LSU Graduate School of Banking Strong & Steady

What a treasure Louisiana has with the Graduate School of Banking at LSU. There are just six such schools in the entire country, so Louisiana, LSU and bankers here are very fortunate to have the school and Dr. Don Woodland as the executive vice president and director. Don was the LSU Banking Chair before taking on GSB in the late 1960’s. He has guided the school through changes in banking and changes in LSU administrations. The Graduate School of Banking is financially strong and operates with the supervision of their Board of Trustees which is made up of 15 southern banker association state executives and a banker from each of these 15 states. Serving Louisiana with me for the next two years is Jason Smith, chief executive officer of Citizens National Bank in Bossier City. 

You can learn more about the school and the 2018 session on their website. (Click here to visit.) The final admission deadline is April 16, 2018. Louisiana typically has the most bankers attending the school. Since the school's founding in 1950, more than 16,000 bankers have graduated, and more than 2,100 from Louisiana banks. The purpose of the school is to provide professional education to junior bank officers. They attend three, two week sessions and complete 10 research projects between the annual sessions. They attend classes 69 hours per session and have exams weekly. The faculty is made up of people from academics, professionals, bankers and consultants. Extensive student and administrative evaluations of faculty effectiveness is conducted at the end of each session. Don has high expectations of the students and the faculty. Several universities in the southeast award GSB graduates partial credit toward a MBA degree. Over the years Don has nurtured the attendance of bankers from central America and Mexico so that now they represent about 10% of the total student body. This international flavor is a wonderful and unique part of GSB. Thanks to the bankers that support their employees attending GSB.