Henderson State University - History

History

School Names
Arkadelphia Methodist College 1890–1904
Henderson College 1904–1911
Henderson-Brown College 1911–1929
Henderson State Teachers College 1929–1967
Henderson State College 1967–1975
Henderson State University 1975–present
Source:

Henderson State University, was founded on March 23, 1890 as Arkadelphia Methodist College. The university was renamed for Charles Christopher Henderson, a Trustee and prominent Arkadelphia, in 1904. In 1911 the name was changed to Henderson-Brown College to honor Walter Brown. The state convention decided to close the institution down after thirty nine years of Methodist control and combine it with Hendrix College in Conway. The student body, administration, and local population strongly disagreed with the idea and after negotiations with state lawmakers, Henderson-Brown was turned over to the state to prevent the merger. Then in 1929, the institution became known as Henderson State Teachers College... Hendrix was renamed Hendrix-Henderson College, and remained so for about two years before returning to Hendrix College. After becoming a public institution, Henderson State Teachers College began to expand at a rate never envisioned while it was under Methodist control. Six major buildings were built during the Great Depression alone. After World War II, the enrollment nearly doubled to about 500 students. Graduate classes were first offered in 1951 through the University of Arkansas. In 1955, the school's first graduate degree program began. To reflect the change, the name was changed to Henderson State College in 1967 and again in 1975 to Henderson State University. Henderson has an excellent academic record. It has produced numerous Rhodes, Fulbright, and Rotary International scholars. It serves as Arkansas’s only member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. Currently, degree programs are offered through the Matt Locke Ellis College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Business, the School of Education, and the Graduate School. Henderson has its own degree program in nursing, and it also provides the academic program for the Baptist School of Nursing. The university offers the state’s only four-year bachelor of science degree in aviation. The enrollment in the fall of 2010 was 3,709.

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