Alcorn State University - Definition

Alcorn State University, located in Clairborne County, Mississippi, was founded in 1871 as the nation's first state-supported higher education institution for blacks.

History

The site where Alcorn State is located was originally called Oakland College, a Presbyterian-run school for whites. Oakland College closed at the beginning of the War Between the States while its students left to fight. Upon the conclusion of the conflict, the school did not re-open and was sold to the State of Mississippi. The Reconstruction state government renamed it Alcorn University after then current governor James L. Alcorn. Senator Hiram Revels resigned (??? He was only filling the unexpired term of Jefferson Davis) his seat to become the university's first president. It opened in 1871 with 8 faculty members and 179 students.

The university's name was changed to Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1878 and designed a land-grant college under the Morrill Act of 1862.

The first women were admitted in 1895, though Alcorn A & M wouldn't become officially co-educational until 1903.

Governor William Waller signed a bill in 1974 giving the institution university status and changing the name to the Alcorn State University.

Enrollment

• Around 2,700 full-time undergraduates
• 220 part-time undergraduates
• 175 graduate students

Schools

Main campus located near Lorman, MS with nursing school in Natchez, MS.

• School of Agriculture, Research, Extenstion 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

Miscellaneous

• School colors: purple and gold with white as an auxiliary.
• Team name: The Braves
• Radio station: WPRL 91.7 FM

External link

• Alcorn State University (http://www.alcorn.edu)