Philander Smith University - Misplaced Pages

(Redirected from Philander Smith Panthers football) Historially Black university in Little Rock, Arkansas, US

Philander Smith University

Former names	Walden Seminary (1877–1882) Philander Smith College (1882–2023)
Type	Private historically black college
Established	1877
Accreditation	HLC
Religious affiliation	United Methodist Church
Academic affiliations	UNCF
Endowment	$3 million
President	Cynthia Bond Hopson
Students	760
Location	Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.
Colors	Green and gold
Nickname	Panthers
Sporting affiliations	NAIA – HBCUAC
Website	www.philander.edu

Philander Smith University (previously Philander Smith College) is a private historically black college in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and is a founding member of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). Philander Smith College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.

History

Philander Smith College was officially founded in 1877 under the name of Walden Seminary to provide educational opportunities for emancipated slaves west of the Mississippi River. In 1882 the school was renamed Philander Smith College in honor of the financial contributions of Adeline Smith, widow of Philander Smith. It was chartered as a four-year college in 1883 and conferred its first bachelor's degree in 1888. In 1933, it merged the assets of the George R. Smith College in Sedalia, Missouri, which burned down in 1925. In 1943, Philander Smith was accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

During the Civil Rights Movement, Philander Smith College was a pioneer in activism: many of its students engaged in nonviolent resistance against segregation laws or customs (such as sitting in at "whites-only" lunch counters).

On August 1, 2023, the college announced the addition of its first ever master's degree program and the change of its name from Philander Smith College to Philander Smith University.

Rankings and education conservancy

Walter Kimbrough, former president of Philander Smith College, joined the Education Conservancy in criticizing the annual U.S. News & World Report college rankings; he signed a letter circulating among college presidents that asks them to refrain from participating in the peer assessment portion of the survey.

Campus

United States historic place


Philander Smith College Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district

Location	Roughly bounded by 13th, 11th, Izard, and State Sts., Little Rock, Arkansas
Area	less than one acre
Architect	Almand, John Parks
Architectural style	Colonial Revival, Bungalow/Craftsman, et al.
NRHP reference No.	99000229
Added to NRHP	September 13, 1999

Campus

Harry R. Kendall Center, home to the Dr. Joycelyn Elders School of Allied and Public Health.

Cox Administration Building

The school campus is located in central Little Rock. Interstate 630 (the Mills Freeway) was constructed just north of the campus, which is bounded by 10th and 14th streets to the north and south, and Gaines and Chester streets to the east and west. The core of the campus was originally built for Little Rock Junior College (now the University of Arkansas at Little Rock), and a two-block section of it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. One of its centerpieces is the former U.M. Rose School building, now the Cox Administration Building, designed by the noted Arkansas architect John Parks Almand in 1915, when he was working for Charles L. Thompson. The campus also includes the "Old Gym", a gymnasium built by the WPA during the Great Depression; and a former barracks building of the Camp Robinson Air Force Base, which was moved here in 1948.

Athletics

The Philander Smith athletic teams are called the Panthers. The college is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), primarily competing in the HBCU Athletic Conference (HBCUAC), formerly the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC), since the 2011–12 academic year. The Panthers previously competed as an NAIA Independent within the Association of Independent Institutions (AII) from 2009–10 to 2010–11.

Philander Smith competes in ten intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include basketball, baseball, cross country and track & field (indoor and outdoor); while women's sports include basketball, cross country, track & field (indoor and outdoor) and volleyball; and co-ed sports include cheerleading.

Accomplishments

The 2012–13 Philander Smith men's basketball team made history by bringing home their first GCAC conference tournament title.

On February 21, 1989, the Philander Smith women's basketball team gained a 92–89 victory over Rust College of Holly Springs, Mississippi, on their court, ending the longest home-court winning streak in NCAA Division III women's basketball history.

Notable alumni

Name	Class year	Notability
"Geese" Ausbie		former Harlem Globetrotters player and coach
Al Bell		founder of Stax Records and former president of Motown Records
John A. Bell	1951	Director of the Education and Secondary Education Division of the Office of Civil Rights, United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
Isaac M. Burgan		President of Paul Quinn College from 1883–1891, 1911–1914
Deon Cole		comedian
James Hal Cone	1958	major figure in systematic theology and liberation theology
L. Clifford Davis	1945	civil rights, attorney, judge
Joycelyn Elders	1952	former Surgeon General of the United States
Stephanie Flowers		Arkansas State Senator since 2011 and former member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from Pine Bluff
Scipio Africanus Jones	coursework before transfer to Shorter College	lawyer and businessman
Calvin King	1975	farm developmer, and the President of the Arkansas Land and Farm Development Corp
Amina Claudine Myers		musician
Elijah Pitts	1961	former Green Bay Packers player, 2x Super Bowl champion
Devon Scott		basketball player in the Israel Basketball Premier League
Lottie Shackelford		former mayor of Little Rock, Arkansas
Robert L. Williams	1953	prominent figure in the history of African-American psychology

Notable faculty

Name	Department	Notability	Reference
Lee Lorch		mathematician and civil rights activist
Georg Iggers		historian	10

References

"Budlong Hall". D.W. Reynolds Library. Philander Smith College. Retrieved September 14, 2022.
"Philander Smith College - SoulOfAmerica". Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved February 15, 2010.
Philander Smith College name change — from college to university
Kamara, Margaret (June 28, 2007). "Are U.S. News Rankings Inherently Biased Against Black Colleges?". Diverse Issues in Higher Education. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007.
"Growing Challenge to 'U.S. News'". Inside Higher Ed. May 18, 2007.
"National Register Information System – (#99000229)". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
"NRHP nomination for Philander Smith College Historic District". Arkansas Preservation. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
"Panthers Bring the GCAC Championship Home". Retrieved June 12, 2013.
"Coaches Named At Vocational". The Louisiana Weekly. New Orleans, Louisiana. July 25, 1959. p. 9. Retrieved December 10, 2022 – via Newspapers.com .
Kilpatrick, Judith. "Desegregating the University of Arkansas School of Law: L. Clifford Davis and the Six Pioneers" (PDF). Arkansas Black Lawyers. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
"Stephanie Anne Flowers". intelius.com. Retrieved April 17, 2015.
Lewis, George E. (2008). A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music. University of Chicago Press. pp. 127–128.

External links

v t e HBCU Athletic Conference
Full members	Dillard Fisk Philander Smith Oakwood Rust Southern–New Orleans (SUNO) Stillman Talladega Tougaloo Virgin Islands Voorhees Wilberforce Wiley

v t e International Association of Methodist-related Schools, Colleges, and Universities
Adrian Alaska Pacific Albion Albright Allegheny American Andrew Baker Baldwin Wallace Bennett Bethune–Cookman Boston University Brevard Centenary (Louisiana) Centenary University Central Methodist Claflin Clark Atlanta Columbia (South Carolina) Cornell College Dakota Wesleyan Denver DePauw Dickinson College Dillard Drew Duke Emory Emory & Henry Evansville Ferrum Florida Southern Greensboro Hamline Hendrix High Point Huntingdon Huston-Tillotson Illinois Wesleyan Indianapolis Kansas Wesleyan Kendall Kentucky Wesleyan LaGrange Lebanon Valley Lindsey Wilson Lon Morris Louisburg Lycoming McKendree McMurry Meharry Medical Methodist Millsaps Morningside Mount Union Nebraska Methodist Nebraska Wesleyan North Carolina Wesleyan North Central Northwestern University Ohio Northern Ohio Wesleyan Oklahoma City Otterbein Oxford of Emory Pacific Paine Pfeiffer Puget Sound Philander Smith Randolph Randolph-Macon Reinhardt Rocky Mountain Rust Shenandoah Simpson College Southern Methodist Southwestern College (Kansas) Southwestern University Spartanburg Methodist Syracuse Tennessee Wesleyan Texas Wesleyan Union Commonwealth Virginia Wesleyan Wesleyan College West Virginia Wesleyan Wiley Willamette Wofford Young Harris

International Association of Methodist-related Schools, Colleges, and Universities

City of Little Rock

Climate
Government
- Mayors
People
History
- Timeline
- Desegregation of Central High School
Media
Transportation

Neighborhoods

Landmarks

Education

Little Rock School District
- Little Rock Central HS
- Little Rock Southwest HS
- West HS
- Hall STEAM Magnet
- Parkview Arts and Science Magnet HS
- Dunbar Magnet MS (former Dunbar HS)
- Mann Arts and Science MS (former Horace Mann HS)
Pulaski County Special School District (for some portions)
AR School f/t Blind
AR School f/t Deaf
Baptist Preparatory School
Central Arkansas Christian Schools Pleasant Valley Elementary
Catholic HS for Boys
Episcopal Collegiate School
Little Rock Christian Acad
Pulaski Academy
Mount St. Mary Acad
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
- template
Philander Smith University
Central Arkansas Library System

Merged	J. A. Fair HS John L. McClellan HS

Sports teams

Education in Pulaski County, Arkansas

Public high schools
and notable schools

Little Rock SD

Central HS
Southwest HS
West HS
Hall STEAM Magnet
Parkview Arts and Science Magnet HS
Dunbar Magnet MS (former Dunbar HS)
Mann Arts and Science MS (former Horace Mann HS)

Merged	J. A. Fair HS John L. McClellan HS

Pulaski County SSD

Closed	J. C. Cook North Pulaski HS Oak Grove HS
Moved	J. A. Fair HS (into LRSD, closed in 2020) John L. McClellan HS (into LRSD, closed in 2020)

North Little Rock SD

North Little Rock HS

Closed	Scipio Jones HS

Jacksonville North Pulaski SD

Jacksonville HS

Charter schools

Academics Plus Charter Schools (incl. Maumelle Charter High School)
eStem Public Charter Schools

State-run schools

Private high schools

Secular

Pulaski Academy

Religious

Closed	St. Bartholomew HS

Other
Tertiary	University of Arkansas at Little Rock template Philander Smith University
Libraries	Central Arkansas Library System

This list may be incomplete.
Some parts of the county are in the East End School District though the district does not operate schools in Pulaski County.

v t e Colleges and universities in Arkansas
Public institutions	Arkansas State Main Henderson State Arkansas Tech Central Arkansas Southern Arkansas University of Arkansas Main Medical Sciences School of Law Clinton School of Public Service Fort Smith Grantham Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law Monticello Pine Bluff
Private institutions	Arkansas Baptist Central Baptist Crowley's Ridge Ecclesia Harding Hendrix John Brown Lyon Ouachita Baptist Ozarks Philander Smith Shorter Williams Baptist
Community colleges	Arkansas Northeastern Arkansas State University System Beebe Mid-South Mountain Home Newport Three Rivers Black River Tech East Arkansas National Park North Arkansas Northwest Arkansas Ozarka Shorter South Arkansas Southeast Arkansas Southern Arkansas Tech University of Arkansas System CC Batesville CC Morrilton Cossatot Hope-Texarkana Phillips Pulaski Tech Rich Mountain

v t e Historically black colleges and universities (List)
Public institutions	Alabama A&M Alabama State Albany State Alcorn State Arkansas–Pine Bluff Bishop State CC Bluefield State Bowie State Central State Cheyney Coahoma CC Coppin State Delaware State Elizabeth City State Fayetteville State Florida A&M Fort Valley State Gadsden State CC Grambling State Harris–Stowe Hinds CC Jackson State Kentucky State Langston Lincoln, Missouri Lincoln, Pennsylvania Maryland, Eastern Shore Mississippi Valley State Morgan State Norfolk State North Carolina A&T North Carolina Central Prairie View A&M Savannah State Shelton State CC South Carolina State Southern Southern–New Orleans Southern–Shreveport Tennessee State Texas Southern UDC/UDC-CC UVI Virginia State West Virginia State Winston-Salem State
Private institutions	Allen Arkansas Baptist Barber–Scotia Benedict Bennett Bethune–Cookman Claflin Clark Atlanta Dillard Edward Waters Fisk Florida Memorial University Hampton Howard Huston–Tillotson Interdenominational Theological Center Jarvis Christian Johnson C. Smith Knoxville Lane LeMoyne–Owen Livingstone Meharry Miles Morehouse Morehouse School of Medicine Morris Brown Morris Oakwood Paine Paul Quinn Pensole Lewis Philander Smith Rust Selma Shaw Simmons College (Ky.) Southwestern Christian Spelman Stillman St. Augustine's Talladega Texas College Tougaloo Tuskegee Virginia Union Virginia University Voorhees Wilberforce Wiley Xavier (Louisiana)
Defunct institutions	Bishop Booker T. Washington Carver Central Mississippi College Collier-Blocker Concordia Alabama Daniel Payne Frelinghuysen Georgia Baptist Gibbs Guadalupe Hampton Haygood Seminary Immanuel Lutheran Jackson Johnson Kittrell Lincoln Junior College Louisville Municipal Luther Miner Teachers College Mississippi Industrial College Morristown Mount Hermon Female Seminary New Orleans University Roosevelt Rosenwald Saint Paul's SCSU Law School Storer Straight Suwannee River Terrell Law School Turner Volusia County Western
Law Schools	David A. Clarke School of Law (UDC) Florida A&M University College of Law Howard University School of Law North Carolina Central University School of Law Southern University Law Center Thurgood Marshall School of Law (Texas Southern)
Consortia	Atlanta University Center Florida's Black Junior Colleges Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Southwestern Athletic Conference Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference HBCU Athletic Conference

v t e U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Related	National Historic Preservation Act Historic Preservation Fund List of jails and prisons on the National Register of Historic Places University and college buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places portal Category