Southern University is updating its course offerings and campus.
On Tuesday, June 24, Baton Rouge, Louisianab-based HBCU announced a new digital media arts program, which will offer education and training in recording arts, visual arts, motion graphics, digital screen arts production, digital performance fusion, and sports production.
The program will start in the upcoming fall semester.
“You can expect to walk into a lab, walk into a classroom, and expect to see an environment that reflects what they will be going into once they leave,” Darrell Roberson, co-director of the program, told WBRZ. “If you’re a performance major—that actor or actress can work with that digital media arts student, or if you need music, they can go to recording arts students.”
Along with a new program, the school’s campus will get some new additions, including a Global Innovation and Welcome Center. The campus will also add a public safety building, an outdoor classroom, an amphitheater, and a Learning Lobby.
“When they bring in new students to look at the campus, and they see the activity, activity breeds excitement, activity breeds collaboration, activity breeds activity, right? So, they see the university doing those kinds of things, I think it makes them want to become a part of that,” Kenneth Dawson, assistant director of facility planning at Southern University, told WAFB 9.
The creation of the digital arts program and the added space are right on time. Along with its famous band, the Human Jukebox, the school is racking up wins in the arts. A group of students won a 2025 Emmy for The Hidden Sport, a documentary that highlights the Human Jukebox and its longstanding contribution to sports and culture.
Students should be able to enjoy the welcome center and amphitheater by the end of the year; the other big projects, such as the STEM and business building, should be finished in 2027, according to WAFB 9.
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