Southern University

Southern University and A&M College's Jaguar Battalion was activated in 1948 as a Transportation Corps unit and has since commissioned over 1,200 officers, producing more generals than any other HBCU — nine by last count, including Lieutenant General Edward Honor, Brigadier General Sherian Cadoria (the first African American woman to reach general officer rank in the regular Army), and Major General Charles Honore. The Jaguar Battalion's record on women's leadership is particularly notable: Cadoria's 1985 promotion came just over a decade after the program piloted the first female commissioning cohort in 1972, when Southern was selected as one of only a handful of schools nationally for the Army's women's ROTC pilot program. Baton Rouge puts cadets between Fort Johnson to the west and Barksdale AFB to the north, in a state that takes its Army Guard seriously and where political-military relationships are cultivated early. The program's alumni chapter remains active and visible at AUSA events, giving Jaguar Battalion officers a warm handoff into the professional military community. Scholarship competition here tends to be strong but winnable for candidates who can demonstrate leadership character alongside academics. Southern's land-grant mission and deep roots in Louisiana's Black community give the battalion an institutional weight that newer programs simply cannot replicate.