students a path to a Navy commission.
After World War II, old army barracks were used to construct the student union and bookstore. It was known as the "Tonk" because it resembled a honky tonk. The building was replaced 15 years later but its nickname remained.
In 1959, four students were awarded the first master's degrees by the institution.
=== University era ===
In 1962, Foster Jay Taylor became the 12th President of the Louisiana Polytechnic Institute, having succeeded Ralph L. Ropp. During his twenty-five years at president, Dr. Taylor oversaw the transformation of the former Louisiana Polytechnic Institute into Louisiana Tech University. The university's enrollment grew from about 3,000 students in 1962 to roughly 12,000 students in 1987. The first African-American students at Louisiana Tech, James Earl Potts (a transfer student from the nearby HBCU Grambling State University) and Bertha Bradford-Robinson, were admitted in the spring of 1965.
Most of the modern buildings on the Main Campus were either …
