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Alabama State University, founded 1867, is a historically black university located in Montgomery, Alabama. ASU is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.

History

Alabama State University founded in 1856 as the Lincoln Normal School of Marion in Marion. In December 1873, the State Board accepted the transfer of title to the school after a legislative act was passed authorizing the state to fund a Normal School, and George N. Card was named President. Thus, in 1874, this predecessor of Alabama State University became America's first state-supported educational institution for blacks. This began ASU’s history as a “Teacher’s College.”

In 1878, the second president, William Paterson, was appointed. He is honored as a founder of Alabama State University and was the president for 37 of the first 48 years of its existence. Paterson was instrumental in the move from Marion to Montgomery in 1887. In 1887, the university opened in its new location in Montgomery, but an Alabama State Supreme Court ruling forced the school to change its name; thus, the school was renamed the Normal School for Colored Students.

In the decades that followed Lincoln Normal School became a junior college and in 1928 became a full four-year institution. In 1929 it became State Teachers College, Alabama State College for Negroes in 1948 and Alabama State College in 1954. In 1969, the State Board of Education, then the governing body of the university, approved a name change; the institution became Alabama State University. The 1995 Knight vs. Alabama remedial decree transformed ASU into a comprehensive regional institution paving the way for two new undergraduate programs, four new graduate programs, diversity scholarship funding and endowment, funding to build a state-of-the art health sciences facility and a facility renewal allocation to refurbish three existing buildings.

WVAS-FM was launched on June 15, 1984, beaming 25,000 watts of power from the fifth floor of the Levi Watkins Learning Center for two years before moving to its current location at Thomas Kilby Hall. Today, WVAS has grown to 80,000 watts and enjoys a listenership that spans 18 counties, reaching a total population of more than 651,000. In recent years, the station has also begun streaming its broadcast via the Web, connecting a global audience to the university.

The early 1990s witnessed the beginning of WAPR-FM (Alabama Public Radio), which Alabama State University and Troy University, both of which already held station licenses of their own, cooperated with the University of Alabama in building and operating. WAPR-FM 88.3—Selma – The signal reaches the region known colloquially as the Black Belt, about 13 counties in the west central and central parts of Alabama, including the city of Montgomery.

On September 3, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a jury verdict for over $1 million in favor of three former ASU employees who had sued the University for creating a hostile work environment, based on the conduct of the employees' supervisors who repeatedly directed offensive racial and sexual comments to them. In affirming the judgment, the Court of Appeals stated: "We are left to speculate who is in charge at ASU. Regardless, however, we are unnerved by the apparent acquiescence to, if not outright condoning of, the abusive work environment created by its high-level employees."

The university experienced some tension with the state government in 2013. In December 2012, university president Joseph Silver resigned after only six months in the job. In October of 2013, the state governor asked the university to halt its ongoing presidential search to address an audit that alleged that "ASU attempted to thwart and hamper the audit," several trustees received improper benefits, and significant financial mismanagement. The audit was ordered to investigate Silver's claims that he was forced to resign because he questioned "suspicious contracts" at the university.

Academics

Alabama State University has more than 5,000 students from more than 42 states and six countries.

Alabama State University has eight degree-granting colleges or schools or divisions.

• College of Business Administration
• College of Education
• College of Health Sciences
• College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences
• College of Science, Mathematics & Technology
• College of Visual & Performing Arts
• Division of Aerospace Studies
• Continuing Education

Alabama State offers 47 degree programs including 31 bachelors’, 11 masters’, two Education Specialist and three doctoral programs (Doctorate in Educational Leadership, Policy, and Law, Clinical Doctorate in Physical Therapy,and a Doctorate in Microbiology.

Campus

ASU's urban, 172-acre (0.70 km2) campus has Georgian-style red-brick classroom buildings and architecturally contemporary structures. ASU is home to the state-of-the-art 7,400-seat academic and sports facility the ASU Acadome; the Levi Watkins Learning Center; a five-story brick structure with more than 267,000 volumes, the state-of-the-art John L. Buskey Health Sciences Center; which is 80,000 square feet (7,400 m2) facility which houses classrooms, offices, an interdisciplinary clinic, three therapeutic rehabilitation labs, state-of-the-art Gross Anatomy Lab, Laboratory for the Analysis of Human Motion (LAHM), a Women’s Health/Cardiopulmonary lab, and a health sciences computer lab, and WVAS-FM 90.7; the 80,000-watt, university operated public radio station.

Student life

More than 70 student organizations are chartered at Alabama State, including nine Greek-letter organizations, a full range of men’s and women’s intramural and intercollegiate sports, and 17 honors organizations. In addition to social, cultural and religious groups, there are musical opportunities, such as the marching and symphonic bands, the choir, and departmental organizations for most majors.

Student publications

The students are served by two media publications, The Hornet Tribune (student newspaper) and The HORNET (the student yearbook).

Athletics

The Alabama State University Department of Athletics currently sponsors men's intercollegiate football, baseball, basketball, golf, tennis, track and cheerleading along with women's intercollegiate basketball, soccer, softball, bowling, tennis, track, volleyball, golf and cheerleading. Sports teams participate in NCAA Division I (FCS – Football Championship Subdivision for football) in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), which it joined in 1982. The university's colors are black and old gold and their nickname is the Hornets.

The Bama State Collegians

The Bama State Collegians is a big band jazz orchestra sponsored by Alabama State University. In the 1930s, the ensemble was directed by noted jazz trumpeter, Erskine Hawkins, an inductee of both the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. After moving to New York City, the Collegians, directed by Hawkins, became the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra and produced a string of national hit records, including "Tuxedo Junction", "After Hours", "Tippin' In" and others. The song "Tuxedo Junction", with its recordings by Hawkins and by the Glenn Miller Orchestra, became one of the anthems of World War II in America.

Notable people

Notable faculty

Notable alumni

Additional reading

• Bond, Horace Mann (1939 Reprint 1969). Negro Education in Alabama A Study in Cotton and Steel. New York: Octagon Books. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Caver, Joseph (1982). A Twenty-Year History of Alabama State University, 1867–1887." Master's thesis. Alabama State University.
• Knight v. Alabama, 933 F.2D. 1991. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• United States v. Alabama, 828 F.2D 1532. 11th Cir. 1987. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Watkins, Levi (1987). Fighting Hard: The Alabama State University Experience. Detroit, Mich.: Harlo Press.
• Westhauser, Karl E. (2005). Creating Community: Life and Learning at Montgomery's Black University. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

References

1. "Alabama State University". The Encyclopedia of Alabama. July 28, 2008.
2. "Weatherly v. Alabama State University, ___F.3d ___ (2013)" (PDF). Retrieved October 7, 2013.
3. Evan Belanger (October 15, 2013). "Alabama State University pushes ahead with presidential search, despite request from governor to halt (updated)". AL.com. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
4. "Academic Offerings". Alabama State University. Retrieved October 21, 2009.
5. "Alabama State Legislature: Alabama House of Representatives- Alvin Holmes". Alabama State Legislature. Retrieved July 18, 2009.
6. "Bio of Stewart, Tonea". AEI Speakers Bureau. Retrieved July 18, 2009.
7. "WC Patton". bhamwiki.com. Birmindham Misplaced Pages. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
8. Wilkerson, Isabel (December 3, 1987). "MAN IN THE NEWS; A Calm Voice For Chicago: Eugene Sawyer Jr". New York Times. Retrieved December 3, 1987. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
9. "Alabama State graduate lands on Broadway". newyorktheatreguide.com. Archived from the original on December 21, 2010. Retrieved January 21, 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
10. https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3851
11. Adversity.net
12. "Tarvaris Jackson". www.nfl.com. NFL.com. Archived from the original on March 15, 2007. Retrieved April 16, 2007. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
13. "Woody McCorvey". mstateathletics.com. Mississippi State University. Retrieved October 14, 2009.

External links

• Official website
• Official athletics website

32°21′50″N 86°17′42″W / 32.364°N 86.295°W / 32.364; -86.295

• Alabama State University
• American Association of State Colleges and Universities
• Universities and colleges in Montgomery, Alabama
• Educational institutions established in 1867
• Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
• African-American history of Alabama