure will also benefit, Chancellor Clark describes the entrance to the administration building without a sidewalk, but the campaign funds helped establish the Callaway Gardens as a welcoming scene for prospective students and guests.
The athletics department will also gain a few perks. The development of a new boat house will go near the baseball facility to support the collegiate men’s fishing team.
“That was a set of gifts that came and creates that boathouse and makes that possible so again, none of these things, they come in and they help or a catalyst for other things that can happen,” said Clark.
According to Clark state funding barely makes a dent in the campuses annual budget, he says “We get around 10 and a half maybe 11 million dollars from the state on a 66 million dollar budget.”
Clark says the university is working out the details of its next campaign they hope can provide scholarship opportunities for students.
Gloss