Lamar University, public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Beaumont, Texas, U.S. It is a member of the Texas State University System, as are its former branch campuses: Lamar Institute of Technology, Lamar State College at Orange, and Lamar State College at Port Arthur (all two-year institutions). Lamar University comprises colleges of business, education and human development, engineering, fine arts and communication, graduate studies, and arts and sciences. The university offers a range of undergraduate (bachelor) and master’s degree programs and doctoral degrees in engineering and deaf education. Facilities include the Small Business Development Center, the Gulf Coast Hazardous Substance Research Center, the Texas Energy Museum, and the Center for Coastal and Marine Studies. Total enrollment is approximately 8,500.
The university opened in 1923 as South Park Junior College. In 1932 the name was changed to Lamar College, for Republic of Texas president Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar. It was made a four-year college in 1949, and its name was changed to Lamar State College of Technology. It was racially integrated in 1956. The graduate school was established in 1962, and in 1971 the college was elevated to university status. The Orange campus was founded in 1969; Port Arthur College became Lamar’s Port Arthur branch in 1975. The technology institute was founded in 1990. The Lamar University System, created in 1983, ceased to exist in 1995, when the campuses became separate members of the state university system.