Southern University at Shreveport

History

SUSLA was authorized by the Louisiana Legislature in 1964 under Governor John J. McKeithen and opened to students in 1967 as Southern University in Shreveport-Bossier City. The campus was created as the third institution within the Southern University System, after the Baton Rouge flagship (1880) and SUNO (1956), to extend the system's Black-serving mission into north Louisiana, an underserved region for Black higher education access.

Unlike the other Southern campuses, SUSLA was founded as a two-year community college rather than a four-year university. Its mission has emphasized open admission, workforce credentials, and articulation pathways into four-year institutions — particularly Southern University and A&M College and Grambling State University, two of the principal four-year HBCUs in Louisiana.

SUSLA today offers 33 undergraduate degree, diploma, and certificate programs across allied health, business, education, and STEM technician tracks. Its allied health programs — nursing, respiratory therapy, radiologic technology, and physical therapy assisting — account for a substantial share of credentials awarded annually and have made the institution a major pipeline for Black healthcare workers in the Ark-La-Tex region.

Notable Alumni

SUSLA's two-year mission means most alumni transfer to complete four-year degrees elsewhere; named alumni below are drawn from the institutional record of recognized graduates.

Significance

SUSLA is one of fewer than a dozen two-year HBCUs in the United States and is the only public Black-serving institution of any level in north Louisiana. Its open-admission mission and Pell-heavy enrollment profile place it squarely in the segment of higher education most exposed to state funding decisions, transfer-articulation policy, and short-cycle workforce credentialing trends.

As a Southern University System campus, SUSLA shares governance and brand with the Baton Rouge flagship, SUNO, the Law Center, and the Agricultural Research and Extension Center — the only multi-institution HBCU system in the country.

Aubra J. Gantt, who in 2023 became the first woman to lead SUSLA, has overseen enrollment growth — including a reported seven-percent fall-to-fall increase and the largest graduating class in more than a decade — and launched a five-year strategic plan, Reimagine SUSLA 2030. Her tenure has also drawn internal conflict: in mid-2025, faculty and staff (through SUSLA United and the campus AAUP chapter) and the Student Government Association submitted resolutions of no confidence citing concerns over shared governance, a dispute the Southern University System administration publicly acknowledged. In December 2025, the Southern University System Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to extend Gantt’s contract by four years, citing confidence in her leadership and crediting her with academic-program growth, rising enrollment, and strengthened community partnerships.

Source notes: Institutional history, enrollment, and accreditation status from Southern University at Shreveport (susla.edu) and the Southern University System (sus.edu). Leadership and 2025 governance dispute from Southern University at Shreveport (susla.edu) and KSLA News (July 2025). Program inventory from SUSLA institutional materials.