LSU is poised to transform its School of Construction with a major endowment and a state-of-the art new building, thanks to massive donations from an LSU alum and Louisiana construction tycoon, the school announced Tuesday.
“Construction is no longer a low-tech industry,” Vicki Colvin, dean of the College of Engineering, said Tuesday. “It’s going to become a high-tech industry, and it’s going to do it right here in Louisiana.”
Art Favre, founder and owner of Performance Contractors Inc., speaks during the announcement of the Art Favre School of Construction on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, at the LSU Foundation Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The university will name its School of Construction, as well the planned $107 million Construction & Advanced Manufacturing Building, for Art Favre and his industrial services company, Performance Contractors.
The LSU Foundation announced the new names Tuesday during a celebration event for Favre at the foundation building on Nicholson Drive. The foundation did not disclose the dollar amount of Favre’s donation but said that the donor has put tens of millions toward the university’s construction expansion, including a previous $15 million contribution.
The new funds will establish an unrestricted endowment, meaning the money can be spent at the university’s discretion.
“An unrestricted endowment gives LSU something especially powerful: the ability to be both strategic and nimble,” LSU Chancellor Jim Dalton said. “Those resources help us recruit and retain extraordinary faculty, pursue emerging academic and research opportunities, respond to industry needs and ensure students are learning at the leading edge of their fields.”
LSU President Wade Rousse is pictured before the announcement of the Art Favre School of Construction on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, at the LSU Foundation Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The construction school — which started as a department but the Board of Supervisors voted to elevate to school status last year — will be called the Art Favre School of Construction and housed within the College of Engineering. The level of school is a broader academic division within the university that the College of Engineering said aligned with the construction management program’s growth and student demand, as well as success with industry partnerships.
The physical space will be named the Performance Contractors Construction & Advanced Manufacturing Building — a tribute to the company Favre founded.
Favre said he has pitched his vision for a premier construction management program for 35 years across multiple LSU presidents. Past LSU President William Tate was a close ally on the project, he said, and current President Wade Rousse took the baton when Tate departed for Rutgers University.
“We all knew we needed more independence to ensure construction had a prominent place in the College of Engineering for the future,” Favre said. “The department was growing rapidly but was not keeping up with the needs for more and better-prepared graduates coming into the university. In my mind, most importantly, the LSU CM program was in a unique position to fill a void in construction-specific research to keep America competitive in the world marketplace.”
University officials anticipate breaking ground on the Performance Contractors & Advanced Manufacturing Building in 2027. The 148,000-square-foot facility, the planned home of the expanded construction offerings, will be located on South Stadium Drive.
Colvin said the space will allow for increased collaboration, which reflects a broader trend in the industry as engineers and construction professionals “are working closer and closer together.”
“You don’t bring together and launch a new type of industry that’s going to have new tools and using them in new ways unless you have a space that inspires people and a space that people can gather and learn from one another,” Colvin said. “A place where our students in the halls, construction managers, construction engineers, computer scientists — they’ll run into each other.”
