Lamar University (Lamar or LU) is a
public university
A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national universit ...
in
Beaumont, Texas. Lamar has been a member of the
Texas State University System
The Texas State University System (TSUS) was created in 1911 to oversee the state's normal schools. Since its creation it has broadened its focus and comprises institutions of many different scopes. The other systems of state universities are th ...
since 1995. It was the flagship institution of the former
Lamar University System The Lamar University System was a state university system established in 1983 with four existing institutions: the flagship Lamar University, and the member institutions Lamar State College–Port Arthur, Lamar State College–Orange (both two-year ...
. As of the fall of 2021, the university enrollment was 16,191 students.
Lamar University is accredited by the
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) is an educational accreditor recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. This agency accredits over 13,000 public and priv ...
. The university is named for
Mirabeau B. Lamar
Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar (August 16, 1798 – December 25, 1859) was an Lawyer, attorney born in Georgia,
who became a Texas politician, poet, diplomat, and soldier. He was a leading Texas political figure during the Republic of Texas, Texas ...
, the second president of the Republic of Texas.
Lamar is most prominent for its intercollegiate athletic teams, the
Cardinals
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...
. It has an urban setting, and the core campus of LU is 299+ acres. LU is organized into five undergraduate colleges including the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business, Engineering, Education and Human Development, and Fine Arts and Communication; one graduate college, the College of Graduate Studies; and an honors college, the Reaud Honors College.
History
Louis R. Pietzsch founded a public junior college in Beaumont's South Park. Lamar University started on September 17, 1923 as South Park Junior College, operating on the unused third floor of the new
South Park High School. Pietzsch acted as the first president of the college. South Park Junior College became the first college in Texas to receive
Texas Department of Education
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is the branch of the government of Texas responsible for public education in Texas in the United States. approval during the first year of operation, and became fully accredited in 1925.
In 1932, the college administration, recognizing that the junior college was serving the region rather than just the community, renamed it as Lamar College. It was named for
Mirabeau B. Lamar
Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar (August 16, 1798 – December 25, 1859) was an Lawyer, attorney born in Georgia,
who became a Texas politician, poet, diplomat, and soldier. He was a leading Texas political figure during the Republic of Texas, Texas ...
, the second president of the
Republic of Texas
The Republic of Texas ( es, República de Tejas) was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, that bordered Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840 (another breakaway republic from Mex ...
, who arranged to set aside land in counties for public schools. A statue of him was installed in the quadrangle of the campus near the Setzer Student Center. In 1933, the college was moving toward independence from South Park High School when construction began on new facilities. By 1942, the college was completely independent of the South Park school district, and operations moved to the current campus.
With the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, an influx of veterans boosted enrollment. The Lamar board of trustees asked the Texas Legislature to promote Lamar College to a four-year state college. The initial attempt in 1947, led in the Texas House of Representatives by
Jack Brooks and in the Texas Senate by
W. R. Cousins Jr., failed, but the following year the two sponsors again advanced the bill through both houses. On June 14, 1949, Governor
Beauford Jester signed the bill creating Lamar State College of Technology.
![1949 signing of the Lamar College Bill](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/1949_signing_of_the_Lamar_College_Bill..jpg)
Enrollment continued to grow throughout the 1950s and 1960s, reaching 10,000 students. Graduate work was authorized in 1960, when master's degrees were offered in several fields.
In 1969, Lamar State College opened its first branch at a center in
Orange, Texas
Orange is a city and the county seat of Orange County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 19,324. It is the easternmost city in Texas, located on the Sabine River at the border with Louisiana, and is from Hous ...
. In 1970, Lamar State College began offering its first doctoral program, the Doctor of Engineering. In 1971 the college's name was officially changed to Lamar University.
A group of
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
veterans of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, barred from admission on the grounds of race and calling themselves the Negro Goodwill Council, protested to Governor
Beauford Jester about the exclusion of blacks from Lamar State College. They attempted to block passage of the bill to change Lamar into a state-supported senior college, which resulted in John Gray, Lamar's president, creating a black branch of Lamar called Jefferson Junior College. It opened with evening classes at Charlton-Pollard High School. In 1952, James Briscoe, a graduate of Charlton-Pollard High School, applied to Lamar. His parents were laborers and members of the Beaumont chapter of the
NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
. The admissions office notified him that on the basis of his transcript, he was qualified to enroll for the spring term of 1951. On January 29, when Briscoe went to register for classes, Lamar's acting president G. A. Wimberly explained that a mistake had been made and suggested he apply to TSUN, now named
Texas Southern University
Texas Southern University (Texas Southern or TSU) is a public historically black university in Houston, Texas. The university is one of the largest and most comprehensive historically black college or universities in the USA with nearly 10,00 ...
. State law, he said, created Lamar for whites only. In the summer of 1955, Versie Jackson and Henry Cooper Jr. became the lead plaintiffs of a class action lawsuit, Jackson v. McDonald, which sought to end Lamar's policy of racial segregation.
Lamar Cecil, federal judge, ruled on July 30, 1956, that Lamar's “white youth” only admissions policy was unconstitutional and that September, a total of twenty-six blacks were admitted to the college amid violent protests at the campus gates and throughout the region for a number of weeks until
Texas Rangers arrived and the rule of law restored.
In 1975, the university merged with
Port Arthur College
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...
in
Port Arthur, Texas, creating Lamar University-Port Arthur. In 1983, state Senator
Carl A. Parker sponsored a bill creating the Lamar University System. In 1986, Lamar University-Orange and Lamar University-Port Arthur were granted accreditation separate from the main campus.
Lamar Institute of Technology
Lamar Institute of Technology (LIT) is a public technical school in Beaumont, Texas. LIT was formerly a part of Lamar University, but became a separate institution when the university joined the Texas State University System in 1995.
History ...
was created in 1990 in Beaumont to provide technical, business, health, and industrial education through programs two years or fewer in length.
In 1995, the Lamar University System was incorporated into the
Texas State University System
The Texas State University System (TSUS) was created in 1911 to oversee the state's normal schools. Since its creation it has broadened its focus and comprises institutions of many different scopes. The other systems of state universities are th ...
. In the fall of 1998, the Lamar University faculty numbered 423 and student enrollment was 8,241. Total enrollment reached 15,000 students in Fall 2012. In the late 1990s, Lamar began undertaking campus improvement projects.
In 2001, the university began replacing its 1960s-vintage residence halls with new
apartment-style housing facilities, dubbed "Cardinal Village."
In March 2005, the gym underwent extensive renovation and adjacent to it, a new recreational sports center was built. The $19 million center, named the Sheila Umphrey Recreational Sports Center, opened in April 2007.
In August 2007, the university completed construction on Cardinal Village IV, a $16-million expansion of its residence halls. The University completed construction of Cardinal Village Phase V in August 2010 bringing on-campus housing capacity to 2,500 students.
The university, in anticipation of the return of football program in 2010, renovated and upgraded
Provost Umphrey Stadium
Provost Umphrey Stadium (previously Cardinal Stadium) is a 16,000-seat multi-purpose stadium located on the campus of Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. The stadium, home to the Lamar Cardinals football team, is located next to the Montagne C ...
(formerly Cardinal Stadium) and a new state-of-the-art Dauphin Athletic Complex. In October 2014, Lamar broke ground for an administration building to be named the Wayne A. Reaud Building. The building houses the newly established Reaud Honors College.
Another recent project included renovation of the Setzer Student Center. The renovation project had a $28,000,000 cost. The renovated building was opened on April 12, 2018.
Academics
![LUQuadLucasBuilding](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/LUQuadLucasBuilding.jpg)
Lamar offers 96 undergraduate, 50 master's and eight doctoral degree programs in seven academic colleges. The academic colleges are the College of Engineering, College of Education and Human Development, College of Business, College of Fine Arts and Communication, the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Graduate Studies, and the Reaud Honors College. Lamar is classified as a Doctoral Research University by the
Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education and is one of only two universities classified as such within the
Texas State University System
The Texas State University System (TSUS) was created in 1911 to oversee the state's normal schools. Since its creation it has broadened its focus and comprises institutions of many different scopes. The other systems of state universities are th ...
. Lamar and
Kunming University of Science and Technology
Kunming University of Science and Technology (KUST) () is in Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan Province, Southwestern China.
As the goal by 2010, KUST was to become a National Key Universities, key university with a strong science and engineerin ...
in southwest
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
have an exchange program that allows Chinese students to attend Lamar for one year while pursuing their bachelor's degree.
The university also has many academic units that fall outside of the five main colleges. The College of Graduate Studies handles graduate students. The Center for Teaching and Learning Enhancement offers training and support to faculty and runs the university's Active and Collaborative Engagement for Students (ACES) Program. The ACES program is designed to provide support to high risk students and integrate active learning methods into all core courses at LU. The university also provides secondary education through the
Texas Academy for Leadership in the Humanities,
stateu.com and the
Texas Governor's School.
In the summer of 2009, Lamar University partnered with the
University of Texas at Arlington
The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA or UT Arlington) is a public research university in Arlington, Texas. The university was founded in 1895 and was in the Texas A&M University System for several decades until joining the University of Te ...
to create an online dual credit program for high school students in Texas,
stateu.com. The partnership between the two universities operates at the website
stateu.com. Online dual credit courses are available for free to high school students through state funding vi
House Bill 3646
The BAAS online degree completion program, an expansion of a degree the university has offered for almost 20 years, is offered online through Lamar University Academic Partnerships.
Recognition, awards and ranking
In August 2010, the
American Council of Trustees and Alumni
The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) is a conservative non-profit organization whose stated mission is to "support liberal arts education, uphold high academic standards, safeguard the free exchange of ideas on campus, and ensure t ...
(ACTA) released a study on core curriculum standards for 715 four-year institutions. The study compared colleges on their commitment to core subjects deemed essential to a well-rounded, competitive education. Lamar was one of only 16 institutions to receive an A rating. The study was featured in ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' with a tag line "Forget Harvard and think Lamar." In October 2010, the university announced they would raise admission standards for the second time in two years because of the increased enrollment. The enrollment standards increase took effect in the fall of 2011.
Lamar was ranked in Tier Two of "National Universities" by the U.S. News & World Report's 2015 ranking. According to the site, 76.6% of students who applied to Lamar in 2013 were admitted. Lamar is ranked in several 2015 ''U.S. News & World Report'' categories.
* Best Nursing Schools – 181 (tied)
* Best Speech-Language Pathology – 220
* Best Online Bachelors Programs – 47 (tied)
* Best Online Graduate Justice Programs – 31 (tied)
* Best Online Graduate Education Programs – 35 (tied)
* Best Online Graduate Nursing Programs – 74 (tied)
Lamar was ranked #602 in ''Forbes'' 2014 America's Top Colleges report.
College of Engineering
![LUCherryEngineeringEntrance](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/LUCherryEngineeringEntrance.jpg)
The College of Engineering has 10 research centers under its authority. These are coordinated under the Texas Centers for Technology Incubation (TCTI). The college also participates in the Texas Space Grant Consortium, which sponsors research on space based technologies.
The Dan F. Smith Department of
Chemical Engineering
Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...
was established with a $5 million donation from Dan F. Smith in 2009. The program continually produces the same or more M.S. in Chemical Engineering graduates than universities such as
Stanford,
IIT and
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
. The building housing the Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering program was dedicated the Charles and Eleanor Garrett Engineering Center in Fall 2012.
The Department of
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...
offers eight degree programs.
The Philip M. Drayer Department of
Electrical Engineering
Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
was endowed with a $5 million gift from Philip M. Drayer in 2007. The department has many successful alumni in the industry including Phil Drayer (LUEE ’67), and Charles Garrett (LUEE ’59) inventor and founder of Garrett Metal Detectors.
The
Industrial Engineering
Industrial engineering is an engineering profession that is concerned with the optimization of complex process (engineering), processes, systems, or organizations by developing, improving and implementing integrated systems of people, money, kno ...
department offers two undergraduate degrees: B.S. Industrial Engineering, and B.S. in Industrial Technology; and four graduate degrees: Master of Engineering Industrial Engineering, Master of Science Industrial Engineering, Doctor of Engineering in Industrial Engineering, and
Master of Engineering Management
Master of Engineering Management (MEM) (or Master of Science in Engineering Management (MSEM)) is a professional master's degree that bridges the gap between the field of engineering or technology and the field of business management. Engineering ...
.
The
Mechanical Engineering
Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...
department offers both undergraduate degree (B.S) as well as graduate degrees, consisting of degrees programs in Master of Engineering ( M.E.), Master of Engineering Science (M.E.S) and Doctor of Engineering (D.E.). The department is affiliated with ASME and ASTM.
College of Business
The University established the College of Business in 1972. Prior to this time, degrees in business and economics were granted by the Division of Business, which was established in 1951, and the School of Business, established in 1954. All undergraduate and graduate degree programs of the College of Business are accredited by AACSB International.
Four departments –
Accounting
Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the "languag ...
and
Business Law;
Economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...
and
Finance
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...
;
Information Systems
An information system (IS) is a formal, sociotechnical, organizational system designed to collect, process, store, and distribute information. From a sociotechnical perspective, information systems are composed by four components: task, people ...
and
Analysis
Analysis ( : analyses) is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts in order to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle (38 ...
; and
Management
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities o ...
and
Marketing
Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...
– make up the
College of Business. The Bachelor of
Business Administration
Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...
degree is granted in all areas. A Bachelor of Science degree is granted in Economics. In Fall 2008, the College of Business acquired a new program, the Reese Construction Management program, with a $1.25 million donation from Jerry and Sheila Reese. The program is headed by Steve McCrary Ph.D.
The Aspen Institute Center for Business Education's 2011–2012 edition of Beyond Grey Pinstripes ranked Lamar's
MBA
A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...
program in the top 100 in the world for the third consecutive year. In November 2010, Janie Nelson Steinhagen and Mark Steinhagen created the Janie Nelson Steinhagen and Mark Steinhagen Global Fellows Endowment in the College of Business. The endowment will provide graduate students and faculty with opportunities to gain first-hand knowledge of the global marketplace. Students taking advantage of the Steinhagen Global Fellows Endowment will travel abroad accompanied by a College of Business faculty Steinhagen Global Fellow. They will participate in classes and seminars with other students, visit businesses and experience the culture of the country – all at an advanced level.
Through the Entrepreneurship Lecture Series, endowed by a business alumnus, students and faculty have the opportunity to be inspired by the world's leading entrepreneurs. The series brings high profile and dynamic speakers to the campus yearly.
College of Education and Human Development
The College of Education and Human Development comprises five departments:
Educational Leadership
Educational leadership is the process of enlisting and guiding the talents and energies of teachers, students, and parents toward achieving common educational aims. This term is often used synonymously with school leadership in the United States a ...
,
Family
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
&
Consumer Sciences
A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. T ...
,
Health
Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...
&
Kinesiology
Kinesiology () is the scientific study of human body movement. Kinesiology addresses physiological, anatomical, biomechanical, pathological, neuropsychological principles and mechanisms of movement. Applications of kinesiology to human health ...
,
Counseling and Special Populations
Counseling is the professional guidance of the individual by utilizing psychological methods especially in collecting case history data, using various techniques of the personal interview, and testing interests and aptitudes.
This is a list of co ...
and
Professional Pedagogy.
The teacher preparation and education graduate programs of the College of Education and Human Development are accredited by the
National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (
NCATE
The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) was a professional accreditor focused on accrediting teacher education programs in U.S. colleges and universities. It was founded in 1954 and was recognized as an accreditor by ...
) at both the initial teacher preparation and advanced preparation levels. Lamar is among the largest educators of teachers in the nation due to its large Masters in Education program.
The College hosts the
Governor's School of Texas The Governor's School of Texas, formerly the Texas Honors Leadership Program (THLP), is a summer program for academically talented high school students from Texas, who have completed their sophomore or junior years. The program is a member of the N ...
, a three-week summer program for gifted high school students.
College of Arts and Sciences
![LUSocialSciencesBuilding](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/LUSocialSciencesBuilding.jpg)
The College of Arts and Sciences' fields of study include Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Biology, Chemistry, Nursing, Music, English, Earth Science, Foreign Language, History, Political Science, Criminal Justice and Psychology. The College is home to the JoAnne Gay Dishman School of Nursing. The nursing department consists of BSN and ADN degrees. The master of nursing online program in the Lamar University JoAnne Gay Dishman Department of Nursing has been ranked second in the nation for excellence in faculty credentials and training by U.S. News & World Report in Fall 2012.
College of Fine Arts and Communication
The College of Fine Arts and Communication offers degree programs in communication fields such as Journalism and Broadcasting, Speech and Hearing sciences, Sign Language, and Deaf Education. Lamar University is one of five universities in Texas which offer a
clinical doctorate in audiology program. Fine arts degree programs such as Art, Theater, Music and Dance department programs are housed in the Music, Theater, and Art buildings. The college is home to the Mary Morgan Moore Department of Music. The department of communications operates LUTV, a local educational access television station, and KVLU (FM 91.3) a National Public Radio station. The Department of Art's faculty includes internationally acclaimed artists
Keith Carter and
Prince Varughese Thomas.
Reaud Honors College
The Reaud Honors College, established in the fall of 2014, became the ninth honors college in the state of Texas. The honors program has been part of the university's academic offering since 1963. The 45,000 sq ft Wayne A. Reaud Building, which houses the honors college as well as university administration offices, broke ground on October 7, 2014. The honors college is a member of the
National Collegiate Honors Council
The National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) is an association of undergraduate honors programs, colleges, directors, deans, faculty
Faculty may refer to:
* Faculty (academic staff), the academic staff of a university (North American usage)
...
and the Great Plains Honor Council.
Campus
The Lamar University campus is located off of Martin Luther King Boulevard, near
U.S. Highway 69, in the southeast part of
Beaumont, Texas. The campus is from the
Jack Brooks Regional Airport
Jack Brooks Regional Airport , formerly Southeast Texas Regional Airport, is near Port Arthur, Texas, nine miles (14 km) southeast of Beaumont and northeast of Port Arthur. It was Jefferson County Airport, but its name was changed to honor ...
, from the
Neches River
The Neches River () begins in Van Zandt County west of Rhine Lake and flows for through the piney woods of east Texas, defining the boundaries of 14 counties on its way to its mouth on Sabine Lake near the Rainbow Bridge. Two major reservoirs, ...
and from
Downtown Beaumont
Downtown Beaumont is the central business district of Beaumont, Texas. It is where the city's highrise buildings are located, as well as being the center of government and business for the region. Downtown Beaumont is currently experiencing a rena ...
. The
Big Thicket National Preserve
The Big Thicket is the name given to a somewhat imprecise region of a heavily-forested area of Southeast Texas in the United States. This area represents a portion of the mixed pine-hardwood forests of southeast US. The National Park Service esta ...
,
Village Creek State Park, and
the Gulf of Mexico are all located within 30 minutes of the school. Facilities include the 10,080 seat
Montagne Center
The Montagne Center, built in 1984, is a mixed-use Auxiliary/E&G event center that houses a 10,746-seat a multi-purpose arena and a variety of event spaces in Beaumont, Texas. The Montagne Center was designed especially for the basketball program ...
, the eight-story
Mary and John Gray Library and the 16,000 seat
Provost Umphrey Stadium
Provost Umphrey Stadium (previously Cardinal Stadium) is a 16,000-seat multi-purpose stadium located on the campus of Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. The stadium, home to the Lamar Cardinals football team, is located next to the Montagne C ...
.
Cardinal Village
Cardinal Village is the university's community of apartment-style dormitories, part of Lamar University's investment in student life on campus. As of 2010, there were five "Phases" of Cardinal Village with the capacity to house 2500 students. Each room includes a private bedroom, furnished with the necessities of college life such as a mini-refrigerator, microwave, computer desk, telephone outlets, cable TV access, and easy connectivity to the University's network. Cardinal Village housing also offers community centers, study areas, meeting rooms, fitness centers, a swimming pool, on-site laundry facilities, basketball and volleyball courts, social lounges, and parking. During the summer of 2011 all five phases of Cardinal village were renamed for previously-demolished residence halls on campus: Phase I – Gentry Hall, Phase II – Morris Hall, Phase III – Combs Hall, Phase IV – Campbell Hall and Phase V – Monroe Hall.
Mary and John Gray Library
The tallest structure on campus at eight stories, the Mary and John Gray Library serves as a landmark for the university. Named after Mary and John Gray, considered to be the “first couple” of the university, the red brick structure took two and a half years to complete. The library holds extensive physical and digital collections, including 395,003 physical books, 99,548 e-books, and 142 digital databases, and provides access to current journal content from 48,851 journals. The library provides its users with a variety of digital tools, such as the online catalog and EBSCO EDS, an integrated search discovery system that allows single searches across multiple databases. Faculty and students can gain access to materials not held by our library through a robust interlibrary loan service and document delivery, in which we purchase journal articles on demand at no cost to the user. A service-oriented staff provides face-to-face, phone, and chat research assistance, as well as extensive subject guides and self-paced online tutorials to assist all Lamar users in using library resources to best advantage.
Sheila Umphrey Recreational Sports Center
![McDonald Gym and the Sheila Umphrey Recreation Center](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/McDonald_Gym_and_the_Sheila_Umphrey_Recreation_Center.jpg)
The Sheila Umphrey Recreational Sports Center was completed in 2007 at a cost of $19 million. The construction included renovation of the
McDonald Gym, which had previously served as the university's sports center and home of the
volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
program. The naming of the center was made possible by a $5 million donation by local attorney
Walter Umphrey in 2005. The center includes a cardiovascular room, a one-tenth-mile walking/jogging track, a climbing wall, basketball, indoor floor hockey/soccer arena, volleyball, badminton courts, and racquetball courts. The center also sports a wellness and fitness center, health food café and juice bar. The lounge areas include pool tables, putting green, air hockey, foosball, video games and large screen TV. The center is home to the Recreational Sports Office, which organizes and hosts intramural sports leagues and sport clubs teams such as volleyball, basketball, flag football, cricket, badminton, indoor soccer, pool, ultimate frisbee, and tennis. The tennis club made back-to-back appearances at the national tournament as they won 'Club of the Year' for 2015 and 2016.
Brooks-Shivers Dining Hall
![LUdininghallcloseup](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/LUdininghallcloseup.jpg)
The University's Brooks-Shivers Dining Hall was completed in 2006 for $6.2 million and is named for Southeast Texas congressman Jack Brooks and former Texas governor Allan Shivers. The hall is set on a food court-style floor plan that offers a variety of seating areas from barstools to booths. Dining options range from a
salad bar
A salad bar is a buffet-style table or counter at a restaurant or food market on which salad components are provided for customers to assemble their own salad plates. Most salad bars provide lettuce, chopped tomatoes, assorted raw, sliced veget ...
,
grill and central
bakery
A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, donuts, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who w ...
to
pizza
Pizza (, ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, onions ...
,
stir fry,
Mexican food
Mexican cuisine consists of the cooking cuisines and traditions of the modern country of Mexico. Its earliest roots lie in Mesoamerican cuisine. Its ingredients and methods begin with the first agricultural communities such as the Olmec and M ...
,
pasta
Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Rice flour, or legumes such as beans or lentils, are som ...
,
deli
Deli may refer to:
* Delicatessen, a shop selling specially prepared food, or food prepared by such a shop
* Sultanate of Deli, a former sultanate in North Sumatra, Indonesia
Places
* Deli, Boyer-Ahmad, a village in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Pro ...
and
soup stations. The facility has interiors which include artwork created by Lamar University art students and faculty. On-campus food services are provided by external company
Chartwells
Compass Group plc is a British multinational contract foodservice company headquartered in Chertsey, England. It is the largest contract foodservice company in the world employing over 500,000 people. It serves meals in locations including o ...
, which, in addition to the dining hall, provides options including franchised fast food chains and coffee shops.
Setzer Student Center
![Setzercenter](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Setzercenter.jpg)
The Setzer Student Center, known colloquially "The SET", hosts social and cultural activities throughout the year and is the hub for campus student organizations. The lounge areas, Mirabeau's Café and the Cardinal's Nest eatery provide students with a place to socialize and relax. The Setzer Center also houses the bookstore, which stocks textbooks, school supplies, and Lamar University/
Lamar Cardinals
The Lamar Cardinals and Lady Cardinals (variously Cardinals or Cards) refers to the college athletics teams of Lamar University, in Beaumont, Texas. The Cardinals and Lady Cardinals teams compete in seventeen NCAA Division I sports as a member o ...
merchandise. Administrative divisions located in the Set include the Center for Teaching and Learning Enhancement and the Office of Planning and Assessment.
During the Spring 2012 semester, the Student Government Association, led by then-president Andrew Greenberg, passed a student-wide referendum to finance renovation and remodeling the Setzer Student Center. The vote was passed with 81% approval. The $28 million project was completed in 2018 with reopening of the center on April 12, 2018.
Dishman Art Museum
The
Dishman Art Museum serves as a teaching facility and
art museum
An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own collection. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. Although primarily con ...
for Lamar. It was established in 1983. The museum offers students an opportunity to experience diverse styles that reflect international trends, as well as a chance to exhibit their own work. Admission is free.
The museum's permanent collection includes 19th- and 20th-century paintings from American and European artists, as well as tribal art from
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
,
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu
Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea).
It is a simplified version of ...
, and
Pre-Columbian Mexico
The pre-Columbian (or prehispanic) history of the territory now making up the country of Mexico is known through the work of archaeologists and epigraphers, and through the accounts of Spanish conquistadores, settlers and clergymen as well as ...
.
Spindletop-Gladys City Museum
The Spindletop-Gladys City Museum is an open-air museum. The museum commemorates the 1901 discovery of oil by the Lucas Gusher in Beaumont. The oil discovery was located on
Spindletop salt dome
A salt dome is a type of structural dome formed when salt (or other evaporite minerals) intrudes into overlying rocks in a process known as diapirism. Salt domes can have unique surface and subsurface structures, and they can be discovered usin ...
in South Beaumont. The
boomtown
A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although ...
that sprung up around the well was known as Gladys City. 100,000 barrels of oil were soon produced per day, making it the most productive in the world at that time. This productivity sparked an oil boom in Texas that continues to this day.
Athletics
The "Lamar Cardinals" (or "Cards") refers to the
collegiate athletic teams of Lamar University. The inception of the nickname "Cardinals" dates back to the school's name change to Lamar in 1932. The teams compete in
NCAA Division I
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...
athletics for all of its varsity sports. Lamar has participated in practically every level of collegiate athletics from its inception as a
junior college in 1923 to its gaining
university
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
status in 1971. Lamar fields teams in seventeen sports in the
Southland Conference
The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it ...
. A founding member of the Southland, Lamar has competed in the conference in several stints ranging from 1963-1987, 1998-2021, and then again beginning in 2022 following a single year in the
WAC.
Lamar sponsors fifteen teams (seven men's and eight women's). The newest teams are the reinstated
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
team beginning in 2010, and women's
softball
Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...
which began play in the 2013 season. The Cardinals participate in men's and women's
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
,
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
, indoor and outdoor
track and field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...
,
cross country,
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
, women's
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
,
softball
Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...
and
volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
, and men's
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
and
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
.
Football
Under former head coach
Larry Kennan
Lawrence W. Kennan (born June 13, 1944) is an American football coach and former player. Kennan was most recently the head football coach for the University of the Incarnate Word from 2012 to 2017. He was also the head coach at Lamar University f ...
, Cardinal fans responded when he delivered a 6-3-2 club in 1979, his first season with the team. Lamar set all-time attendance records under Kennan by averaging 16,380 in 1980. Games against Louisiana Tech (17,600) and West Texas State (17,250) rank second and third, respectively, behind the standing-room-only 18,500 Baylor drew for the 1980 opener. The football program's signature win came on September 5, 1981 in Waco; the Cardinals triumphed with an 18–17 win over the UPI #20 ranked
Baylor Bears. In 1987 Lamar football went independent to join the American South Conference, and the program was dropped altogether in 1989.
![LUCampusFullBloom](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/LUCampusFullBloom.jpg)
On January 30, 2008, 78% of Lamar students voted to approve the athletics fee required for football's resurrection. This vote set in motion the football team's return for the 2010 season. Regents of The Texas State University System approved the athletics fee to reinstate football at its regular meeting February 20, 2008. On May 19, 2008,
Ray Woodard
Ray Woodard (born August 20, 1961) is a former American football defensive tackle and former head football coach at Lamar University. He was hired on May 19, 2008 to resurrect the Lamar Cardinals football program that was discontinued in 1989. Wo ...
was chosen as head coach for the football program. Thanks to a major gift from an anonymous donor, the football field now bears the name W.S. “Bud” Leonard Field, named for a former player and longtime Lamar advocate and regent.
The Lamar University Cardinals football team returned to the gridiron after a 21-year hiatus, on September 4, 2010. The first-year squad compiled a respectable 5–6 record. The Cardinals opened Southland Conference play in 2011. The return of football to Lamar University is in part due to a generous donation from Beaumont-based law firm Provost Umphrey. To help renovate the stadium, Walter Umphrey and his wife Sheila also made a personal donation. The stadium is now named
Provost Umphrey Stadium
Provost Umphrey Stadium (previously Cardinal Stadium) is a 16,000-seat multi-purpose stadium located on the campus of Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. The stadium, home to the Lamar Cardinals football team, is located next to the Montagne C ...
.
In December 2016, Mike Schultz was named the program's second head coach since its return. After recording just one winning record in its first nine seasons since being brought back, Schultz guided the Cardinals to a 7–5 record and a third-place finish in the Southland Conference in just his second season. After a 1–4 start to the year, LU closed the regular season by rattling off six-straight wins to earn the program's first berth in the NCAA FCS Playoffs where it faced Northern Iowa.
Basketball
Founded in 1924, the men's and women's basketball teams at Lamar have both advanced deep into the NCAA tournament. The men's team has four
NIT appearances, six
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
tournament appearances, four second round appearances, and one sweet 16 appearance. The women's team has four
WNIT appearance, two
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
tournament appearances, and one
Elite Eight
In the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship or the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship, the "Elite Eight" comprises the final eight teams, representing the regional finals, or national quarterfinals. In Division I and Divis ...
appearance.
The men's program has been coached by fourteen head coaches including
Billy Tubbs
Billy Duane Tubbs (March 5, 1935 – November 1, 2020) was an American men's college basketball coach. The Tulsa, Oklahoma native was the head coach of his alma mater Lamar University (1976–1980, 2003–2006), the University of Oklahoma (1980– ...
,
Pat Foster,
Pat Knight
Patrick Clair Knight (born September 21, 1970) is an American basketball coach and scout. He is a scout for the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Knight assumed his position on July 1, 2014, and is the Pacers' colleg ...
and
Tic Price
George "Tic" Price (born November 29, 1955) is an American college basketball coach. He last coached the Lamar Cardinals men's basketball team. From 2002 to 2007, he served as head coach at McNeese State. Prior to that, he served as head coach ...
, the current head coach. The women's team has been coached by thirteen head coaches including current head coach, Aqua Franklin.
Over the years, both the men's and women's programs have had the highest average attendance in the
Southland Conference
The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it ...
. Both play in the 10,080-seat
Montagne Center
The Montagne Center, built in 1984, is a mixed-use Auxiliary/E&G event center that houses a 10,746-seat a multi-purpose arena and a variety of event spaces in Beaumont, Texas. The Montagne Center was designed especially for the basketball program ...
.
Baseball
The Lamar Cardinals baseball team represents Lamar University and competes in the Southland Conference, and is an NCAA Division I program. Current head coach Will Davis was hired from LSU in January 2016 to replace legendary coach Jim Gilligan. A former player, Gilligan guided the program for all but five seasons (1987–91) from 1973 through 2016. The LU Hall of Honor and Texas Baseball Hall of Fame member won more than 1,300 games during his career. The Cardinals baseball teams lead the Southland Conference with 10 regular season titles and has participated in the NCAA Division I Regionals 13 times.
Softball
Student life
Student demographics
In fall 2021, Lamar enrolled over 17,000 students. The student body was 36% male and 64% female. Ethnically, 47% identified as White, 25% Black/African-American, 18% Hispanic or Latino, 4% Asian, 3% International, and 2% Other.
Student media
University Press
The ''University Press'', also known as the ''UP'', is the student newspaper of Lamar. The paper was previously known as the ''S'Park Plug'' and the ''Red Bird'' before becoming the ''University Press'' in recognition of Lamar gaining
university
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
status in 1971.
KVLU
"91.3 FM KVLU public radio is an NPR affiliate station broadcasting throughout southeast Texas. It is licensed to Lamar University with studios located on campus and a transmitter site located in Rose City. Launched in 1974, the station operates independently and features a diverse 24/7 schedule of programs including NPR news morning, midday and afternoon as well as locally produced music programs, local features and radio documentaries, etc. As part of the University's College of Fine Arts and Communication and the Lamar University Media Alliance, KVLU also serves as a real world laboratory, providing training in audio broadcasting and radio production for students interested in pursuing careers in communication. The station is largely member supported with additional support coming from the University and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as well as program underwriters."
LUTV
LUTV News is the weekly newscast produced by students in the Department of Communication at Lamar University. Broadcast journalism students are required to pitch, shoot, write and edit news content for each week's 30-minute program. Production is led by student producers, directors and crew members, which gives students practical news production experience. LUTV News is broadcast via Spectrum Cable on LUTV-7 in Beaumont, Texas.
LUTV Channel 7
Airing on Time Warner Digital Cable channels 0007 and 6.7, LUTV is the official channel of Lamar University and is owned and operated by the Department of Communication and Media. Ch. 7 airs a wide array of programming such as student/faculty films and artworks, promotional videos, distinguished lectures and events, sports games, talk shows, student produced newscasts, public domain films, and documentaries.
LUMA
The Lamar University Media Alliance (LUMA), consisting of KVLU public radio (91.3 FM); LUTV Productions and LUTV 7 Cablecasting provides outreach programming to serve the general public and hands-on instructional opportunities for students.
Greeks
Lamar boasts 19 national
fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are social organizations at colleges and universities in North America.
Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an undergraduate student, but continues thereafter for life. Some accept gradu ...
. College Panhellenic Council (CPC) is the governing body for the three
National Pan-Hellenic Council
The National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) is a collaborative umbrella council composed of historically African American fraternities and sororities also referred to as Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLOs). The NPHC was formed as a permanent ...
chapters at LU. National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) governs the nine historically
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
fraternities and sororities. The Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC) governs men's fraternities. The Multicultural Greek Council (MGC) governs three multicultural Greek-letter organizations, two sororities and one fraternity.
Fraternities
*
Alpha Phi Alpha
*
Sigma Phi Delta
Sigma Phi Delta () is an international professional-social fraternity of engineers. As "The Premier International Fraternity of Engineers", the organization is the only fraternity of its kind that draws its membership exclusively from male enginee ...
*
Alpha Tau Omega
*
Pi Kappa Alpha
*
Sigma Nu
Sigma Nu () is an undergraduate Fraternities and sororities in North America, college fraternity founded at the Virginia Military Institute on January 1, 1869. The fraternity was founded by James Frank Hopkins, Greenfield Quarles and James McIlva ...
*
Phi Beta Sigma
*
Kappa Alpha Psi
Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African American fraternity. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911 at Indiana University Bloomington, the fraternity has never restricted membership on the basis of color, creed ...
*
Kappa Alpha Order
Kappa Alpha Order (), commonly known as Kappa Alpha or simply KA, is a social fraternity and a fraternal order founded in 1865 at Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) in Lexington, Virginia. As of December 2015, the Kappa Alph ...
*
Omega Psi Phi
Sororities
*
Alpha Delta Pi
Alpha Delta Pi (), commonly known as ADPi (pronounced "ay-dee-pye"), is an International Panhellenic sorority founded on May 15, 1851, at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. It is the oldest secret society for women.
Alpha Delta Pi is a memb ...
*
Zeta Tau Alpha
Zeta Tau Alpha (known as or Zeta) is an international Fraternities and sororities in North America, women's fraternity founded on October 15, 1898 at the State Female Normal School (now Longwood University) in Farmville, Virginia. Its Internatio ...
*
Kappa Delta Chi
Kappa Delta Chi Sorority, Inc. (), also known as K-D Chi (pronounced Kay-Dee-Kie) is a Greek letter, intercollegiate Latina founded sorority in the United States. KDChi is a 501(c)(7) organization that prides itself on graduating all of its memb ...
*
Alpha Kappa Alpha
*
Alpha Chi Omega
Alpha Chi Omega (, also known as Alpha Chi or A Chi O) is a national women's fraternity founded on October 15, 1885.
As of 2018, there are 132 collegiate and 279 alumnae chapters represented across the United States, and the fraternity counts ...
*
Delta Sigma Theta
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. () is a historically African American sorority. The organization was founded by college-educated women dedicated to public service with an emphasis on programs that assist the African American community. Delta ...
*
Zeta Phi Beta
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. () is a historically African American sorority. In 1920, five women from Howard University envisioned a sorority that would raise the consciousness of their people, encourage the highest standards of scholastic ach ...
*
Sigma Gamma Rho
* Sigma Sigma Rho
Music Greeks
*
Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia
Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America (colloquially known as Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Phi Mu Alpha, or simply Sinfonia) () is an American collegiate social fraternity for men with a special interest in music. The fraternity is open to men "w ...
*
Kappa Kappa Psi
Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity (, colloquially referred to as KKPsi), is a fraternity for college and university band members in the United States. It was founded on November 27, 1919, on Thanksgiving Day, at Oklahoma Agricult ...
*
Tau Beta Sigma
Tau Beta Sigma Honorary Band Sorority, (, colloquially referred to as TBSigma or TBS) is a co-educational service sorority.
The sorority, headquartered at the historic Stillwater Santa Fe Depot in Stillwater, Oklahoma, numbers over 3,800 active ...
Other organizations
Kappa Upsilon Chi*
Alpha Kappa Psi
*
Alpha Omega Epsilon
Alpha Omega Epsilon () is a social and professional sorority for women in engineering and technical sciences. The sorority was founded by twenty-seven female engineering students at Marquette University on November 13, 1983, and four months late ...
Notable people
Alumni
![LUJGrayCenterPond1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/LUJGrayCenterPond1.jpg)
The Alumni of Lamar University have gone on to distinguish themselves in every aspect of society. The school has an alumni base numbering over 75,000.
Lamar has the highest median starting and mid-career salary of the four universities in the Texas State University System.
Several
Cardinals
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...
have gone on to distinguish themselves nationally and internationally in sports, such as
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...
golfer
Chris Stroud
Christopher James Stroud (born February 3, 1982) is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour. He finally got his first professional win on August 6, 2017 at the Barracuda Championship after 290 starts on the PGA Tour.
...
, MLB player
Kevin Millar
Kevin Charles Millar (; born September 24, 1971) is an American former professional baseball first baseman and outfielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) and is a current analyst for MLB Network. He played in MLB for the Florida Marli ...
, and college coaches such as
Billy Tubbs
Billy Duane Tubbs (March 5, 1935 – November 1, 2020) was an American men's college basketball coach. The Tulsa, Oklahoma native was the head coach of his alma mater Lamar University (1976–1980, 2003–2006), the University of Oklahoma (1980– ...
and
Jim Gilligan
Jim Gilligan is a retired head baseball coach, primarily for the Lamar Cardinals baseball program.
In his 38 seasons as head coach, Gilligan has guided Lamar's baseball team to 11 conference championships, 13 NCAA regional appearances, and five c ...
.
Brian Babin
Brian Philip Babin ( ; born March 23, 1948) is an American dentist, politician and member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party who has served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative from since 2015 ...
,
Jack Brooks,
Nick Lampson
Nicholas Valentino Lampson (born February 14, 1945) is an American politician and restaurateur who is a former Democratic Congressman representing the 22nd Congressional District and the 9th Congressional District of Texas.
Early life, educ ...
and
Elvin Santos
Elvin Ernesto Santos Ordóñez (born 18 January 1963 in Tegucigalpa) is a Honduran politician who served as the vice president of Honduras from January 2006 to November 2008, when he resigned to stand as a Liberal Party candidate for the presid ...
have gone on to be national politicians.
*
John Alexander – painter
*
Kelly Asbury
Kelly Adam Asbury (January 15, 1960 – June 26, 2020) was an American animated film director, writer, voice actor, and illustrator. He was best known for directing animated films, including '' Shrek 2'', '' Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron'', ' ...
– film director, screenwriter, voice actor, children's book author and illustrator, non-fiction author
*
Bruce Aven
David Bruce Aven (born March 4, 1972) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder. Aven attended and played baseball for the Lamar University Cardinals.
Aven played for four different ball clubs during his career: the Cleveland Indians (1997, 2 ...
– retired
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
player
*
Brian Babin
Brian Philip Babin ( ; born March 23, 1948) is an American dentist, politician and member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party who has served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative from since 2015 ...
- current member of the
U.S. House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
from
Texas's 36th congressional district
Texas's 36th congressional district is a district that was created as a result of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 Census. The first candidates ran in the 2012 United States House of Representatives elections, 2012 House elections for a seat ...
from 2015–present
*
Brian Birdwell (
B.S.
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...
, criminal justice, 1984) – member of the
Texas State Senate
The Texas Senate ( es, Senado de Texas) is the upper house of the Texas State Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing single-member districts across the U.S. state of Texas, with populations of approximately 806,000 per cons ...
and survivor of
the Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metony ...
attack of
September 11, 2001
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...
*
Ronnie Black
Ronald Jay Black (born May 26, 1958) is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour, Nationwide Tour and Champions Tour.
Black was born in Lovington, New Mexico. He attended Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, where he was ...
– PGA Tour professional golfer
*
Jack Brooks – former Congressman, served more than 40 years in the U.S. House of Representatives
*
Keith Carter – photographer
*
Trevor Dodds
Trevor George Dodds (born 26 September 1959) is a Namibian professional golfer.
Dodds was born in Windhoek, South West Africa. He turned pro in 1985. He won the Canadian Tour Order of Merit in 1995 and 1996. Dodds has compiled 13 wins on four d ...
– Namibian professional golfer
*
Johnny Fuller – former defensive back,
San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...
*
Jim Gilligan
Jim Gilligan is a retired head baseball coach, primarily for the Lamar Cardinals baseball program.
In his 38 seasons as head coach, Gilligan has guided Lamar's baseball team to 11 conference championships, 13 NCAA regional appearances, and five c ...
– one of the NCAA's most winning baseball coaches
*
James Gulley (born 1965) - former professional basketball player for
Ironi Ramat Gan
Maccabi Ironi Ramat Gan ( he, מכבי עירוני רמת גן, formerly Ironi Ramat Gan) is a male basketball club based in Ramat Gan in central Israel. The team plays in Liga Leumit, the second division in Israeli basketball. It plays at the Sha ...
in the
Israeli Basketball Premier League
Ligat HaAl ( he, ליגת העל, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is the top-tier level league of professional sports, professional competition in Israeli sports club, club basketball, making ...
*
Midde Hamrin – Olympian marathon runner
*
Marvin Hayes – artist
*
Clay Hensley
Clayton Allen Hensley (born August 31, 1979) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Hensley has played in Major League Baseball for the San Diego Padres, Florida Marlins, and San Francisco Giants.
Early life
Hensley attended Lamar U ...
– pitcher,
Houston Astros
The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...
*
Clarence Kea
Clarence Leroy Kea (born February 2, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player. He was a 6'6" (1.98 m) 218 lb (99 kg) power forward.
High school
Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, Kea attended New Hanover High School, ...
– NBA player
*
Nick Lampson
Nicholas Valentino Lampson (born February 14, 1945) is an American politician and restaurateur who is a former Democratic Congressman representing the 22nd Congressional District and the 9th Congressional District of Texas.
Early life, educ ...
– former Congressman; served in the U.S. House of Representatives from two Texas districts
*
Bill Macatee
Bill Macatee (born November 17, 1955) is an American sports broadcaster for CBS Sports and Tennis Channel.
Early life and career
Macatee was born in Rome, New York, and grew up in El Paso, Texas. He graduated from Burges High School in El Pas ...
– TV sports announcer
*
Bob McDill
Robert Lee McDill (born April 4, 1944) is a retired American songwriter, active from the 1960s until 2000. During his career he wrote or co-wrote 31 number one country hits. His songs were also recorded by popular artists of the 1970s, 1980s an ...
– singer/songwriter
*
Kevin Millar
Kevin Charles Millar (; born September 24, 1971) is an American former professional baseball first baseman and outfielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) and is a current analyst for MLB Network. He played in MLB for the Florida Marli ...
– MLB World Champion,
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...
*
Wayne Moore – retired
NFL player
*
Claude H. Nash – CEO of Bloodstone Ventures; researcher
*
Robert Nichols – Texas politician
*
Bum Phillips
Oail Andrew "Bum" Phillips Jr. (September 29, 1923 – October 18, 2013) was an American football coach at the high school, college and professional levels. He served as head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for the Houston Oilers fro ...
– former head coach and general manager of the Houston Oilers
*
Colin Ridgeway
Colin Edwin Ridgway (19 February 1937 – 13 May 1993) was an American football punter distinguished as being the first Australian to play in the National Football League. He also competed in the high jump at the 1956 Summer Olympics.
...
– Australian Olympian; former
NFL player; first Australian to play in the
NFL
*
Brian Sanches
Brian Lee Sanches (born August 8, 1978) is an American former professional baseball pitcher.
In 1996, Sanches graduated Nederland High School in Texas where he played baseball, basketball, football, and ran track. Sanches attended Lamar Universit ...
– pitcher, Philadelphia Phillies
*
Elvin Santos
Elvin Ernesto Santos Ordóñez (born 18 January 1963 in Tegucigalpa) is a Honduran politician who served as the vice president of Honduras from January 2006 to November 2008, when he resigned to stand as a Liberal Party candidate for the presid ...
– former Vice President of Honduras
*
Eugene Seale
Eugene Seale, Jr. (born June 3, 1964) is a former professional American football linebacker in the National Football League. He played six seasons for the Houston Oilers (1987–1992).
In college, he played for Lamar University for the Lamar Ca ...
– former NFL player
*
Chris Stroud
Christopher James Stroud (born February 3, 1982) is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour. He finally got his first professional win on August 6, 2017 at the Barracuda Championship after 290 starts on the PGA Tour.
...
– PGA Tour professional golfer
*
Lynn Sweat – artist and illustrator of ''Amelia Bedelia'' children's books
*
Billy Tubbs
Billy Duane Tubbs (March 5, 1935 – November 1, 2020) was an American men's college basketball coach. The Tulsa, Oklahoma native was the head coach of his alma mater Lamar University (1976–1980, 2003–2006), the University of Oklahoma (1980– ...
– former college basketball coach
*
Jerry Wilkerson
Jerry Oliver Wilkerson (September 5, 1942 in Texas – June 2, 2007) was a St. Louis, Missouri artist known for his contemporary pointillistic style of painting, and as a supporter of local business and talent.
Biography
After completing his BS ...
– artist
*
Ray Woodard
Ray Woodard (born August 20, 1961) is a former American football defensive tackle and former head football coach at Lamar University. He was hired on May 19, 2008 to resurrect the Lamar Cardinals football program that was discontinued in 1989. Wo ...
–
head football coach,
NFL player
*
Jen Wyatt – Canadian LPGA golfer
*
Anthony Iapoce – Former Major League Baseball Player. Current Hitting coach for the
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...
People associated with Lamar
*
Steve Molyneux – UK educational leader and
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
Professor of Global Educational Leadership
*
Al Vincent –
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
coach
References
External links
*
Lamar Athletics website
{{Authority control
Educational institutions established in 1923
Education in Beaumont, Texas
Buildings and structures in Beaumont, Texas
Public universities and colleges in Texas
1923 establishments in Texas