The story
History
In 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, Lawrence Tech's founding president Russell E. Lawrence envisioned a new model of higher education that could serve both traditional students as well as working adults, and combined a teaching philosophy espousing both theory and practice.
Lawrence believed engineering and technological achievements would be what would spur economic recovery, both for the region and the nation. Henry and Edsel Ford agreed to lease their former Henry Ford Trade School building, a part of their Model-T assembly complex in Highland Park, to the new university, which began operations with a few hundred students. The institution's enrollment dropped during World War II but surged immediately thereafter as veterans enjoyed the education benefits of the G.I. Bill.
In 1955, Lawrence Institute of Technology (LIT) moved to a campus in then rural Southfield. Since the university was founded as an engineering school, it is fitting that the first building constructed on the Southfield campus was the Engineering building. The campus master plan was created by professor Earl W. Pellerin, who also led the teams that designed the Architecture and Science Buildings, the university's first residence hall on Ten Mile Road, University Housing-South, and what was originally the president's residence on nearby Circle Drive.
LIT began offering multiple master's degree programs through its colleges, and in recognition of these post-baccalaureate programs LIT changed it name to Lawrence Technological University (LTU) on 1 January 1989.
LTU continued its transformation from a primarily commuter institution to offering a full campus life with the construction of more residence halls—Donley Hall, Reuss Hall, and East Residence Hall, the latter for all first-year students. The university now has the capacity for more than 1,000 residential students.
A marker designating the college as a Michigan Historic Site was erected by the Michigan Historical Commission in 1986. The inscription reads:
Lawrence Tech was chartered in 1932 by the Lawrence brothers, Russell E. and E. George. The college was located in Highland Park on Woodward Avenue until 1955, when the first building opened on this campus. Lawrence Tech, founded as an undergraduate college of engineering, later added programs in architecture, management, arts and science, and various technological fields. The college pioneered in scheduling evening programs for working students and in 1935 developed the four-quarter academic calendar. "Theory and Practice" has been the motto of the college since its founding. Application of classroom theories to real situations involving the community or Michigan industries has been its goal. Lawrence Institute of Technology is a nonprofit independent college.
History
Lawrence Tech fielded athletic teams throughout its history from 1930 to 1962. The 1950–51 men's basketball team played the 1951 National Invitation Tournament, held at Madison Square Garden in New York.
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Lawrence Tech was defeated by Dayton, 71–77 in the opening round of the tournament. Blaine Denning, an alumnus from the 1951 team, went on to play professional basketball with the Baltimore Bullets of the NBA.
Lawrence Tech reinstated athletic programs in 2011 and joined the NAIA. Men's soccer and bowling, along with women's volleyball, joined the already established men's ice hockey team for the university's athletic offerings during the 2011–12 academic year. During its fifth season in the NAIA, the university fielded teams in men's baseball, basketball, bowling, cross country, golf, hockey, volleyball, lacrosse, soccer and tennis, and women's basketball, bowling, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, tennis and volleyball.
Thanks to a $1 million gift from an anonymous donor, during the summer of 2016 Lawrence Tech constructed an AstroTurf surface athletic field at the Point, the part of campus at the intersection of Northwestern Highway and 10 Mile Road. LTU's men's and women's soccer and lacrosse teams began playing on this field in August 2016. The project also includes a 40-car parking lot. In the summer of 2018, lighting for night games, a new scoreboard with a video replay display, temporary seating for 2,000 fans and a press box were constructed in preparation for the inaugural 2018 season of LTU's football team. The first football game, held Sept. 1, 2018, drew an overflow crowd of more than 3,800 fans. Future plans for the site include permanent stadium seating for 4,000 fans, a two-story team building with locker rooms, a weight room, and offices for trainers and coaches, and a concession and restroom building.
In January 2017, Lawrence Tech announced that it would resume intercollegiate football competition, after a hiatus of more than 70 years dating back to just after World War II. The university admitted two recruiting classes of about 90 student-athletes for a team that competed as an independent squad in the fall of 2018, and which began playing a full varsity schedule in the Mid-States Football Association of the NAIA in the fall of 2019. LTU's first head coach was Jeff Duvendeck. The Blue Devils finished 5–3 in their abbreviated first season, and attracted nearly 4,000 fans to their first game on Sept. 1, 2018. The 2021 LTU football squad finished 7–4 overall, 3–4 in the Mid-States Football Association.
In 2021, the university added more teams, including eSports, women's hockey, cheerleading and men's volleyball, and adding to existing programs in women's bowling and track and field. LTU now supports over 30 varsity men's and women's teams in baseball, basketball, bowling, cross country, eSports, football, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field, and volleyball—along with a pep band, a marching band, and cheer and dance teams.
In 2024 Men's Hockey DIII won the ACHA national championship defeating GVS 4–2.
From Wikipedia’s article on Lawrence Technological University, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5