University of Louisiana at Monroe /

The University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM) is a coeducational public university in Monroe, Louisiana and part of the University of Louisiana System. ULM opened in 1931 as Ouachita Parish Junior College. Three years later it became the Northeast Center of Louisiana State University. In 1936 and 1937, its dean was Stephen A. Caldwell. Its name changed again in 1949, to Northeast Junior College of Louisiana State University. A year later, it offered its first four year degrees as Northeast Louisiana State College. Its name remained unchanged for nearly two decades, but in 1969, when it began to grant its first doctoral degrees, it changed name to Northeast Louisiana University. Thirty years elapsed until it took on its current name in 1999. A 2002 "Reclaim Our Campus" effort targeted recovery from financial and auditing difficulties. The 75-year-old "Indians" mascot was retired because of NCAA restrictions against American Indian-themed mascots, considered "hostile and abusive" to Native Americans. A mascot committee selected Warhawks in 2006, honoring Maj. Gen. Claire Lee Chennault's United States Army Air Corps World War II unit's Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, although the logos primarily