LSU Interim Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Harold Silverman has announced the addition of four academic departments to LSU’s prestigious Foundations of Excellence. This addition expands the Foundations of Excellence program from seven departments to 11.

The Departments of Civil & Environmental Engineering, History, French Studies and Mechanical Engineering have joined seven other departments that were previously named Foundations of Excellence in the spring of 2005. Those seven departments are biological sciences, chemistry, English, mass communication, mathematics, music and physics & astronomy and will all remain Foundations of Excellence units.

The Foundations of Excellence are those programs on which LSU students and faculty are building to make the university a leading center of learning and research for the 21st century. They are the programs that have exhibited the strength to advance to the most competitive level, thereby heightening LSU’s reputation as a top public research institution, nationally and internationally. Each of these departments is eligible to receive extra resources to help recruit and retain the very best faculty and graduate students.

The addition of the four programs comes after Silverman invited all university departments not already on the list to apply for the designation. Departments were required to submit proposals that demonstrated: national excellence, recent achievements, outcomes of recent program reviews and accreditation reports, faculty and program changes since 1999, strategic plans and department culture and contributions to the university’s mission and reputation.

Based on the written proposals and additional presentations by departments heads, the University Planning Council – made up of top faculty and senior administrators from across campus – selected the four units to receive the designation.

“The designation of four additional departments as Foundations of Excellence is proof positive of our remarkable progress in reaching Flagship Agenda goals,” LSU Chancellor Sean O’Keefe said. “It is evident that these units have made significant progress in their quest for national and international prominence. I am very pleased that this level of distinction was reached by French studies, given the Cajun influence on a large portion of our state, and by civil & environmental engineering, a department that is developing strong coastal efforts for Louisiana.”

“Many excellent proposals were submitted and this was a difficult decision for the UPC, so the departments selected should be proud of this accomplishment,” Silverman said. “The UPC was committed to selecting the best of the best to become Foundations of Excellence, and the group did a very thorough and commendable job. I appreciate the efforts of everyone on the UPC who worked tirelessly to make this important decision, and I want to thank all the departments that applied. My heartfelt congratulations go to the four newest Foundations of Excellence. It is my hope that they will help lead LSU into a position of national prominence.”

The Foundations of Excellence program originally began in 2000 when the university designated 12 departments as Foundations. In 2005, O’Keefe requested that the UPC come up with a new, peer-review process for the selection of the Foundations. This new process leaves the selection up to a group of eminent university leaders who examine an exhaustive list of criteria to determine which programs should be named Foundations of Excellence. It was based on this new criteria that the seven programs in 2005 were selected. At the time, O’Keefe and the UPC promised departments that did not make the list a chance to be reevaluated in 2007.

For more information on the Foundations of Excellence, please visit www.lsu.edu/foundations/.