Alabama State University

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.

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 (EdD), Clinical Doctorate in Physical Therapy (DPT), Doctorate in Microbiology (PhD)).

Alabama State is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, the National Association of Schools of Music, the National Association of Directors of Teacher Education and Certification, the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy, the Commission of Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs, Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM, the National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST) and the Council of Social Work Education.

Campus
ASU's urban, 172-acre (0.70 km2) campus has Georgian-style red-brick classroom buildings and architecturally contemporary structures.[1][3] 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. The campus of Alabama State is ranked 32nd among colleges and universities in the state of Alabama.

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.

The Golden Ambassadors
The Golden Ambassadors are a select group of outstanding students who are the official greeting body for Alabama State University.

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.

Marching Hornets
The Marching Hornets have gained national recognition as a result of their participation in the halftime shows on NBC's national televised professional football games between the NY Jets vs. KC Chiefs on December 10, 1967, and CBS's nationally televised professional football game between the New Orleans Saints vs. the Green Bay Packers in 1969, the Atlanta Falcons and the New Orleans Saints in October 1976 and 1977; and the pre-game and halftime for the Cincinnati Bengal vs. Houston Oilers at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, 1976. The band was twice televised on the Blue-Gray Football Classic, Montgomery, AL, in December 1976 and 1977.

In 1980, The Marching Hornets put together a halftime show saluting the late, great Joe Louis. In 1985, the Marching Hornets were invited to perform at the second annual Freedom Bowl classic in Fulton Stadium, Atlanta, GA, representing the SWAC Conference. They also performed for the Atlanta Falcon vs. Chicago Bears in 1986, were they presented a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and were the Exhibition Band for the South Central Marching Band Classic in Homewood, AL., November 1, 1986. The Marching Hornets also performed at other classics and games such as the 1991 Bronze Classic in Atlanta, the 1991 Motor City Classic in Pontiac Michigan, the 1991 Alma Heritage Bowl in Miami, the 1992 Circle City Classic of Indianapolis, the 2000 Battle of the Bands in Mobile, AL, the 2003 and 2004 Detroit Football Classic, and the 2006 Battle of the Bands in Atlanta, Ga. The band appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2007.

Stingettes
The Stingettes is the name of Alabama State University's dance line. Their name is derived from the stinger of the Hornet mascot. They made their debut in 1977.

The Honey Bees
The Honey Bees are a dance team that dance during the football halftime performances in many ways.

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.