Entomology programs have been a vital part of LSU and the state of Louisiana since at least 1886 when the first course in insect study was offered in the Department of Zoology. The present department was formed in 1964. Major contributions of the department include documentation of pesticide resistance by the cotton boll weevil in the mid 1950s, documentation of pesticide runoff effects and defensive role of endophytic fungi in the 1970s and 1980s, establishment of the Formosan subterranean termite area-wide eradication demonstration project in the French Quarter of New Orleans during the 1990s, and development of service learning approaches to education during the early 2000s. LSU has continued to provide innovative programs in plant resistance and insect resistance mechanisms, medical and veterinary entomology, urban entomology, forest entomology, area-wide management, precision agriculture, and biodiversity conservation, and is developing programs in molecular genetics of colony organization in social insects. Most recently, the department contributed to West Nile Virus epidemiology and public health and to post-Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts, through assistance to displaced coastal residents and development of debris treatments to prevent spread of Formosan subterranean termites in relocated hurricane debris