Welcome from the President

When I meet with our alums, I often ask them what was special about their education at Lake Superior State University (LSSU). Over and over again they tell versions of the same story. They feel that they were extremely well prepared in their chosen areas of study, that our professors cared about them, and that they received experiences we would never have gotten at a larger public university.

Alone among the 15 public universities in Michigan, Lake Superior focuses primarily on undergraduate education. Therefore at LSSU, students are our primary mission. This makes a real difference in how undergraduate students at Lake Superior are educated.

Our professors are great at engaging students in learning. Of course we have many outstanding instructors with real-world experience who care very much about educating their students. But our professors more often than not will know their students’ name and will take a great personal interest in their success as they progress through their academic programs.

We aim for all of our programs to be academically rigorous with extensive “hands-on” learning opportunities. These include internships, co-ops, practica, student/faculty research, and senior projects that integrate and apply your mastery of your program of study.

Our small classes are very conducive to this intensive learning model. At LSSU, you won't be lost in a lecture hall with hundreds of other students. You will be able to ask questions and have them answered. Our small campus, with its mixture of historic and modern buildings, is easy to navigate. You can easily get between classes on opposite sides of the campus in 10 minutes.

We believe you will also enjoy our international location. Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan is a university town of about 13,000 situated on a hill from which you can see the nearby Laurentian Mountains. But we're also just across the St. Mary's River from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, a city of 80,000 people with many offerings of a larger metropolitan area including jazz clubs, theater, shopping malls and restaurants. The twin-Sault communities has seen a great deal of history flow between its shores, from the Native Americans who lived at the St. Mary's rapids to today's thousand-foot freighters carrying iron ore through the world-famous Sault Locks.

At Lake Superior we offer a full range of academic majors. Many are among the best in the region for undergraduate education. If you're majoring in one of our science programs, for example, you will find a number of ways to enjoy the “natural laboratory” of our location. Our campus is at the mouth of Lake Superior, the 2nd largest lake in the world, and quite close to Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Close by are tens of thousands of acres of public forest lands. This natural outdoor laboratory is the perfect setting for students studying any such areas as biology, fisheries, chemistry, and geology and recreation management. In many majors you will be able to apply what you learn by going into the field and working with your professors. Our students who are studying fisheries and wildlife management and environmental science work in our Aquatic Research Laboratory, which has been operating and growing in the Edison Sault Electric Company power plant on the St. Mary's River for more than 30 years. Geology students find the area one of the best in the world to study a variety of rocks – igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic.

Of course, not all of our students study in our outdoor labs. Engineering students learn about robotics in our automated systems and prototype development laboratory. Fire science students hone their skills in the "burn building" on campus. Athletic training and recreation management students work in the James Norris Center facilities. Nursing students work in healthcare facilities on both sides of the international border. Our communication and theater students perform in an auditorium that is one of the finest acoustic facilities in the state.

We welcome students from diverse backgrounds. Did you know, for example, that, though LSSU is the smallest of the 15 public universities in Michigan, we have the largest number of Native American students on the Tuition Waiver Program in the state? And did you know we also offer programs in two regional centers, Petoskey and Escanaba?

I’ve said a lot about the academics but you certainly  find that your college education is not all work and no play. The twin-Sault community offers plenty of things to do – shopping, sporting events, the arts -- and the region is a tremendous outdoor playground for students who enjoy hiking, rock-climbing, skiing, snowmobiling, camping, hunting and fishing. You will live on campus in a close knit residential community or off-campus in affordable nearby housing. And because of our international location, many Canadian students are able to live at home while studying here.

No matter what you study at Lake Superior, you'll find a personalized, private-style education at public university prices, one that will prepare you for the next step in your life, whether it is a career or graduate school.

Please come visit campus to see for yourself what we have to offer.  We hope you will choose to apply here for admission and that, if accepted, you will choose to attend.

If you have questions or need help anywhere along the way, please contact my office at president@lssu.edu.  I look forward to meeting you when you are here.

Sincerely,

Rodney L. Lowman
President
Lake Superior State University