Leaders from LSU and Southern Sign A&M Agenda
September 06, 2022
A&M Agenda will expand the positive and collective impact of the two institutions
University leaders from LSU and Southern signed the A&M Agenda, which demonstrates a commitment over the next five years to expand the positive and collective impact of the two institutions for students, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the Delta and Gulf Coast regions.
BATON ROUGE – On Tuesday, Sept. 6, LSU President William F. Tate IV and Southern University President-Chancellor Dennis J. Shields were joined by Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards and Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome for the signing of the LSU-SU A&M Agenda.
With LSU and Southern meeting this weekend for the first-ever football game between the two schools, university leaders created the A&M Agenda to demonstrate a commitment over the next five years to expand the positive and collective impact of the two institutions, in partnership, for students, Greater Baton Rouge, the State of Louisiana, and the Delta and Gulf Coast regions.
“This A&M Agenda is really important because it has the potential to be transformative in ways that very few things are,” Edwards said.
LSU and Southern have a combined 311 years of service to the community and hundreds of thousands of proud and successful graduates. Further, both institutions belong to systems that expand their footprints statewide.
“I believe that collaboration at all levels is key to our community’s success,” Weston Broome said. “This week represents a spirit of unity for the Baton Rouge community. It’s more than a game. The signing of the A&M Agenda is historic.”
Tate said that with this partnership, there is no reason why Baton Rouge should not be viewed as the foremost place in the world for the education of African American students.
“Now we have a distinctive opportunity in partnership together to make this the very best,” he said. “I could not be more pleased or honored to be part of something of this nature.”
The A&M Agenda describes what is possible when two agricultural and mechanical universities come together to leverage their academic enterprise to yield tangible results for students and the community at large.
“It’s important that great institutions like Louisiana State University and Southern University collaborate,” Shields said. “It’s fine to have a friendly competition, but in this era, collaboration is essential to our role as stewards of place.”
While there are numerous benefits of the A&M Agenda, they are broadly organized into three distinctive areas: partnership, opportunity and collaboration. Maximizing potential in these areas will place a premium on communication, collaboration and commitment. That starts this week with the community events planned leading up to Saturday’s game.
“We have a unique opportunity as two great institutions in one Baton Rouge to support the community that supports us,” said Lizzie Shaw, LSU student body president.
For more information on the A&M Agenda, visit www.lsu.edu/president.