Louisiana Tech University, located in Ruston, Louisiana is a coeducational public institution of higher learning with an approximate enrollment of 12,000 students. First instituted as the Industrial Institute and College of Louisiana in 1894, and then as Louisiana Polytechnic Institute in 1921, it is perhaps best known for its engineering programs and its athletics, especially men's football, men's baseball and women's basketball. Louisiana Tech has since 1970 been classified as a university and is attended by students from 50 states and 70 countries.
Louisiana Tech operates on the quarter system while awarding semester hours. Three quarters (fall, winter, spring) equal two semesters at other universities. Louisiana Tech operates a satellite campus at Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City and maintains an academic relationship with Grambling State University, the area's historically African-American university located a few miles west of Ruston in Grambling.
