Nov 10, 2009
Governor Jindal Tours Louisiana Tech, Highlights Areas of Excellence and the Importance of Investing in Higher Education

RUSTON – Today, Governor Bobby Jindal joined Louisiana Tech University President Dan Reneau and other university officials to tour the campus of Louisiana Tech and highlight the university’s areas of excellence as well as the importance of investing in higher education.

Governor Jindal said, “It was great to get a first-hand look at some of the areas of excellence at Louisiana Tech, and I look forward to touring more higher education institutions in the weeks ahead. Even while we are facing a tough budget climate, we remain absolutely committed to reforming and investing in higher education, increasing graduation rates and strengthening areas of excellence at our universities so Louisiana students can compete with top graduates across the country and be well positioned in the 21st century global workforce.”

Governor Jindal visited a number of sites on the campus, including the Biomedical Engineering Rotunda, Biomedical Engineering IDEAS Room, Humana Enterprise Center, Institute for Micromanufacturing (IfM) East Atrium, Institute for Micromanufacturing West Atrium and the Institute for Micromanufacturing Metrology Lab.

Under Governor Jindal’s administration, $15.4 million has been appropriated to Louisiana Tech University for various infrastructures projects. Specifically, $6 million in state surplus funding was appropriated for the Louisiana Tech Enterprise Campus to be used for land acquisition, planning and construction. A total of $5.5 million in capital outlay funds was moved from Priority 5 to Priority 1 cash line of credit last year for the Louisiana Tech Visual Arts Building. Louisiana Tech received $2.7 million in capital outlay funds for the Water Distribution System and total of $1.2 million in capital outlay funds was also appropriated for the Louisiana Tech Technology Transfer Center.

Since Governor Jindal took office less than two years ago, he has worked with the Legislature to appropriate and to finance $492 million in critical higher education infrastructure investments – including construction, renovations, and major repair projects.

This total includes General Fund and Capital Outlay investments, as well as $225 million for Louisiana Community and Technical College campuses, and surplus investments of $75 million to address higher education deferred maintenance needs across the state, $61 million toward the new clinical research building center at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, and more than $98 million toward critical capital outlay construction projects for higher education institutions across the state.

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