Welcome from the Director

Welcome to the Lutrill & Pearl Payne School of Education.

True to the Land Grant Act's mission “to educate people,” the School of Education at LSU remains at the epicenter of excellence in advancing pedagogy, discovery, and research. LSU bestowed the name Lutrill & Pearl Payne upon the School of Education to recognize their impact on LSU and education in Louisiana.

In the 1930s, Mr. Payne graduated from Southern University, moved to Natchitoches, married a teacher named Pearl, and started a family before entering military service in World War II. After returning, Mr. Payne sued for admission to LSU’s graduate program in agricultural education. A. P. Tureaud, Sr., filed suit in federal court on Mr. Payne’s behalf, and after a very short trial, Mr. Payne won the case and was admitted for the summer 1951 term. The University archives do not indicate that Mr. Payne received a credential for his work, though publicly available records show a ‘report card’ with passing grades.

1952 Mrs. Payne enrolled in the Graduate School to pursue a Master of Education degree. She commuted from Natchitoches to Baton Rouge weekly to attend classes, and in 1953, she became one of the first African American women to earn a degree at LSU. Mrs. Payne’s teaching career spanned 37 years.

Today, the School offers three undergraduate degrees, three graduate certificates, eight master’s degrees, two certificates of education specialist, and two doctoral degrees. You’ll quickly discover that the quality of our undergraduate and graduate degree programs is closely tied to world-class faculty and their diverse research interests — a catalyst for innovation in teaching and translational research to solve real-world challenges.

In the School of Education, we support and develop the potential in every one of our students; in fact, we expect that the graduates of our school will become the next generation of leaders and change agents, transforming the lives of others in the communities they serve. I hope you will join us to “geaux change lives.”

Eugene Kennedy, PhD
Interim Director, School of Education
Associate Dean for Academic Programs & Institutional Effectiveness
College of Human Sciences & Education