Bluefield University history

Following the war, growth under Doctor Wade reached even greater proportions, including some 468 veterans who enrolled in the fall of 1946.

Go-Go graduated from Bluefield State in 1951 and moved to California to raise her family.

Bluefield State remains an HBCU because of a quirk of federal law: To qualify as an HBCU and receive federal funding, an institution must have served a predominantly black student population before 1964.

In 1966, the state picked Wendell G. Hardway to lead the college — the school's first white president.

During halftime at homecoming in 1967, black students staged a demonstration on the football field to protest what they saw as Hardway's discrimination against black faculty and students.

By 1968, according to the book Bluefield State College Centennial History, Hardway had hired 23 new faculty members — all of whom were white.

Following a two–year self-study, BU began to offer baccalaureate degrees in 1975, accredited by the Southern Association.

Just two weeks after Doctor MacMillan’s formal inauguration in November of 1997, he announced “one of the boldest moves in the 75-year history of Bluefield College.” Doctor MacMillan announced a 23 percent reduction in tuition.

Tuition at the college dropped from $8,770 to $6,700, beginning with the fall 1998 semester.

Conley Hall, home of the library and administrative offices of Bluefield State College, photographed in April 2004.

Doctor Olive, a onetime attorney and pastor, began his presidency with BU on July 1, 2007.

In 2019-20, 99% of Bluefield students received some form of student financial aid.