Winston–Salem State University
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| Motto | Enter to Learn, Depart to Serve. |
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| Type | Public, HBCU |
| Established | 1892 |
| Endowment | $34 million |
| Chancellor | Elwood Robinson |
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Academic staff
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400 |
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Administrative staff
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800 |
| Students | 6,442 |
| Undergraduates | 5,975 |
| Postgraduates | 467 |
| Location | Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States |
| Campus | Urban |
| Colors | Red and White |
| Athletics | NCAA Division II - CIAA |
| Nickname | Rams |
| Website | www |
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Winston-Salem State University (WSSU), a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina, is a historically black public research university located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. It is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. WSSU is an accredited university offering baccalaureate and graduate programs to a diverse student population.
Dr. Simon Green Atkins distinguished himself in his home state of North Carolina as an advocate of teacher-training programs for African Americans. He founded a small school, Winston-Salem Teachers College, that he developed into Winston-Salem State University, a four-year institution, and oversaw its transition from private to state control. His abiding interest in teacher-training also led him to become a founder of the North Carolina Negro Teachers Association.
The oldest child of a brick layer and former slaves Allen and Eliza Atkins, Simon Green Atkins was born on June 11, 1863, in the village of Haywood, in Chatham County, North Carolina, between Sanford and Raleigh. His town flourished during the period just after the Revolutionary War, but by the late 19th century the railroad and the neighboring town of Moncure had overshadowed it. At one time the area was considered as a location for the state capital as well as the state university. As a child, Atkins worked on a farm with his grandparents.
Atkins studied in the town school under pioneer black educators who came from St. Augustine's Normal and Collegiate Institute (later St. Augustine's College in Raleigh). One of these was Anna Julia Cooper, later prominent for her work as an activist, scholar, feminist, and school administrator in Washington, D.C. This cadre of educators went out into remote communities to teach rural blacks. Atkins also taught at the town school for a while before his college years, and in 1880 he enrolled in St. Augustine's. He spent summers teaching in the rural schools of Chatham and Moore counties.
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