Lamar University

Lamar University International Student Insurance

Lamar University (LU), located in Beaumont, Texas, is a public university that was established in 1923. It opened as South Park Junior College but was renamed Lamar College in 1932 after Mirabeau B. Lamar, the second president of the Republic of Texas and the state’s “Father of Education.” The campus moved to its current location in the early 1940s. In 1951, the school was again renamed Lamar State College of Technology, and its enrollment and curriculum offerings continued to expand. The first doctoral program debuted in 1970. In honor of its widened scope, it became Lamar University the following year. It joined the Texas State University System in 1995.

Today, LU enrolls more than 15,000 students and counting each year. The school colors are red and white, and its athletic nicknames are the Cardinals and the Lady Cardinals.

Academic and Research Opportunities

LU offers students undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral degrees across its five academic colleges: the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Business, the College of Education and Human Development, the College of Engineering, and the College of Fine Arts and Communication. Other academic divisions include the Reaud Honors College, the College of Graduate Studies, and units like the Center for Teaching and Learning Enhancement, which offers university faculty members training and support.

Lamar University has been classified as a Doctoral Research University by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. A few of its research centers include the Center for Advances in Water and Air Quality, the Center for Advances in Port Management, the Texas Air Research Center, and the Texas Hazardous Waste Research Center.

On Campus

Points of interest on LU’s campus include the Mary and John Gray Library, which holds almost 400,000 physical books as well as e-books and digital subscriptions to research publications. The Dishman Art Museum was founded in 1983 and exhibits permanent collections of 19th- and 20th-century paintings from the U.S. and Europe, and also tribal art from Africa, New Guinea, and Pre-Columbian Mexico. The Spindletop Gladys City Boomtown Museum is an open-air museum celebrating the discovery of oil in Beaumont in 1901. The museum holds weekly re-enactments of the high-pressure oil gusher using water, weather permitting.

Notable Alumni

Notable Lamar University alumni include photographer Keith Carter; singer and songwriter Bob McDill; children’s author Lynn Sweat; Colin Ridgeway, the first Australian to play in the NFL; sports announcer Bill Macatee; and film director and screenwriter Kelly Asbury.

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