NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

11/19/2003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES-Northwestern State University has designated its Department of Social Sciences as the School of Social Sciences. The name change has been approved by the Louisiana Board of Regents and University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors.

The School of Social Sciences offers baccalaureate degree programs in anthropology, criminal justice, history, political science, social sciences and sociology along with an associate degree in criminal justice. A graduate degree in heritage resources received conditional approval from the Board of Regents earlier this year. More than 600 students are enrolled in the School of Social Sciences' programs.

"This designation highlights the activities of faculty and programs in the School of Social Sciences," said Dr. Kathleen Byrd, director of the School of Social Sciences. "We are now better positioned for fund raising efforts in the future. This reorganization will also allow us to better serve the needs of the students."

Faculty and staff in the School of Social Sciences have also been successful in obtaining grants, contracts and cooperative agreements which add to the training received by students. More than $3.1 million in active externally funded projects have been initiated and/or coordinated through the school. These projects are with a variety of federal and state agencies.

In addition the school also has under its jurisdiction the Williamson Museum, the Southern Studies Institute, the Regional and Station Archaeology Programs, the Cultural Resources Office and the Louisiana Creole Heritage Center. Close working relationships have also been developed with the Gulf States Regional Community Policing Institute and the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, a unit of the National Park Service.

The school is responsible for 78 percent of the university's social science general education core. Faculty members teach more than 4,400 students each semester. The associate degree in criminal justice and four other courses are delivered via the Internet. Additional courses are presented through compressed video.

Northwestern's academic prestige is enhanced by faculty members who are active and state and regional organizations and participate in national and international conferences. The staff of the Creole Heritage Center have formed a Consortium for Creole Studies with the Deep South Regional Humanities Center at Tulane University. The consortium recently hosted an international Creole studies conference in New Orleans. Faculty from the school also hosted an international conference on French basketry that attracted scholars from the U.S., Canada and France to the state.

As part of the reorganization Joe Morris has been named coordinator of criminal justice, which includes the criminal justice program and the Gulf States Regional Community Policing Institute. Dr. Greg Granger will serve as coordinator of social sciences which includes programs in anthropology, history, political science, social sciences and sociology along with the other centers, institutes, offices and the Williamson Museum.

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