Alcorn State University
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| Established | 1871 |
|---|---|
| Type | Public |
| President | Dr. Malvin Williams (Interim) |
| Undergraduates | 3,300 |
| Postgraduates | 175 |
| Location | Claiborne County, Mississippi, United States |
| Campus | 1,700 acres |
| Colors | Purple and Gold |
| Nickname | Braves |
| Website | http://www.alcorn.edu |
Alcorn State University, located in Claiborne County, Mississippi is a public land grant university. It was founded in 1871 as the nation's first state-supported higher education institution for blacks. Alcorn State University is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund.
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[edit] History
Alcorn State University was founded on the site originally occupied by Oakland College, a school for whites established by the Presbyterian Church. Oakland College closed its doors at the beginning of the Civil War so that its students could answer the call to arms. Upon failing to reopen at the end of the war, the property was sold to the state of Mississippi and renamed Alcorn University in honor of James L. Alcorn in 1871, then governor of the state of Mississippi.
The college opened with eight faculty members and 179 students in three buildings on a 225 acre campus.
Hiram R. Revels resigned his seat in the United States Senate to become Alcorn's first president. The state legislature provided $50,000 in cash for ten successive years for the establishment and overall operations of the college. The state also granted Alcorn three-fifths of the proceeds earned from the sale of thirty thousand acres of land scrip for agricultural colleges. The land was sold for $188,928 with Alcorn receiving a share of $113,400. This money was to be used solely for the agricultural and mechanical components of the college. From its beginning, Alcorn State University was a land-grant college.
In 1878, the name Alcorn University was changed to Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College. The goals for the college set by the Mississippi legislature clearly emphasized training rather than education. The school, like other black schools during these years, was less a college than a trade school.
At first the school was exclusively for black males but in 1895 women were admitted.
In 1974 Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College became Alcorn State University. Governor William L. Waller signed House Bill 298 granting university status to Alcorn and the other state supported colleges.
Alcorn has had sixteen presidents. Dr. Clinton Bristow, Jr. became president of the university in 1995 and held the post until he suddenly died on August 19, 2006. [1] Dr. Malvin Williams was named Alcorn's interim president after Bristow's death. [2]
Of these, Dr. Walter Washington, who assumed the presidency in 1969, was the longest-tenured president in Alcorn's history.
[edit] Students and Faculty
The university enrolls over 3,200 full-time and 220 part-time undergraduate students and 175 graduate students. Women outnumber men eighteen hundred to twelve hundred.
[edit] Organization
The university is made up of seven schools, offering over 50 different fields of study.
- School of Agriculture, Research, Extension and Applied Sciences
- School of Arts and Sciences
- School of Graduate Studies
- School of Business
- School of Education and Psychology
- School of Nursing
- College for Excellence
[edit] Campus
The main campus is located near Lorman, Mississippi, while the Nursing School and the Business School's Master of Business Administration (MBA) program is located in Natchez, Mississippi.
The campus includes approximately 80 modern structures with an approximate value of $71 million.
[edit] Miscellaneous
- Radio station: WPRL 91.7 FM
[edit] Notable alumni
- Donald Driver - American professional football wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League
- Steve McNair - American professional football quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League
- Medgar Evers - NAACP's first field secretary
- Michael Clarke Duncan - actor
[edit] External links
- Alcorn State University Website
- Official Alumni Organization
- alcorn1871-Unofficial Alumni Tribute Site
