Delta State University
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| Type | Public, Co-ed |
|---|---|
| Established | 1924 |
| President | William N. LaForge |
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Academic staff
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122 |
| Students | 3,324 (Spring 2015) |
| Location |
Cleveland, Mississippi, U.S. 33°44′31″N 90°43′36″W / 33.742027°N 90.726548°WCoordinates: 33°44′31″N 90°43′36″W / 33.742027°N 90.726548°W |
| Campus | Rural 332 acres (1.34 km2) |
| Newspaper | The Delta Statement |
| Colors | Green and White |
| Athletics | NCAA Division II – Gulf South |
| Nickname | Statesmen & Lady Statesmen |
| Website | deltastate |
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Delta State University, also known as DSU, is a regional public university located in Cleveland, Mississippi, United States, in the heart of the Mississippi Delta. DSU is one of eight publicly funded universities in the state.
The school was established in 1924 as a white-only public institution by the State of Mississippi, using the facilities of the former Bolivar County Agricultural High School, which consisted of three buildings in Cleveland. On February 19, 1924, Senators William B. Roberts and Arthur Marshall cosponsored Senate Bill No. 236, which established Delta State Teachers College, which Mississippi Governor Henry L. Whitfield signed on April 9, 1924; the bill had been sponsored in the Mississippi House of Representatives by Nellie Nugent Somerville, the first woman to serve in the Mississippi state legislature. The three buildings were Hill Hall, an administration and classroom building, Hardee Hall, a men's dormitory, and Taylor Hall, a women's dormitory.
On February 14, 1924, James Wesley Broom was appointed president of the college, and the college opened its doors on September 15, 1925. In May 1926, Broom died following complications from an ear infection. William Zeigel was named his successor. The seal of the college was designed in 1928 as a project of an art class.
World War II greatly affected the college. Anticipating the war in 1941, the college created a civilian pilot training program. When the war began, 254 Delta State students joined the armed forces. When the war ended, student enrollment at Delta State increased from 185 to 483, aided by the federal program for veterans known as the GI Bill to encourage education.
During the 1947 session of the Delta Council, Dean Acheson (Under-Secretary of State in Truman's administration) delivered a speech on campus that unveiled the Marshall Plan. He detailed plans for postwar relief and investment in Europe to help the nations recover from destruction.
In 1955, the name Delta State Teachers College was changed to Delta State College. Delta State earned full accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 1963. It developed graduate programs, which it opened for admission in 1965. Given graduate program and research development, in 1974 the state legislature authorized the college to be named as the current Delta State University.
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