Albany State University

Albany State University
Albany State University Seal
Motto	A Past To Cherish, A Future To Fulfill Potential. Realized.
Established	1903
Type	Public, HBCU[1]
Endowment	$1.5 million[2]
President	Dr. Arthur Dunning (interim)
Students	4,176[3]
Undergraduates	3,714[3]
Postgraduates	424[3]
Location	United States
Campus	Urban, 231-acre (934,823.8 m2)
Colors	Royal Blue and Old Gold
Athletics	NCAA Division II
Nickname	Golden Rams
Affiliations	SIAC
Website	www.asurams.edu

History

Establishment

Joseph Winthrop Holley, born in 1874 to former slaves in Winnsboro, South Carolina, founded the institution in 1903 as the Albany Bible and Manual Training Institute. Two educators, Reverend Samuel Loom-is and his wife, sent Holley to Brainerd Institute and then Revere Lay College (Massachusetts). While attending Revere Lay, Holley got to know one of the school's trustees, New England businessman Rowland Hazard. After taking a liking to Holley, Hazard arranged for him to continue his education at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. Holley aspired to become a minister and prepared by completing his education at Pennsylvania's Lincoln University.

References

• Albany State University official website
• Albany State University official athletics website
• University System of Georgia Albany State University Profile

External links

• Brown, Titus. Albany State University : a centennial history, 1903–2003. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub.  

Suggested reading

Name Class year Notability References James Blaylock member of the Georgia Department of Veterans Service [11] Alice Coachman 1949 first African-American woman to win an Olympic gold medal and the only American woman to win a gold medal in the 1948 [12] Walter Curry former professional football player Gregory Daniels 1974 First African American VP of Nissan North America [13] Kenneth Gant former professional football player [14] Jonnie Mae Gibson Fifth African American Woman in FBI [15][16] Big James Henderson 1984–1986 former powerlifter who competed in the International Powerlifting Federation and won five world bench press titles. Offensive Lineman for the 1985 SIAC Conference Championship football team. [17] Art Green former CFL and NFL player [18] James Holmes 1968 First African American Director of the US Census Bureau [19] Caldwell Jones former professional basketball player [20] Charles Jones former professional basketball player [21] Major Jones former professional basketball player [22] Wil Jones former professional basketball player [22] Dan Land former professional football player [14] Jo Marie Payton actress [23] Bernice Johnson Reagon singer, composer, scholar, and social activist; Professor Emeritus of History at American University in Washington, DC; Curator Emeritus at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History in Washington, DC; 2002–04 Cosby Chair Professor of Fine Arts at Spelman College in Atlanta Georgia [24] Shirley Sherrod 1970 Civil rights advocate, former Georgia State Director of Rural Development for the United States Department of Agriculture [25] Albert Sloan Twelfth President of Miles College [26] Phelan Thomas first African American cosmetic dentist certified as a Diplomate of the American Board of Aesthetic Dentistry by the American Society for Dental Aesthetics [27][28] Rick Ross attended Rapper Mike White former professional football player and current head football coach at Albany State University

This is a list of notable alumni which includes graduates, non-graduate former students, and current students of Albany State University. It also reflects those alumni who attended and/or graduated from the institution under its prior historical names.

Notable alumni

Albany State sponsored men and women's swimming and diving teams in past years and were named National Black College Swimming and Diving Champions in 1979 and 1980.

Swimming

Football

Albany State University holds membership in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II (as a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) and participates in the following sports: football, basketball, baseball, cheerleading, volleyball, cross-country and track and field.

Athletics

Albany State's Marching Band participated in the 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 Honda Battle of the Bands (HBOB).

Marching band

Music organizations

Fraternities and sororities

There are over 59 clubs and organizations including bands, choirs, religious groups, honor societies, several major Greek and honor sororities and fraternities, and ROTC.

Student organizations

Student life

Albany State offers more than 30 undergraduate degree programs and six advanced degrees. The university also offers the Board of Regents' engineering transfer program and the dual degree program in engineering with

^[10]The Graduate school degree programs include: Business Administration, Criminal Justice, Early Childhood Education, Educational Leadership(M.Ed&Ed.S), English Education, Health and Physical Education, Mathematics Education, Middle Grades Education, Music Education, Nursing, Public Administration, School Counseling, Science Education, and Special Education.

Schools and colleges

[8] Today the Albany State University student body consists of both traditional and

According to U.S. News & World Report, ASU is number 32 out of 36 ranked in the magazine’s ranking of undergraduate education at HBCUs. It is ranked as a 2nd tier school on the Regional Universities (South) list.^[7]

Albany State University logo

Academics and demographics

President's Office

Campus

In July 1996 the university system's Board of Regents approved a name change, and the school officially became Albany State University. Today Albany State University continues to provide a wide range of educational opportunities to the residents of southwest Georgia. The school participates in an engineering transfer program and a dual degree program with the Georgia Institute of Technology, one of the top engineering schools in the nation. Then President, Portia Shields created the Holley Institute summer program, which consists of an intense four weeks of study to help high school students improve low SAT scores and gain admission to college. The program has a near 100 percent success rate and has received praise from the state Board of Regents. Albany State also has the third highest student retention rate in the university system. A new stadium was opened in 2004, and new housing units opened in 2006.^[6]

Albany State University

In 1932, the school became part of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) came together to create the Albany Movement. The movement brought prominent civil rights leaders to the town including Martin Luther King Jr. The movement resulted in the arrests of more than 1,000 black protestors. Among the very first to be arrested were students from Albany State. On November 22, 1961, Blanton Hall and Bertha Gober entered the white waiting room of the Albany bus station to buy tickets home for the Thanksgiving holiday. Refusing to leave after being ordered to do so, police arrested them both. Albany State president William Dennis, fearful of losing his position, immediately suspended and eventually expelled the students. This action engendered a great deal of animosity from the black community and the student body. Gober would continue in the civil rights movement as one of the SNCC's Freedom Singers and write the group's anthem. Bernice Johnson Reagon, another Albany State student who left school to work with the SNCC, would later form the well-known a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock. On December 10, 2011, thirty two of the students who were expelled were granted honorary degrees. The school awarded thirty one honorary baccalaureate degrees and one honorary doctorate – that to Bernice Johnson Reagon. A noted cultural historian, Reagon was also the commencement speaker.^[5]

[4]