LeTourneau University is named for its founders, R.G. and Evelyn LeTourneau. R.G. LeTourneau was one of the world's greatest inventors of earthmoving equipment. A businessman and devout Christian, LeTourneau toured Longview, Texas, with his wife, Evelyn, in 1946 to consider a manufacturing site for his next earthmoving equipment factory. While flying over a sprawling complex of a vacated Army hospital consisting of over 200 frame buildings, Mrs. LeTourneau inquired about the facility. When told it was no longer in use, she suggested establishing a school to educate returning World War II veterans.
The site became LeTourneau Technical Institute, founded in 1946 with only male students. In 1961 the school became LeTourneau College, a co-educational four-year school. In 1989 LeTourneau College became LeTourneau University, a SACSCOC-accredited, nondenominational Christian university, offering four-year and two-year degree programs in engineering, technology, the liberal arts, business, aeronautical science, education, and the sciences, plus master's degree programs in business and education.
In that same year, the university began expanding into offering programs for working adults in evening and weekend classes. Calling it the LEAP program, which stood for LeTourneau Education for Adult Professionals, classes with the same students making a group, or cohort, met weekly for six to eight weeks per course. Cohorts were kept on track through to degree completion with students automatically enrolled in each next class, and as each class finished, the next course began in the same location the following week with a different professor. Many other universities have adopted this format to reach working adults. Today, nearly a third of LeTourneau students attend classes online, and might not step foot onto the university's beautiful main campus in Longview, Texas unless they come for graduation.
The university has eight schools.
School of Arts & Sciences
School of Aviation & Aeronautical Science
School of Business
School of Education
School of Engineering & Engineering Technology
School of Nursing
School of Psychology & Counseling
School of Theology & Vocation
Currently, LeTourneau University is led by its seventh president, Dr. Steven D. Mason, and its board of trustees.
LeTourneau University is an unapologetically Christian university. While it has no direct denominational ties, it welcomes students of all denominations who love and seek after God. It is a place where students have found a deeper relationship with Him, grown in their spiritual walk and discovered God's purpose for their lives.
