Our Lady of the Lake College

Our Lady of the Lake College is a private, independent Catholic institution located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. It is sponsored by the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady, North American Province. It was started in 1923 as Our Lady of the Lake School of Nursing to educate students to serve as health care providers. In 1995, a year after receiving full accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) as an associate degree-granting institution, the college was renamed Our Lady of the Lake College. SACS gave the College baccalaureate degree-granting authority in 1998, master's degree-granting authority in 2005, and doctoral degree granting beginning in 2015.

The College has an enrollment of approximately 1700 students. It offers associate's, bachelor's, and master's degrees in programs such as nursing, health sciences, humanities, behavioral sciences, and arts and sciences.

Our Lady of the Lake College has evolved from the Our Lady of the Lake School of Nursing, established in 1923 by the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady. The School of Nursing began in conjunction with the establishment of Our Lady of the Lake Sanitarium in the Capitol Lake area of downtown Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The School was an integral part of the new hospital’s program of service to the community.

Five students from the St. Francis Sanitarium in Monroe, Louisiana, formed the nucleus of the first class of nine students. The students lived, attended classes and cared for patients in the hospital overlooking Capitol Lake. Upon completion of three calendar years of education, the students were awarded a diploma in nursing.

The curriculum was revised over the years to incorporate advances in medical science, nursing science, nursing practice and nursing education. In 1960, in response to the changing community health needs and the prevailing nursing shortage, the School of Nursing was the first school in the South to revise its curriculum by shortening its program from three calendar years to 27 consecutive months. Recruitment to the diploma program was intensified, enrollment increased and the School continued to grow.

During the 1970s, major changes began to occur in the student population. Along with a decline in residential students, there was a gradual but persistent increase in the number of non-traditional students (23 years of age and older) seeking admission to the nursing program. By the close of the decade, the School of Nursing became a commuter school and no longer offered on-campus housing. This coincided with the relocation of Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center to its present site on Essen Lane.

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