LSUS to graduate more than 1300 students from 49 states and 32 countries

The Brookshire Grocery Arena will be inundated in a sea of purple and gold Friday as LSUS will celebrate more than 1,300 graduates in two ceremonies. The ceremonies begin at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. with the graduates’ last name determining which ceremony they are assigned. Nearly 600 of those graduates are planning on attending the event in person. No tickets are required to attend the event, and graduates can invite as many guests as they would like to the 14,000-seat arena. Parking is free. The ADA entrance is located on the north side of the building, which includes a wheelchair-accessible ramp. Parking lot A is reserved for handicapped guests. Both ceremonies will be live-streamed on the LSUS Facebook page.

LSUS alumnus Ronnie L. Bryant, a Shreveport native, will deliver the keynote address. Bryant, one of the world’s most respected minds in economic development, cut his teeth with the Greater Shreveport Chamber of Commerce in the 1980s and 1990s.  Bryant excelled in the economic development field in Charlotte, Pittsburgh and St. Louis before starting his own consulting firm in 2017.

The ceremonies will be the last for LSUS Chancellor Larry Clark, who will be retiring at the end of June after assuming the helm in 2014.

GRADUATION STATISTICS 

LSUS will confer 1,329 degrees and 16 certificates to punctuate the spring semester. Masters degrees account for 82 percent of graduates with the Master of Business Administration (717 graduates), Master of Health Administration (168) and Master of Education (153) making up the majority of degrees awarded. LSUS will hand out 231 bachelor degrees, five specialist degrees, 16 certificates and two doctorate degrees. Graduates identifying as first-generation college students tally 500 (37 percent). First-generation college students are defined as neither parent holding a four-year degree.

WHERE ARE GRADUATES FROM? 

LSUS spring graduates hail from 49 states and 32 countries. The state of Louisiana boasts 505 LSUS graduates from the spring semester, accounting for 38 percent of the graduation population. Texas (150), Florida (91), Georgia (56) and California (36) round out the top five. South Dakota is the lone U.S. state not represented in the LSUS graduating class this spring. Fifty-nine graduates are from outside the United States with India’s eight graduates leading the international population. Nineteen graduates call countries in Asia home with 15 hailing from North America (outside of the U.S.), 14 from Africa, seven from Europe and four from South America.