Our History

Origins: 1917–1936

The School traces its roots to vocational teacher education programs established under the federal Smith-Hughes Act of 1917, which funded teacher training in agriculture, trades, and home economics. Agricultural Education was operating as a teacher-training program within LSU's College of Agriculture by the early 1930s, preparing teachers for Louisiana's federally aided vocational agriculture programs.

In 1936, the Louisiana State Board for Vocational Education designated LSU as the state's teacher education center for vocational instruction. This led to the founding of the School of Vocational Education (SVED) within the College of Agriculture, bringing together the newly formed Departments of Agricultural Education, Home Economics Education, and Industrial Education under founding Director Roy L. Davenport. The designation made LSU eligible for federal funds under the National Vocational Education Acts.

Growth as SVED: 1936–1990s

Over the following decades, SVED expanded and reorganized several times. Extension Education and Agricultural Education were added in the early 1950s. In the 1960s, Extension Education became a separate department and International Education was incorporated into the School. Business Education moved to the School from the College of Education in the 1980s. Between 1984 and 1986, the School reorganized twice — first consolidating from five units to four, then restructuring into a multi-concentration Vocational Education degree program.

Michael F. Burnett joined the School's faculty in 1980 and became Director in 1995, leading the School through the transition described below.

The Shift to HRD: 1990s–2003

In the early 1990s, the School expanded its programs to include human resource training and development, career advancement, and adult education — moving beyond its original focus on preparing vocational and technical teachers and into workforce development for public and private-sector organizations broadly. Dr. Elwood "Ed" Holton, III joined the faculty in 1992, and Dr. Reid A. Bates joined not long after; both began publishing HRD research alongside Burnett well before the School's name caught up with its new direction. Holton went on to become a charter member of the Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD), later its president, and founding editor of Human Resource Development Review, one of the field's leading journals.

On January 25, 2001, the LSU Board of Supervisors approved renaming the School the School of Human Resource Education and Workforce Development (SHREWD), formally recognizing this shift. The transition was fully implemented by 2003.

Toward SLHRD: 2012–2018

On July 1, 2012, the School moved from the College of Agriculture into the newly established College of Human Sciences and Education (CHSE), created that same date as part of a broader LSU reorganization bringing together academic programs focused on improving quality of life across the human lifespan. In 2013, under the direction of Dr. Ed Holton, the School's MS in Human Resource Education was selected as one of three inaugural programs for LSU Online — the university's first fully web-based distance-learning initiative — alongside the MBA and MS in Construction Management.

Dr. Reid A. Bates became Director on August 18, 2014. Bates brought a wide-ranging record in the field to the role, including a Fulbright Scholar appointment in Namibia, work as a Senior Technical Advisor for Human Resources in Health in Rwanda, and service as an HRH Advisor to the Caribbean HIV/AIDS Regional Training Center alongside the Pan American Health Organization — work reflecting HRD's reach well beyond the traditional corporate workplace and into public health workforce development worldwide.

In 2016, under Bates' leadership, the School split in two: faculty and academic concentrations in Agriculture & Extension Education returned to the College of Agriculture, while those in Human Resource Education remained in CHSE. The change let the School sharpen its focus around its strongest programs in Human Resource leadership, training, and development. In 2018, the School adopted its current name — the School of Leadership and Human Resource Development (SLHRD) — to reflect that focus.