Henderson State University

Henderson State University

Former name	Arkadelphia Methodist College
Motto	The School With A Heart
Type	Public
Established	1890
President	Glendell Jones Jr.
Provost	Steven Adkison
Administrative staff	186
Undergraduates	3,584
Postgraduates	397
Location	Arkadelphia, Arkansas, U.S.
Campus	Urban151 acres (0.61 km2)
Colors	Red and Gray
Mascot	Reddies
Affiliations	Great American Conference
Website	www.hsu.edu

Henderson State University (HSU), founded in 1890 as Arkadelphia Methodist College, is a public four-year liberal arts university located in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, United States. It is Arkansas's only member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. Henderson's curricula based on the belief that a liberal arts education is essential for all undergraduates; Henderson utilizes a program based on a core of courses in the arts and sciences. The school owns and operates radio station KSWH-FM, as well as the local Public-access television cable TV channel, HTV on Suddenlink's channel 9.

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 businessman, 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 2012 was 3,773.