Henderson State University

History

Henderson State University, was founded on March 23, 1890 as Arkadelphia Methodist College by Rev. John McLaughlin. John Mclaughlin was a veteran of the Confederate States Army. After the Civil War, Rev. McLaughlin and his family settled in Arkadelphia and founded the Arkadelphia Methodist College in 1890. http://arkansasgravestones.org/view.php?id=54110 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.

Administration

Glendell Jones Jr. was named Henderson State University’s 17th president on Tuesday, March 6, 2012 and officially assumed presidential duties on July 1, 2012.

Campus

Henderson State University has an urban campus. Some of the buildings include the Donald W. Reynolds Science Center, Arkansas Hall, McBrien Hall, Mooney Hall, Womack Hall, the Garrison Activity and Conference Center, and Sturgis Hall. Sturgis Hall is a three story building that provides classrooms, laboratories, offices, and student housing for the Honors College. McBrien Hall provides classrooms, offices, labs, and conference rooms for the English, social sciences, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and foreign languages programs. It also holds the administrative offices for Ellis College of Arts and Sciences. The Huie Library serves as the university's library. The library is named after the university's first full-time librarian, Minnie Bell Huie (1934). The library holds over 300,000 books, 100 databases, and 60 student computers.

Ellis College of Arts and Sciences

Ellis College is named after Henderson's tenth president and distinguished graduate, Matt Locke Ellis. It was created in 1989 through a reorganization of the existing Fine Arts, Liberal Arts, and Natural Sciences schools.

School of Business

Allows students to major and earn degrees in Accounting or Business administration. The School of Business offers the only university level aviation program in the state of [Arkansas]. The degree programs are accredited by AACSB International, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. The aviation program acts under the direction and rules of Federal Aviation Administration and is in the process of obtaining their own collegiate accreditation.

Teachers College, Henderson

The mission of Teachers College, Henderson, is to prepare reflective teachers, school leaders, counselors, and other professionals through quality instruction, service, and research to demonstrate high expectations for individual self-realization. Teachers College, Henderson, offers a comprehensive selection of undergraduate and graduate degrees including the Educational Specialist (EdS) degree and several certifications offered completely online.

Honors College

The Honors college is headed by Dr. David Thomson. Honors students participate in different activities on campus and Arkadelphia community events as well.

Graduate School

Henderson Graduate School offers 11 master's degrees, including the MLA, MBA and MAT; 1 Educational Specialist degree; and 4 certification programs.

Athletics

Henderson State University is an NCAA Division II school and competes in the Great American Conference. The schools sports teams in Baseball, Basketball (Men and Women), Cross Country (Women), Football, Golf (Men and Women), Softball, Swimming (Men and Women), Tennis, and Volleyball.

Battle of the Ravine

The Battle of the Ravine is a rivalry game between Henderson State University and Ouachita Baptist University. It is currently the oldest rivalry of any NCAA Division II institutions. The first game was played on November 8, 1895 (Thanksgiving Day) and Ouachita College beat Arkadelphia Methodist College, 8–0. The next meeting did not occur until 1907 in the first sanctioned game of the series. The Reddies defeated Ouachita and went on to claim the Arkansas State Championship.

The Reddies went on to win the next six meetings and the game was played on Thanksgiving Day. Both teams also made the game their homecoming. The series was discontinued in 1951 after Henderson won, 54–0, and the pranks got out of control. The series resumed in 1963 with the Reddies, winning 28–13. The series continued until 1993 when Henderson State moved to the NCAA Division II Gulf South Conference. It continued again in 1996 when Ouachita Baptist University moved to the Lone Star Conference. OBU joined the GSC in 2000 and the two schools did not play each other in 2004 or 2005 as a result of schedule rotation. In total, the two schools have met 85 times. Henderson State currently leads the series, 41–39–6.

Showband of Arkansas

Considered one of the finest college marching bands in the country, the "Showband of Arkansas" consists of 150 winds, percussion, and auxiliary members. The mission of the "Showband of Arkansas" is to represent, foster and promote the "Reddie Spirit" through musical and visual performance. Composed of students from all academic disciplines, the "Showband of Arkansas" frequently performs as the feature band at high school marching contests, enjoys travel to exciting away-games and regularly thrills thousands of Reddie spectators at home football games. It is open to any student by audition, regardless of major.

That Old Reddie Spirit

Upon its establishment in 1905, the Henderson State football team became known for wearing red jerseys. Absent a traditional nickname or mascot, the team was appropriately dubbed the "Reds." Eventually, the name shifted to "Reddies," and it stuck.

Notable alumni