Norfolk State University

Norfolk State University (NSU) is a four-year, state-supported, 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.

Academics
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 Optical Engineering, Computer Science, and Criminal Justice. The school also offers 36 undergraduate degrees, with a new degree being offered in Optical Engineering.

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


 * School of Business
 * Accounting, Finance Information Management
 * Tourism and Hospitality
 * Management, Marketing, Entrepreneurship
 * The Ernest M. Hodge Center for Entrepreneurship


 * School of Education
 * Secondary Education & School Leadership Development
 * Special Education
 * Early Childhood/Elementary Education
 * Center for Professional Development
 * Health, Physical Education & Exercise Science


 * College of Liberal Arts
 * Military Science (Army ROTC)
 * English and Foreign Languages
 * Music
 * Fine Arts
 * Political Science
 * History
 * Psychology
 * Interdisciplinary Studies
 * Mass Communications & Journalism
 * Sociology


 * College of Engineering, Science & Technology
 * Allied Health
 * Mathematics
 * Biology
 * Nursing
 * Chemistry
 * Physics
 * Computer Science
 * Technology
 * Engineering
 * DNIMAS
 * CMR (Center for Materials Research)
 * Navy ROTC
 * Center for Biotechnology and Biomedical Sciences
 * STARS (Science & Technology Academicians on the Road to Success)


 * School of Social Work
 * Continuing Education Program
 * Child Welfare Education & Support Program


 * School of Extended Learning
 * Honors College
 * Graduate School

History
The institution was founded in 1935 as the Norfolk Unit of Virginia Union University (VUU). 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.

The City of Norfolk provided a permanent site for the college on Corprew Avenue, and in 1955 Brown Hall, formerly Tidewater Hall, opened as the first permanent building on the new campus. In 1956 Norfolk State College granted its first bachelor's degrees.

In 1969, the college divided from Virginia State College and was named Norfolk State College. The College was issued accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools the same year with an enrollment of 5,400 students. In 1975 and the year following, the first Master’s degrees were awarded in Communications and Social Work, respectively. Dr. Harrison Benjamin Wilson, Jr., in 1975, succeeded Dr. Lyman Beecher Brooks as President after 37 years.

When the college was granted university status in 1979 by the General Assembly of Virginia, it changed its name to Norfolk State University.

Norfolk State University celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1985 with a year of observances and with an enrollment of 7,200. In 1995 Norfolk State University's enrollment reached 9,112.

Upon the retirement of Dr. Harrison Benjamin Wilson in 1997, Dr. Marie Valentine McDemmond, became NSU’s third President in 1997 and served until her retirement. Dr. Carolyn Winstead Meyers was selected as the fourth President and began service on July 1, 2006. Dr. Tony Atwater was announced as the new president in 2011.

Campus
Located on the former site of the 50 acre Memorial Park Golf Course, which the city of Norfolk sold to the school for one dollar, the campus now encompasses 134 acre of land and 31 buildings at 36.84972°N, -76.26278°W (36.8495922, -76.2627174) The Joseph G. Echols Memorial Hall is a large health, physical education, and ROTC complex with a seating capacity of 7,500. Other facilities include a 30,000-seat football stadium; a television studio and radio station, an African art museum, and a multi-purpose performing arts center. Research facilities include a life sciences building with a planetarium and a materials research wing with crystal growth, organic synthesis, laser spectroscopy, and magnetic resonance equipment.

In September 2009, the New Student Center facility opened. The three story building, which includes a game room, a dining area, a new bookstore, a wellness center (work-out facility), student lounges, and administrative offices, marks the first of two major projects for NSU.

Construction on a New Nursing and General Classroom Building is underway and scheduled to open in 2014,. Other recent construction on the campus includes the new police station (2007), the Marie V. McDemmond Center for Applied Research (2006), and the Spartan Suites Apartments (2005), and state-of-the-art Library (2012).

Student activities
The university offers organized and informal co-curricular activities including 63 student organizations, leadership workshops, intramural activities, student publications and student internships.

Marching band
The Marching Spartan Legion Band performs at campus events and during Norfolk State football games. They were featured performers in the Honda Battle of the Bands in 2007 and 2008.

National fraternities and sororities
All nine of the National Pan-Hellenic Council organizations currently have chapters at Norfolk State University. These organizations are:

The Council of Independent Organizations includes:

Newspaper
The Spartan Echo is the official student-produced newspaper of Norfolk State University. The paper is available in a print (available twice a month) and (updated daily). The online edition was awarded Best Online Site and Best Online Video by the Black College Communication Association in 2009.

WNSB (College Radio Station)
Norfolk State operates WNSB(FM) radio, which broadcasts in stereo 24 hours a day from the campus and covers all of the Hampton Roads, Virginia area, reaching the Eastern Shore of Virginia, northeast North Carolina and the Richmond, Virginia suburbs. Established on February 22, 1980 and known as "Hot 91.1", WNSB's programming is also broadcast via the internet. 

Athletics
Norfolk State sports teams participate in NCAA Division I (Football Championship Subdivision for all sports including football) in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). Norfolk State was formerly a member of the Eastern Intercollegiate Conference (1953–1960) and the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (1962–1996).

The 2011–12 Norfolk State Spartans men's basketball team won the 2012 MEAC Men's Basketball Tournament championship which gave them the conference's automatic bid in the 2012 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, the school's first ever appearance in the tournament. The Spartans, a 15 seed, defeated the #2 seeded Missouri Tigers in the second round, 86-84. This victory was only the fifth time in NCAA Tournament history that a 15 seed defeated a 2 seed, with the last coming in 2001.

Notable faculty and staff
This list of notable faculty and staff contains current and former faculty, staff and presidents of the Norfolk State University.

Notable alumni
This is a partial list of notable alumni which includes graduates, non-graduate former students, and current students of Norfolk State University or predecessors such as Norfolk State College.