Northwestern State University

Northwestern State University a public university based in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a nursing campus in Shreveport and a branch campus in Leesville in Vernon Parish. It is governed through the University of Louisiana System, which is headed by James Henderson, the former NSU president and an alumnus of the institution.

Founded in 1884, NSU was originally known as the Louisiana State Normal School, with emphasis on teacher training. It is the first school in Louisiana to offer degrees in business education and nursing. Along with Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, also in northern Louisiana and several other in-state colleges, NSU gain status as a university in 1970 during the administration of Arnold Roy Kilpatrick (1920-2005), an alumnus of the former Northwestern State College who was the president from 1966 to 1978. He succeeded John Schenebly Kyser (1900-1975), an Illinois native and the former chairman of the NSU Department of Social Sciences who was the college president from 1954 to 1966.

In 1954, NSU became the first college under the jurisdiction of the then Louisiana State Board of Education to offer the master's degree. In 1966 and 1967, it began offering, respectively, the Specialist in Education and the Doctor of Philosophy in Education.

Notable alumni

• Jesse L. Boucher
• Beverly Bruce
• Henry Burns
• Jerry Byrd
• John Ardis Cawthon
• Virginia Wheadon de Gravelles
• Bill Dodd
• Jerry Gaw
• James Genovese
• Lance Harris
• James Henderson
• Cleone Hodges
• Chris Maggio
• Johnny McFerren
• Lane Pittard
• W. W. Williams, Sr.
• R. L. Ropp
• Charles Scott
• B. L. "Buddy" Shaw
• Randall Webb