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• 1 2023-07-21T12:56:31-07:00 History of International Students at LSU 9 plain 2023-12-12T12:27:07-08:00

  In the late 19th and early 20th century, LSU had a world-renowned agricultural and sugar sciences program. This was not by accident. LSU’s presidents of the time decided to target international students by publishing several news advertisements and pamphlets that pitched LSU’s excellence in academics and in agriculture. President David Boyd first created pamphlets targeting international students in the 1870s, with pamphlets being created in German, French and Italian languages under his presidency.[1]
  
  His successor and brother, President Thomas D. Boyd, continued this attempt to reach international students by aggressively targeting Spanish-speaking students through additional pamphlets, brochures, and newspaper advertisements.[2] There were many sugar plantations throughout the Western Hemisphere, especially in the Caribbean and Latin America. LSU’s Audubon Sugar School served as the closest school to these students with much international renown, although there were also world-renowned sugar schools run by Belgium and Germany.[3]
   
  While it is difficult to pinpoint LSU’s first international student, the first recorded occurrence of an international student attending LSU was in 1896 from Mexico.[4] In the years after 1896, more international students would attend LSU, especially students from Latin American countries. A good portion of these students would attend the Audubon Sugar School.

   

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  [1] President David Boyd, Louisiana State University. “Louisiana Staats Universität.” Louisiana State University, May 1870. Box 55, Folder 983. LSU Office of the Chancellor Records, University Archives, and Boyd, David. “Universite de l’etat de Louisiane.” Louisiana State University, May 1870. Box 55, Folder 983. LSU Office of the Chancellor Records, University Archives.

  [2] Boyd, Thomas. “La Universidad del Estado de Louisiana y Colegio de Agricultura y Mechánica.” Louisiana State University, August 1898. Box 55, Folder 983. LSU Office of the Chancellor Records, University Archives.

  [3] Heitmann, John Alfred. “Two Examples of Early Chemical Engineering Education in America : The Audubon Sugar School of Louisiana and the University of Wisconsin / by John A. Heitmann.,” pg 8. Toronto, Canada: SHOT Annual Meeting, n.d.

  [4] Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge, La.). Office of the Chancellor. “Louisiana State University, Statistics of Students from Foreign Countries since 1896,” 1926. Box 54, Folder 974. LSU Office of the Chancellor Records, University Archives.