BATON ROUGE - LSU is partnering with Amazon to offer college educations to the company's workers in Louisiana as the online retail giant is poised to open a sprawling new fulfillment center in the capital area. 

The university announced Thursday that it was joining Amazon's Career Choice program, which will provide access to online and on-campus bachelor’s degrees, as well as short-form college credit certificates, to hourly employees in the state.

Eligible workers will be able to take advantage of the program through LSU, LSU Shreveport, LSU Eunice and LSU Alexandria.

The announcement comes as Amazon inches closer to the completion of its massive new warehouse at the site of the shuttered Cortana Mall. Approved by city-parish officials last years, the company has said it is investing $200 million into the new fulfillment center.

Amazon has two other distribution centers in the Baton Rouge area, one along I-10 adjacent to the Bethany Church campus and another in Port Allen.