Compliance Status

Louisiana State University and A&M College is in compliance with this principle.

Narrative

Louisiana State University and A&M College (LSU) complies with the policy of the Commission on Colleges as it applies to collaborative academic arrangements.

LSU has several consortial relationships in which LSU shares in the responsibility of developing and delivering courses and programs that meet mutually agreed-upon standards of academic quality. These programs are summarized below:

The Alliance for Cooperative Course Exchange in the Plant Sciences (ACCEPtS)

In 2010, LSU entered a course-sharing alliance with Mississippi State University, Oklahoma State University, and University of Arkansas.  The Alliance for Cooperative Course Exchange in the Plant Sciences (ACCEPtS) is the result of a USDA Higher Education Challenge Grant [1].  LSU submitted a letter to notify SACSCOC of this program in June 2012 and included the signed Memorandum of Agreement [2].  ACCEPtS provides a series of undergraduate and graduate classes within the plant agricultural sciences that are shared among participating institutions. All courses will be taught by faculty who hold proper faculty qualifications at their institution.  The following stipulations for all ACCEPtS courses apply to LSU.

• LSU students register for LSU courses through LSU.
• LSU students register for a university-approved course under the appropriate number as determined by and assigned by our institution.
• An LSU faculty member is assigned as the instructor of record for the LSU course in which our students enroll.  
• LSU transcripts the credit for ACCEPtS courses using the same methodology for all courses.
• LSU students evaluate ACCEPtS courses using our institution’s evaluation procedures.
• LSU policies related to withdrawal, grading, appeals, and academic misconduct apply to our students in the ACCEPtS courses.

Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center (WAAC)

LSU has an agreement with Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VPI) to provide instruction for LSU architecture students at VPI’s Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center (WAAC).  Since 1985, the WAAC has served to house a consortium of architecture schools from all over the globe [3].  Currently ten universities are part of the consortium.  All member schools share the common goal of providing their respective students with an academic environment that utilizes the Washington metropolitan area as an educational laboratory in which to pursue studies in architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design and planning [4].  LSU students who take advantage of the opportunity afforded by the consortium typically spend their fourth year at the WAAC taking a full load of classes with WAAC instructors.  Seven-to-ten LSU architecture students participate in this program each year.

The following statements apply for all LSU students taking courses at WAAC:

• LSU students register for a university-approved course under the appropriate number as determined by and assigned by LSU;
• LSU students pay tuition to LSU and some fees to VPI; 
• An LSU faculty member is assigned as the instructor of record for the LSU course in which LSU students register and is responsible for the assignment of grades; and
• Both LSU and VPI may recognize students for internal class enrollment purposes; for state and federal reporting purposes, students are counted only by LSU.

Dual Degree Programs with the Louisiana State University School of Law

LSU has dual Master’s/Juris Doctorate degree programs with the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center, a separate SACSCOC-accredited campus under the Louisiana State University System. Prior to the recognition by SACSCOC in 2005 that LSU and LSU Law Center required separate accreditation, dually matriculating students involving JD and MBA or MPA were relatively common. With the recognition of the separate status of the two institutions, two dual-degree programs (JD/MBA and JD/MPA) were considered to be grandfathered programs. Since that time, two additional dual degree programs have been added – the JD/MMC and JD/MS in Finance. A letter to SACSCOC describing these two new dual degrees is pending.

Dual JD/MPA Program

The JD/MPA is designed for students who intend to earn both a Juris Doctor and a Master’s of Public Administration concurrently [5]. The degree is offered through the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center and the E. J. Ourso College of Business at LSU.

Dual JD/MBA Program

The JD/MBA dual degree program is designed for students who intend to earn both a Juris Doctor degree and an MBA concurrently [6]. The degree is offered through the Paul M. Hebert Law Center and the E. J. Ourso College of Business at LSU. 

Dual JD/MMC Program

The Manship School of Mass Communication offers a dual degree program with the Paul M. Hebert Law Center in which students can complete course work on both campuses to earn both the Master of Mass Communication and a Juris Doctorate, giving students an opportunity to develop media and legal expertise at the same time [7] [8].

Dual JD/MS in Finance Program

JD/MS is a program set up to allow a student to obtain both a Master’s in Finance from the E.J. Ourso College of Business and Juris Doctor/Graduate Diploma in Comparative Law from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center [9].

Dual Degree Programs with International Institutions

LSU has a pending dual degree PhD program in Civil Engineering with Hanyang University (Republic of Korea), specifically in the area of solid mechanics (advanced materials behavior and computational simulation). It is anticipated that this program will begin in the fall semester 2014. LSU submitted a letter to notify SACSCOC of this program in June 2013 [10].