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[questor]

Any comments about Louisiana Tech in Ruston as a place to live and work?

[nolalola]

I spent a year there as a VAP. It is a very small town and extremely conservative. The Church dominates the life of the citizens outside of work. The nearest shopping mall and chain restaurants are 35 minutes away in Monroe or 1 hour away in Shreveport. Monroe and Shreveport have small airports offering flights to the nearest hub airports. Deer hunting is a major sport for area residents. You will find yourself driving 4 hours to Dallas if you want to soak in some big-city culture, although Little Rock is nice and located 2.5 hours away.
On the flip side, the students have the highest test scores of any public university in the state and the engineering programs are good. Many of the small town's residents are lovely people.

[metida]

Not sure if this counts, but I attended summer school at La. Tech as an undergrad in 2000.  The nearest movie theater was in Monroe, half an hour away.  The local movie theater was closed for the summer.  Dining options were limited to things like Sonic, which was a happening spot.  It was a very very boring summer.  I am not kidding- people actually went to Super Wal Mart to hang out on Friday and Saturday night.

On the other hand, they have a dairy where they produce their own milk, ice cream, cheese, etc. and the ice cream was very tasty and cheap. 

[questor]

These remarks are very helpful although for the most part looks like a small place to live. Any pretty lakes or neighborhoods on golf courses? What is the campus like? What is a normal course load? Administration? Is it a weekend kind of school where students go home? I'm told it is like Georgia Tech.

[whiteknight]

These remarks are very helpful although for the most part looks like a small place to live. Any pretty lakes or neighborhoods on golf courses? What is the campus like? What is a normal course load? Administration? Is it a weekend kind of school where students go home? I'm told it is like Georgia Tech.

*snort*

Someone's lying to you.

[picklestix]

Ruston is indeed a rather small town. Ruston is in the middle of the pine woods.  There are nice neighborhoods, but keep in mind that rural Louisiana tends to be unprententious, and standards may be different.  You may feel like you are in a forest even when you are in the more developed parts of town. I love it, but some people hate it.
Unless something has changed recently, Ruston is dry, except for beer and wine.  The bars close at midnight.  Tech students tend to be very serious about their studies, and many are content with having to make the 30 minute or 1 hour drive to other towns for entertainment.  Many students do go home on the weekends.  My friends and I who graduated from Tech were very successful in our grad school and/or med school applications and careers, so apparently the system works for geeks.  Since I was a student and not faculty at Tech, I can't really offer much insight into teaching load or work conditions. 
The Georgia Tech comparision is usually made regarding the engineering program.
Ruston grows fantastic peaches, which go well with the Tech Dairy Ice Cream.     

[case_insensitive]

I'm told it is like Georgia Tech.

In what way?  It has Tech in its name? It has engineering programs?  I think the similarities end about there. Georgia Tech is in Atlanta... Hello!

[nirvana_a]

The teaching load is heavy -- 3-3-3, though apparently reductions are available. There are two golf courses, the newer one is possibly the best in the state, but it's part of a private country club. The other one is where the golf team practices (or used to) and it's pretty booked up two or three weeks ahead of time -- except on Sundays where you don't need a reservation (everybody is either at church or embarrased by the fact they didn't go). A movie theatre recently opened, meaning residents no longer have to go to Monroe or Shreveport to watch a movie.

[nolalola]

Nothing comes even close to a community on a lake or golf course. It is a rural region. If you have a lot of $$$, you can buy a tract of farm land and build a nice house on the property.
Ruston is a very small town, surrounded by other tiny towns that are practically dying.
It is nothing like Georgia tech except for the fact it is mostly an engineering school.

[what_else_can_i_do]

I am bumping this thread because I'ld like to hear if anyone has anything to add! :)

:)

[paul_robeson]

The fact that Terry Bradshaw went there might tell you something.

[cgfunmathguy]

The fact that Terry Bradshaw went there might tell you something.

What would this tell you?

[viator]

I would be a bit wary about taking a job at Tech these days.  The governor is apparently out to revenge some wrong perpetrated against him by LA's universities.  He has announced that he will request substantial budget cuts for the next two years (and he cut LSU's budget more last year than any other school has ever been cut in US history), and there is currently a commission holding meetings on which campuses to shut down.  Tech won't be shut down, but it already has seen substantial cuts.  I am not associated with them, but I have some friends in the humanities there, and things are already bad.  They have lost all of their TA's, VAP's, research support, and most of them are working uncompensated overloads.  The state closed down 70 or so departments statewide last year, and has stated that more will be closed this year and next.  At my institution (again, not Tech), they have told us that raises will be out of the question for at least the next three years, and furloughs will continue for the foreseeable future.  Of course, we are in danger of being shut down entirely, so not getting a raise would actually be a positive.

In short, while it is always better to have a job than not, I would take a very careful look at Tech and keep my options open of looking elsewhere.  Especially if you are in the humanities.

[judybee04]

I'm not sure where the information was obtained from the posts provided already, but let me give a more positive perspective on the reality of Louisiana Tech and higher education in the Northeast La area as opposed to all the disparaging (and incorrect) remarks I read here. The author of the very last post most likely works for a neighboring university in Monroe: University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM). There, the cutbacks and dismal working conditions mentioned are indeed--and unfortunately--a reality. For whatever reasons known only to the administration, that school has had its share of misfortune and poor academic planning. The result is that now it is suffering greatly from the state imposed cutbacks and poor attendance of first year students. Contrary to what was posted, however, our current governor, Bobby Jindall, does not have it in for higher education. That is perhaps one of the most lame and unacademic reflections as I have heard about the recent budget cuts. The fact is--and any minute research on one's part will confirm--that Louisiana has been hit by a compounded economic crisis due to Hurricane Katrina and most recently, our national economic slump.

What most people do not realize about the state (and cannot realize even as a short-term student of any college here unless one is heavily invested in the politics and regional flavor of the state) is that it is indeed made up of many small parishes (or counties) with a very decided rural nature. The rural landscape and demographics of La don't make for a heavily trafficked path to higher education institutions in the best of times. In the worst, as is now, these institutions suffer greatly. Due to the unusually corrupt "politics as usual" of our state, an inordinate number of higher education institutions populate the state from its northeastern tip to its southern corner. Who made and why they made these past placement decisions is simply too complex to unravel here. That said, it is also too large to place blame on any one governor, especially of most recent times. Jindell, in his effort to curb wild fiscal spending in the state, has made the very unpopular decision to place cuts on waste. Unfortunately, one of the first places where waste has run rampant is in the large state institutions, of which education is one.

The cuts do hurt and universities are suffering. Especially schools such as ULM in northeast Louisiana, where revitalization efforts were very necessary due to poor academic leadership in the last decade. The status of ULM led to the near extinction of the school and did lead to the demise of its longstanding academic reputation. The university continues to struggle with compensating for its failings.

Now to address La Tech, which is located 30 miles west of Monroe in Northeast Louisiana, and 60 miles east of Shreveport and 3 1/2 hours east of Dallas. Ruston is a unique, booming town in an economy where all else around it is stagnant. Due to a lot of wise local economic planning, the town is growing with no forecast of slowing in sight. It recently opened a mega 16-movieplex in a new and big city structured shopping square. It boasts a Chilis chain restaurant, Bath and Body Works, a pewter factory as well as an accessories and home furnishings wholesale warehouse. The downtown area of Ruston is currently working around the clock to place all of its utlities underground. If you've ever visited downtown Ruston, you are struck by its cleanliness, arty and unique boutiques, and a thriving and busy population of tourists and visitors. Ruston is alive with festivals, including its annual and popular Peach Festival, which brings in tourists from all over the state. I could go on and on.

Yes, the church dominates the town like most churches do in small town settings, but the university flair at the heart of the town make for a unique and opposite attraction with its liberal professors and foreign students who come from all over the world to partake in its outstanding technical and engineering colleges.

I know this is a rather long post, and I could go on, but I feel I needed to set the record a little striaghter. I am a long time Louisianan by heritage and currently live in West Monroe, La., about 30 minutes east of Ruston. I am a graduate of La Tech University and have been nothing but proud of my school and its accomplishments. I would not classify Ruston as a "rural" small town, although it is small. It is bursting with flavor, pride, and fervor toward expansion and economic growth. It wants change, but wants change to occur in step with solid building principles and long term stability. It is anything but a hick town languishing in economic dispair. Yes, if you want the night life of a big city, this place is not for you. But if you want to work and live in a town that can provide artistic sensibility as well as a clean and wholesome place to raise a family, you should give Ruston another look.

[hermance]

Yes, Terry Bradshow emerged from Ruston, but so did Neutral Milk Hotel and the Elephant 6 Collective.  So, perhaps those two facts in combination give you a sense of the town's complexity (weirdness?).