University of Louisiana at Monroe

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 . [ 6 ] 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, Northeast Louisiana University (NLU), under university president Lawson Swearingen, agreed to a controversial name change of the university. It was changed so that two schools would change to "University of Louisiana" and a geographical indicator in their name, as required by a 1995 state law that allowed the change if two or more schools in the University of Louisiana System agreed to it. Northeast Louisiana University would be renamed to University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM) and University of Southwestern Louisiana would be renamed to University of Louisiana at Lafayette (ULL). [ 7 ] [ 8 ] 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. [ 9 ] 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. In 2016, ULM was recognized as a military and veteran friendly campus by the state of Louisiana [ 10 ] as a result of the approval of House Bill 485. [ 11 ] In 2025, Carrie Castille was named the 10th president of ULM and first female president. [ 12 ] Following her appointment as president, Castille helped ULM and Louisiana Delta Community College improve the transfer process for students in applied sciences. [ 13 ]

Department of Atmospheric Science The Department of Atmospheric Science at the University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM), in Monroe, Louisiana , offers the only four-year undergraduate meteorology program in the state. It is housed in the School of Sciences within the College of Arts, Education, and Sciences and has been designated a “Program of Unique Excellence” by the Louisiana Board of Supervisors. The program is notable for owning and operating a polarimetric S-band Doppler weather radar , acquired through state homeland security funding and brought into operation in the mid-2010s. Students and faculty routinely launch weather balloons from campus in advance of hazardous weather, transmitting data to the National Weather Service to support nowcasting and short-term forecasting in northern Louisiana . [ 14 ]

The College of Business and Social Sciences (CBSS) seeks to prepare students for productive careers and responsible citizenship. It encompasses four colleges and provides 20 different programs. [ 15 ]

In the early fifties, there was a significant shortage of pharmacists in Louisiana. On August 11, 1956, the 5th District Pharmaceutical Association [ 17 ] , former college president Lewis C. Slater [ 18 ] , and others approved a pharmacy school at Northeast Louisiana State College. By 1970, a new facility was built for the School of Pharmacy and was named Sugar Hall, in honor of the late Leon Sugar, a sponsor of the pharmacy program. [ 19 ] The Bachelor of Science program in Toxicology was initiated in 1982 and is to this day one of six toxicology programs in the U.S. [ 20 ] In July of 2005, the School of Pharmacy separated from the College of Health Sciences to form the College of Pharmacy. By 2007, the College of Pharmacy moved from the main campus to the off-campus (Bienville) building. The ULM Pharmacy program is currently the only publicly supported center in Louisiana for pharmaceutical education and research. [ 21 ] The College is in a 132,000 square foot, three-story building with modern classrooms, health service facilities, and research labs. In 1999, a New Orleans physician and philanthropist Milburn E. Calhoun honored his parents with the establishment of the Mary E. and Darrell L. Calhoun Endowed Chair. With gifted funds of a total of $1 million. A couple of years later, the Calhoun family gave another $50,000 through an estate gift to the chair, which is above $1 million. In the year of 2025, the Louisiana Legislature approved a $2 million supplement to enhance the operation and research programs of the College of Pharmacy.