Norfolk State University

Norfolk State University

Former names	Norfolk State Unit of Virginia    Union University Norfolk Polytechnic College Virginia State College Norfolk State College
Motto	"Achieving With Excellence"
Type	Public, HBCU
Established	1935 (1935)
Academic affiliation	VHTP U.S. Census Bureau Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund
Endowment	$23 million
President	Eddie N. Moore, Jr.
Provost	Sandra J. DeLoatch
Academic staff	285
Undergraduates	6,200
Postgraduates	835
Location	Norfolk, Virginia, U.S. 36°50′55″N 76°15′45″W / 36.8487°N 76.2625°W / 36.8487; -76.2625Coordinates: 36°50′55″N 76°15′45″W / 36.8487°N 76.2625°W / 36.8487; -76.2625
Campus	Urban, 134 acres (0.5 km2)
Colors	Green and Gold
Athletics	NCAA Division I – MEAC
Nickname	Spartans
Affiliations	TMCF ORAU
Website	www.nsu.edu

Norfolk State University (NSU) is a public four-year, coed, liberal arts, historically black university located in Norfolk, Virginia. The university is a member-school of Thurgood Marshall College Fund and the Virginia High-Tech Partnership.

The Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools has accredited Norfolk State to award associate, baccalaureate, master and doctoral degrees. Currently, Norfolk State offers two doctorate and 15 master's degrees, including master's degree programs in Electronic Engineering, Computer Science, and Criminal Justice. The school also offers 36 undergraduate degrees, including the only bachelor's degree in Optical Engineering in Virginia.

Norfolk State's undergraduate and graduate programs are divided into eight schools/colleges.

The institution was founded on September 18, 1935 as the Norfolk Unit of Virginia Union University. Eighty-five students attended the first classes held in 1935. Mr. Samuel Fischer Scott, an alumnus of Virginia Union and Portsmouth native, served as the first director with the primary focus of maintaining the solvency of the school. Dr. Lyman Beecher Brooks, a Virginia Union alumnus, succeeded Mr. Scott as director in 1938, and served as provost, 1963–1969, and the first president 1969–1975.

In 1942, the school became independent of VUU and was named Norfolk Polytechnic College. Within two years, by an act of the Virginia Legislature, it became a part of Virginia State College (now Virginia State University). By 1950, the 15th anniversary of the college founding, the faculty had grown to fifty and the student enrollment to 1,018. In 1952, the college's athletic teams adopted the "Spartan" name and identity.