The gateway to a new career.
That’s how Bill Sabo, the City of Shreveport’s director of economic development, described the achievement of eight participants who completed the first certificate program in Geographic Information Systems.
The City and LSUS celebrated with those eight students Thursday as they completed the three-week course GIS Essentials I that blended classroom learning and field work experience.
The program is a collaboration between the City and LSUS as the two entities are responding to market demand for more professionals trained in GIS.
“This partnership isn’t just about academic enrichment, it’s a deliberate investment to build a stronger workforce that equips our residents with the tools of the 21st century,” Sabo said. “GIS is everywhere, and cities like ours rely on it to manage infrastructure, analyze crime trends, track public health, and even respond to natural disasters.
“Businesses use it for logistics, market analysis and utilities. Industries that rely heavily on GIS include environmental and climate resilience, real estate development and transportation agencies.”
LSUS faculty who conducted the course include Dr. Gary Joiner, professor of history, and Dr. Peter Siska, professor of biological sciences.
Students were introduced to a variety of GIS software and applications which included a field work component in mapping and documenting cemetery plots at Star Cemetery, the first cemetery organized by and for Shreveport’s African-American citizens.
“I hope you got a sense of different software platforms that lead to real-world opportunities in the field, like the cemetery work we did,” Joiner said. “It’s not just data collection or drawing and making maps.
“You’ve learned in-depth ways to examine and solve problems.”
LSUS history student Mack Miles is interested specifically in cemeteries as she aims to pursue archaeology after completing her undergraduate degree.
“Working with cemeteries is what I want to do, so this program fits perfectly with what I needed,” Miles said. “Dr. Joiner and Dr. Siska are the perfect people to learn from with their experience in ground-penetrating radar and the mapping itself.
“I’ve worked with (Joiner) for the past year as a research assistant on the Caddo Parish Civil Rights trail project in mapping graveyards, and this program was a great experience because I got to take leadership role in the field work.”
LSUS history graduate student Mikal Barnes said this program built on his previous experience in cemeteries.
“I had a class on how to identify certain grave markers, so this certificate is like the second half of that,” Barnes said. “But even for students who aren’t going into a history-related field, this knowledge translates into many different areas.”
One of those different areas include city planning, for which Sabo mentioned that the City is planning various internships that prioritize GIS skills.
“We’re already looking for ways to imbed GIS skills into more city operations,” Sabo said. “We’re prioritizing GIS-trained individuals in our hiring pipelines as we progress in our smart city planning to build a city that’s more connected and more data-driven.”
GIS training plays a role in the creation of spatial data, which is used in everything from city planning (population density/economic activity) to ecological and environmental projects (migration patterns for specific species) to medical studies (how diseases are distributed among different populations).
This certificate program is the first of many exploring the GIS realm with another course planned for this fall.
“The course this fall is focused on mapping urban areas, and that ties into the City’s block-by-block initiative to address blight,” said Leigh Chambers, the executive director of events and community initiatives who was key in the creation of the program. “GIS is an area where the City needs support and where we need a more educated workforce.”