in 1970 as it satisfied criteria of a research university.
Louisiana Tech enrolled 12,463 students in five academic colleges during the Fall 2018 academic quarter including 1,282 students in the graduate school. In addition to the main campus in Ruston, Louisiana Tech holds classes at the Louisiana Tech University Shreveport Center, Academic Success Center in Bossier City, Barksdale Air Force Base Instructional Site, and on the CenturyLink campus in Monroe.
Louisiana Tech fields 16 varsity NCAA Division I sports teams (7 men's, 9 women's teams) and is a member of Conference USA (future Sunbelt Conference member) of the Football Bowl Subdivision. The university is known for its Bulldogs football team and Lady Techsters women's basketball program which won three national championship titles (1981, 1982, 1988) and made 13 Final Four appearances in the program's history.
== History ==
=== Early years ===
Ruston College, a forerunner to Louisiana Tech, was established in the middle 1880s by W. C. Friley, a Southern …
