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Southern Arkansas University company history timeline

1909

1909 The Arkansas Legislature passed Act 100, authorizing the establishment of four district agricultural boarding schools, one in each quadrant of the state, giving rural children access to a high school education.

Magnolia is the home of Southern Arkansas University (founded as an agricultural school in 1909). To the north is Logoly State Park, and Lafayette Wildlife Management Area is about 25 miles (40 km) southwest.

1911

1911 Third District Agricultural School (TDAS) opened its doors a mile north of the city of Magnolia, in Columbia County, Arkansas.

1912

SAU’s agricultural roots are also evident in its unique symbol—Muleriders–adopted in 1912 when its football players rode mules, ubiquitous and essential to Southern agriculture, to practice and games.

1919

1919 The Muleriders had their first unbeaten football season.

1921

1921-45 Charles A. Overstreet served as the last principal of TDAS and the first president of Magnolia A&M.

1922

1922 The yearbook was renamed The Mulerider.

1923

1923 A student newspaper, the Bray, began.

1925

Old Main from 1925 Mule Rider (Click photo to enlarge)

1929

A & M Campus from 1929 Mule Rider (Click photo to enlarge)

1931

1931 College student enrollment exceeded that of high school students for first time.

1936

1936-37 The New Deal’s WPA constructed Cross Hall and Nelson Hall.

1937

1937 Sultan’s Magnolia Belle gained nationwide recognition for milk and butter fat production and was awarded a gold medal as national champion by the American Jersey Cattle Club.

1950

1950-59 Doctor Dolph Camp served as president.

1951

By Act 11 on January 24, 1951, the legislature confirmed this change in renaming the institution Southern State College (SSC). Enrollment grew from a few hundred students during the junior college years to well over two thousand during SSC’s twenty-five year history.

1951 Act 45 renamed A&M Southern State College (SSC), a four-year liberal arts college.

1951-52 Coach Elmer Smith’s Mulerider football teams won back-to-back Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference (AIC) championships.

1955

1955 The North Central Association awarded SSC accreditation.

1955-56 The first tentative steps were taken toward integration of the college with admission of the first black undergraduate.

1964

Full integration was achieved only after 1964.

1965

1965-83 Coach Margaret Downing’s women’s basketball teams won eight state and conference championships.

1966

1966-67 Coach W. T. Watson’s basketball teams won back-to-back AIC championships.

1970

1970 Fraternities were established for the first time.

1972

1972 Coach Rip Powell’s Mulerider football team won the AIC championship.

1975

The Arkansas legislature in Act 171 on February 14, 1975, created a three-campus SSC system by adding two junior college branches at El Dorado and Camden to the main campus at Magnolia.

1976

On July 9, 1976, SSC was renamed Southern Arkansas University.

1976-91 Doctor Harold T. Brinson served as president.

1980

1980 The first Murphy Lecture was delivered.

1980-03 Coach Steve Goodheart’s baseball teams won nineteen championships, the most in school history, and played three times in the NAIA World Series.

1985

1985 The first Amfuel Lecture was delivered.

1988

1988 Water Tower was first decorated as an illuminated holiday candle.

1991

The El Dorado branch became an independent institution in 1991.

1991 Brinson Art Building was completed.

1991 The Joe D. and Deane Reid Woodward Visiting Artist series was established.

1991 The Faculty Senate began.

1994

1994 The first Emerson-Thomas-Crone Lectureship was instituted with an address by Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

1997

1997 The Muleriders led by Coach Steve Roberts won their first Gulf South Championship in football.

2002

2002 Doctor David F. Rankin was selected as President.

2003

2003 The Welcome Center at the President’s former home was established for the Alumni Association and SAU Foundation.

2003 An Honors Program began.

2004

2004 The Doctor Kathleen Mallory Distinguished Lecture series began.

2005

2005 The Farmers Bank Lecture series began.

2006

2006 The Muleriders won their first Gulf South Championship in baseball.

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Founded
1909
Company founded
Headquarters
Magnolia, AR
Company headquarter
Founders
Brent Foster
Company founders
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Southern Arkansas University may also be known as or be related to SOUTHERN ARKANSAS UNIVERSITY, Southern Arkansas University and Southern Arkansas University, Magnolia.