Paul Bako

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, or UL Lafayette, is a coeducational, public research university located in Lafayette, Louisiana, in the heart of Acadiana. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus University of Louisiana System and has the second largest enrollment in the state... of Louisiana. Founded in 1898 as an industrial school, the institution developed into a four-year university during the twentieth century and became known by its present name in 1999. Concurrently the university evolved into a national research and doctoral university as noted by its Carnegie categorization as a RU/H: research university . It offers Louisiana's only PhD in francophone studies and the only industrial design degree. The university has achieved several milestones in computer science, engineering and architecture. It is also home to a distinct College of the Arts. UL Lafayette's campus consists of 137 acres lined by live oak trees planted in 1900. Its quadrangle is encircled by a "Walk of Honor" path which contains more than 80,000 bricks bearing the names of every graduate, beginning with the first graduating class of 1903.
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Lafayette is a city in and the parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the Vermilion River. The population was 120,623 at the 2010 census. It is the fourth-largest incorporated city in the state, and is the larger principal city of the Lafayette-Acadiana, LA Combined... Statistical Area, which, in 2007, had an estimated total population of 538,470. This city should not be confused with Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, which was absorbed into New Orleans. It was founded as Vermilionville in 1821 by a French-speaking Acadian named Jean Mouton. In 1884, it was renamed for General Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette, a French military hero who fought with and significantly aided the American Army during the American Revolutionary War. The city's economy was primarily based on agriculture until the 1940s, when the petroleum and natural gas industries became dominant. In recent years, the medical profession has taken a more predominant role in the area economy. Lafayette is the center of Cajun culture in Louisiana and the United States.
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