[StBernard] Engineering Success

[Westley Annis]

Dear Friends -

While our state's economy continues to outperform the national and Southern
averages, we must continue to make the investments today that will sustain
and expand that progress for future generations.  Already, Louisiana's
business climate has reached historical highs in the national rankings, and
it is critical that we make investments to ensure we have the most skilled
workforce in the world.

This week, at our flagship university, we announced a $100 million
public-private partnership to create a new state-of-the-art engineering
education complex.  As the Baton Rouge Advocate
<http://cl.publicaster.com/ClickThru.aspx?pubids=393%7c0575%7c9390%7c791501&
digest=1Kyfavs4puEcOBA%2biOuKaQ&sysid=1>  reported, the "engineering
facility should include new laboratories for teaching and research, expanded
areas for student services, an academic support center, and several new
spaces for graduate and undergraduate students."

Making LSU a magnet for world-class students, teachers and researchers will
allow us to train the engineers of tomorrow and help them get the skills to
excel and find rewarding careers here in Louisiana. 

The reason this is so important is clear.  Experts already are predicting
that our state needs more engineering and construction management graduates
just to meet current demand, but we also need more engineers for industrial
construction projects poised to break ground in the coming years.

These engineers are needed for the tens of billions of dollars we expect to
be spent on new industrial projects and the expansion of Louisiana's durable
goods manufacturing sector.  Additionally, the economic development wins
we've announced with Ameritas Technologies, CentruyLink, Gameloft, GE
Capital, Pixomondo, Schumacher Group, Trace Security, TurboSquid and others
means that our economy will have hundreds of job openings for computer
science graduates in just next few years.

We have invested over $600 million in higher education infrastructure
investments, including $150 million alone for the LSU and the Baton Rouge
research community, and this critical project at our flagship university
will allow our state to meet our market demands for well-qualified
engineers.

The bottom line is that we all want LSU to be number one on the field and in
the classroom, and this investment will continue our work to make Louisiana
the very best place in the world to receive a great education and pursue a
rewarding career. 

Sincerely,

Governor Bobby Jindal