Arizona State University was founded in 1885'27 years before statehood'as the Arizona Territorial Normal School. A modest school building was erected on donated pastureland outside Phoenix and was initially dedicated to training public school teachers. The school rapidly evolved through multiple name changes and grew to four campuses and from 33 to over 70,000 students. Currently, ASU is the largest public educational institution in the United States and is also an internationally recogniz...

A mix of cultures unique to any space in North America funneled into the Albuquerque, New Mexico, area after Spanish invaders stumbled in through the south in 1506. For centuries, indigenous Americans had established ways of knowing and transmitting learning to their young, but colliding old and new cultures left the area�s learning communities irrevocably changed. Subsequently, other native tribes and more European, South American, and Asian cultures proudly ported their perceived best pr...

In 1979, a small art college with 71 students opened its doors in a renovated 19th-century building in the urban heart of colonial Savannah, Georgia. One of the most historic cities on the eastern seaboard, Savannah is noted for its architectural treasures, urban forest and verdant squares, and for the unique 1733 city plan designed by General Oglethorpe. The campus fabric of the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) grew from the Romanesque revival Savannah Volunteer Guards Armory, de...

At a time in American history when football ruled the American campus and fraternities dominated student life, Frank Aydelotte, through his determination to specialize exclusively in initiating an Honors program of study, accomplished a feat virtually unknown in American higher education. That is, he succeeded in shaping one regional, run of the mill, Quaker school - Swarthmore College - into an intellectually-charged, academically-focused institution able to command national respectabilit...

130 years after its opening, the once small agricultural college has become Virginia's largest university- Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.When Charles Minor opened the doors of his new land-grant institution in late 1872, there were only 29 students, 3 faculty members, and a single building in the town of Blacksburg, Virginia. From the humble beginning of donated livestock, seeds, machinery, and books, the university now known as Virginia Tech ...

In 1837, the people of Guyandotte, then a village on the Virginia frontier, resolved to open a school for their sons and daughters. Tradition says local lawyer John Laidley convinced his neighbors to name the school for his friend, Chief Justice John Marshall. The one-room log cabin that housed those first students soon gave way to a two-story brick building that, with various additions over the years, became the school's Old Main. For decades, the cherished landmark has stood like a proud...

Hampton University is situated on an arm of Hampton Roads, two miles from Fort Monroe. Founded under the leadership of Brig. Gen. Samuel Armstrong in 1868 and incorporated in 1870 as Hampton Normal & Agricultural Institute, it was the first permanent school for freedmen in the South. Industrial and normal education through self-help was the fundamental principle of the school; trades and industries were taught and practiced. Among the university's noteworthy alumni are Dr. Booker T. Washin...

Stetson University was founded in 1883 in historic DeLand, Florida, and has been educating students for over a century. The passionate vision of the town's early promoter Henry Addison DeLand contributed in a large way to the success of the university. DeLand, a New Yorker with a dream, wanted his newly adopted town to be distinctive in rural Central Florida. Since the state had no four-year college, his foresight brought to fruition the excellent educational facility we have today.

Surrounded by live oaks and azaleas, McNeese State University has served Southwest Louisiana for over sixty years. Founded in 1939 by area businessmen and cattlemen, the university has grown and thrived side by side with the city of Lake Charles. Alumni, faculty, staff, and students alike take pride in the heritage of their evolving university, and the city embraces the school as a treasured landmark of the community. McNeese State University began as Lake Charles Junior College, a divisio...

Begun 5 years rior t the start of the Civil Way, from a "cow college" to an internationally recognized academic, artistic, and athletic powerhouse in the 21st century, this is the story of the University of Maryland. Only 5 years before the start of the Civil War, the State of Maryland granted a charter for the creation of Maryland Agricultural College in 1856 and opened its doors to 34 eager young men in 1859. The college survived a disastrous fire in 1912, becoming the University of Mary...

Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2010, California State University Dominguez Hills has been a dynamic urban university tasked with educating students who often become the first in their families to attend college. CSU Dominguez Hills is located in Carson, Los Angeles County, and boasts one of the most ethnically diverse enrollments in the United States. Chartered in 1960 as a liberal arts college serving baby boomers in Los Angeles's South Bay region, CSU Dominguez Hills has grown into ...

In the foothills of South Carolina lies the beautiful, historic college known as Converse. It was founded near the end of the Victorian Age by several of Spartanburg's leading professionals who believed that "the well-being of any country depends much upon the culture of her women." Their vision of providing higher education to women has now been carried into a second century and has allowed Converse to touch the lives of thousands of people. Converse College is a pictorial tribute that ho...