| Alcorn State University | |
|---|---|
| Motto | “Knowledge and Character: That's the Alcorn Difference.” |
| Established | 1871 |
| Type | Public |
| President | Dr. M. Christopher Brown, II |
| Students | 3,682 |
| Location | Lorman, Mississippi, United States |
| Campus | 1,700 acres (6.9 km2) |
| Colors | Purple and Gold |
| Nickname | Braves; Alcorn A's |
| Website | www.alcorn.edu |
Alcorn State University is an historically black university comprehensive land-grant institution in Lorman, Mississippi. It was founded in 1871.
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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 American Civil War so that its students could fight for the Confederate States of America. 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 the state's governor.
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 30,000 acres (120,000,000 m2) 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 university's original 225 acres (0.91 km2) of land have grown to become a 1,700 acres (6.9 km2) campus. 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. Today, women outnumber men at the university eighteen hundred to twelve hundred.
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. In truth, this law created a change of name rather than of purpose. Alcorn had already become a more diversified university. It provides an undergraduate education that enables students to continue their work in graduate and professional schools, engage in teaching, and enter other professions. It also provides graduate education to equip students for further training in specialized fields while they contribute to the advancement of knowledge through scholarly research and inquiry.
Alcorn began with eight faculty members in 1871. Today there are more than five hundred members of the faculty and staff. The student body has grown from 179 mostly local male students to more than 3,000 students from all over the world.
While early graduates of Alcorn had limited horizons, more recent alumni are successful doctors, lawyers, dentists, teachers, principals, administrators, managers, and entrepreneurs. Alcorn has had eighteen presidents with Dr. M. Christopher Brown II becoming the eighteenth president in 2011. Of these, Dr. Walter Washington, who assumed the presidency in 1969, was the longest-tenured president in Alcorn's history.
Alcorn State is now fully accredited with seven schools and degree programs in more than fifty areas including a nursing program. The facilities have increased from three historic buildings to approximately 80 modern structures with an approximate value of $71 million. [1]
| Name | Years | Interim |
|---|---|---|
| Hiram Rhodes Revels | 1871–1879 | No |
| John Houston Burrus | 1879–1888 | No |
| Wilson H. Reynolds | 1888–1893 | No |
| Thomas J. Calloway | 1893–1897 | No |
| Edward H. Triplett | 1897–1900 | No |
| William H. Lanier | 1900–1908 | No |
| Levi John Rowan | 1908–1913 | No |
| John Adams Martin | 1913–1917 | No |
| Levi John Rowan | 1917–1920 | No |
| Isiah S. Sanders, Acting President | 1920–1948 | No |
| William Harrison Bell | 1948–1953 | No |
| Preston Sewell Bowles | 1953–1957 | No |
| William Harrison Pipes | 1957–1960 | No |
| Jesse R. Otis | 1960–1968 | No |
| John Dewey Boyd | 1968–1973 | No |
| Walter Washington | 1973–1977 | No |
| Rudolph E. Waters, Sr. | 1977–1980 | Yes |
| Clinton Bristow, Jr. | 1980–1988 | No |
| Malvin A. Williams, Sr. | 1988–1993 | Yes |
| George E. Ross | 1993–1997 | No |
| Norris Allen Edney | 1997–2000 | Yes |
The university enrolls over 2,500 full-time and 348 part-time undergraduate students and 600 graduate students. Women outnumber men in a ratio 3:2.
Organization
The university is made up of seven schools, offering over 50 different fields of study.
The Honors Program is an option for students who wish to further enhance their academic experience.[3]
Besides coordinating study-abroad opportunities, Global Programs brings worldwide perspectives to campus through exchange programs and special events.[4]
Alcorn offers Pre-Professional Programs to prepare students for a transition to specialized studies in the fields of law, engineering, nursing, physical therapy, pharmacy and dentistry.[5]
Alcorn State University is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award the Associate, Bachelor‘s, Master‘s, and Specialist in Education degrees.
Alcorn‘s teacher education program is accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education. The Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics is accredited by the American Dietetics Association. The Associate of Science in Nursing degree, the Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree, and the Master of Science in Nursing degree programs are accredited by the National League for Nursing Accreditating Commission. Alcorn State University is an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Music, the National Association of Industrial Technology and the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences.
The university also holds membership in the following organizations:
•National Association of College and University Business Officers
•American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education
•American Council on Education
•Association of American Colleges
•Association of State Colleges and Universities
•Family & Consumer Sciences Association
•American Library Association
•American Public Relations Association
•College Language Association
•Council for the Advancement and Support of Education
•Council on Co-op College Projects
•National Association for Business Teacher Education
•National Association of Dramatic and Speech Arts
•National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges
•National Collegiate Athletic Association
•National Collegiate Honors Council
•National Commission on Accrediting
•The Southern Association of College Registrars
•The Association of Departments of English
•Association of Institutional Research
•Mathematical Association of America
•The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business-International
•The Society for College and University Planning
•Southern Regional Honors Council
•Southern Association of College and University Business Officers.[6]
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. There is also a Vicksburg, Mississippi site.
Recent Campus Additions include:
• 5 mi (8.0 km) Bike/Walking Trail
• Willie "Rat" McGowan Baseball Stadium
Current and planned construction projects include:
• School of Business (Dumas Hall) renovations
| Name | Class year | Notability | References |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gwen Belton | News anchor and senior reporter who worked at TV news stations in Jackson Mississippi, Natchez Mississippi, Greenville Mississippi, and Miami, Florida Florida | [1] | |
| Albert Butler | 1970 | Mississippi State Senator | [2] |
| Horace R. Cayton Sr. | c.1880s | journalist and politician, who was one of first blacks to serve on county and state delegations in Seattle, Washington | [7] |
| Katie G. Dorsett | Member of the North Carolina Senate
from the 28th district |
||
| Medgar Evers | 1948 | First NAACP field secretary | |
| Alex Haley | Author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family | ||
| Orlando Kilcrease | 1991 | Chairman (Mississippi Farm Service Agency State Committee) | [3] |
| Iris Kyle | Female Professional bodybuilder | ||
| Kimberly Morgan | Miss Mississippi 2007 | ||
| Michael Clarke Duncan | Actor | ||
| Alexander O'Neal | attended | Musician | |
| Ed Smith | former alderman of the 28th ward in Chicago, Illinois from 1983 to 2010. | ||
| Jesse Smith | 1999 | Appeared as Gladiator "Justice" in 2008 revival of American Gladiators | |
| Joseph Edison Walker | 1903 | President of University Life Insurance Company in Memphis, Tennessee | |
| Timon Kyle Durrett | 1998 | Appeared as "Quinn" on VH1's Single Ladies and various TV shows, plays, commercials, and films. |
| Name | Class year | Notability | References |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jack Spinks | 1952 | Professional football player for the New York Giants | |
| Jimmy Giles | 1977 | Professional football player for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers | |
| Roynell Young | 1980 | Professional football player for the Philadelphia Eagles | |
| Jack Phillips | Professional football player for the Kansas City Chiefs | ||
| Milton Mack | Professional football player for the Detroit Lions | ||
| Cedric Tillman | 1992 | Professional football player for the Denver Broncos | |
| Dwayne White | Professional football player for the St. Louis Rams | ||
| Garry Lewis | Professional football player for the Oakland Raiders | ||
| Torrance Small | 1992 | NFL player for the New Orleans Saints | |
| John Thierry | 1994 | NFL player for the Chicago Bears | |
| Steve McNair | 1996 | Former American professional quarterback for the Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens | |
| Bryant Mix | 1997 | NFL player for the Houston Oilers | |
| Donte Dowers | 1997 | Professional football player for the Baltimore Ravens | |
| Carlos Thorton | 1998 | NFL player for the San Francisco 49ers | |
| Donald Driver | 1999 | Professional football player for the Green Bay Packers | |
| Charles Jackson | 1999 | AFL player for the Grand Rapids | |
| Lee Terry Moore | 1999 | NFL player for the Oakland Raiders | |
| Chad Slaughter | 2000 | Professional football player for the Oakland Raiders | |
| Louis Green | 2002 | NFL player for the Denver Broncos | |
| Charlie Spiller | 2007 | NFL player for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers | |
| Nate Hughes | 2008 | NFL player for the Jacksonville Jaguars | |
| Leslie Frazier | 1980 | Head Coach of the Minnesota Vikings, Former Defensive Coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings, former Special Assistant coach with the Indianapolis Colts | |
| Larry Smith | 1980 | Former NBA player and assistant coach in the NBA and WNBA. | |
| Malcolm Jones | 2009 | Head Coach McComb High School in Mississippi | |
| Lee Robinson | 2009 | Professional football player for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Denver Broncos | |
| Emmanuel Arceneaux | 2009 | current CFL and NFL player | |
| Frank Purnell | former professional football player for the Green Bay Packers |
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