Perspective
LeTourneau University: Highlights
Consistently listed in the top tier of America’s Best Colleges by U.S. News & World Report, LETU offers more than 140 programs that prepare students for success in fields such as aviation, biblical studies, business, communication, criminal justice, education, engineering, nursing, human services, kinesiology, liberal arts, psychology, and science. Graduate programs in business administration, counseling, education, engineering, health care administration, marriage and family therapy, psychology, and strategic leadership have attracted a record number of graduate students.
In every lab, airplane, and classroom, we continue to build on the legacy of our university founder, the legendary entrepreneur and inventor R.G. LeTourneau, by preparing students for a lifetime of faith-filled work and using their careers to develop innovative solutions to global challenges. Our freshmen engineering students build their own 3D printers. Our entrepreneurial-minded business students travel overseas to provide practical training to struggling small business owners. For LETU students, education means something bigger than four walls and a lecture, or an innovative online learning environment-education is an opportunity to build a revolutionary future.
LeTourneau University students benefit from small classes and outstanding faculty dedicated to providing personal attention and collaborative learning opportunities to apply knowledge in practical and powerful ways. Our faculty includes Fulbright Scholars, the former undersecretary to one of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, and countless industry experts with experience leading top-tier organizations including NASA and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
We use hands-on training to build a better world. Students in our world-renowned engineering program are building human-powered water pumps for farmers in Senegal and designing livable shelters for the homeless in Haiti. Interdisciplinary student teams are researching ways to improve wheelchair functionality in rough-terrain environments. Teacher Education students are four-time winners of the Texas Student Teacher of the Year award. Our aviation program is a past recipient of the Loening Trophy, which recognizes the most outstanding collegiate aviation program in the nation.
LETU students graduate with the hands-on skills that employers demand, and our placement rates prove it. LETU graduates bring incredible ingenuity and faith into countless nations and workplaces-including John Deere, American Airlines, US Steel, Boeing, Apple, Garmin, countless classrooms, mission fields, and more. LETU graduates include the CEO of PING Golf and the former pilot of Air Force Two.
Our vibrant on campus community in Longview, Texas, includes 15 intercollegiate athletics teams as part of the American Southwest Conference, NCAA Division III; more than 40 different student organizations from which to choose; a strong intramural program; and local community service opportunities allowing LETU students to volunteer over 56,000 hours annually. Exceptional facilities include the Anna Lee and Sidney Allen Family Student Center, the Corner Café, the S.E. Belcher, Jr. Chapel and Performance Center, and the Paul and Betty Abbott Aviation Center at the East Texas Regional Airport-in addition to state-of-the-art laboratories and technologically-oriented classrooms with full multi-media capabilities and wireless networks
LeTourneau University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award associate, baccalaureate, and master degrees. Contact the Commission on Colleges, 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097, telephone 404-679-4500 at http://www.sacscoc.org for questions about the accreditation of LeTourneau University.
Statement of Purpose
Historical Identity
Established in 1946, the University is the result of the work and dreams of R.G. and Evelyn LeTourneau. The University still pursues the great skills, character, and passions of R.G. LeTourneau - Christian engineer, entrepreneur, inventor, businessman, missionary, and leader. LETU is an institution of higher education that is coeducational, interdenominational, and evangelically Christian. Historically, the University is most well-known for providing excellent professional and technical training and expertise paired with personal, hands-on learning experiences throughout a comprehensive slate of academic programs. The University provides a distinctly Christ-centered approach to teaching and learning.
Vision Statement
Claiming every workplace in every nation as our mission field, LeTourneau University graduates are professionals of ingenuity and Christ-like character who see life’s work as a holy calling with eternal impact.
Mission Statement
LeTourneau University is a comprehensive institution of Christian higher education where educators engage learners to nurture Christian virtue, to develop competency and ingenuity in their professional fields, to integrate faith and work, and to serve the local and global community.
Goals
LeTourneau University educates students who:
- Demonstrate competency and ingenuity in their professional fields
- Integrate Christian faith and work: understanding their vocation within the triune God’s grand story of redemption revealed in Scripture
- Engage the local and global community
LeTourneau University is an educational community that:
Faith
A deep faith in God is the cornerstone of LeTourneau University. We believe that no education is complete until a student understands who God is and how to relate to Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. This belief influences all that we do and teach. While we believe that everyone must have the freedom to interpret God’s truth individually, LeTourneau University recognizes certain basic tenets of the Christian faith:
- We believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the only inspired, authoritative Word of God and are completely truthful and without error.
- We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
- We believe that Jesus Christ was begotten by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, and is true God and true man.
- We believe that man, created in the image of God, sinned and thereby incurred not only physical death but also spiritual death, which is separation from God; that all human beings are born with a sinful nature, and that those who reach moral responsibility become sinners in thought, word, and deed.
- We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice, and that all who believe in Him are justified on the basis of His shed blood.
- We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord, in His ascension into Heaven, and His present life there for us as High Priest and Advocate.
- We believe in “that blessed hope” - the personal, visible, and imminent return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
- We believe that all who receive by faith the Lord Jesus Christ are born again of the Holy Spirit and thereby become children of God; by Grace are we saved through faith.
- We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and unjust, the everlasting blessedness of the saved, and the everlasting conscious punishment of the lost.
Educational Philosophy
LeTourneau University is committed to educational studies within the framework of a Christian theistic view of the world, of man, and of man’s culture in the light of Biblical and natural revelation. Such a view sees no dichotomy in truth, affirms that Biblical revelation and scientific inquiry are complementary rather than contradictory, and requires a recognition of a personal God revealed both in nature and in the person of Jesus Christ, His Son. Thus, all truth is regarded as God-given and is considered sacred and should be pursued with diligence and received with humility.
The Scriptures are seen as the integrating core for Christian education; therefore, courses in Bible are required to help the student understand more fully the bearing of the Christian faith on life and thought.
The Christian worldview of man recognizes both his physical and spiritual nature; therefore, an educational philosophy that includes the whole man and his relationship to the world and to God is imperative.
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