University of Arkansas history

Classes began on January 22, 1872, with seven boys and one girl in attendance.

The first building on the campus is “Old Main," built in 1875.

In 1879, the university accepted responsibility for academic management and operation of a privately established nonprofit medical campus in Little Rock.

Although students probably began competing in intramural contests early in the university’s history, the first intercollegiate games in football, tennis, baseball, and track and field, didn’t occur until about 1894.

A college of agriculture was created in 1905.

The Monticello campus was created in 1909 as an agricultural school, with instruction beginning the next year.

In nationwide competition among Pi Beta Phi members in 1913, Mary Droke of the University of Arkansas was awarded the Pi Phi Fellowship, a scholarly award that provided her one year of attendance at the University of Paris.

The Walton College traces its roots to 1926 when Harvard graduate Charles Fichtner helped form the University of Arkansas School of Business Administration and became its first dean.

The college separated from the university in 1927 and was renamed Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical & Normal (AM&N) College.

J. William Fulbright, United States senator and statesman, graduated from the Fayetteville campus and later taught at the law school there and served as its president (1939–41). United States President William J. Clinton also taught at the university’s law school.

Scott won the silver medal in the 110-yard hurdles at the 1948 London Olympics.

Building on that experience, in 1951 the University of Arkansas became the first land-grant institution in the nation to assemble an agricultural foreign mission, one to the nation of Panama.

In 1959, the UA Board of Trustees created the Division of Agriculture as a separate administrative entity charged to coordinate an integrated agriculture program.

Arkansas won its first national championship in 1964, when the football team went undefeated under coach Frank Broyles.

In 1969, Little Rock University joined the UA System, becoming the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the state’s leading metropolitan campus.

In 1971, Arkansas A&M College joined the system and became the University of Arkansas at Monticello.

This campus merged into the system in 1911, and is now known as the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. It rejoined the UA System in 1972 when it became the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, the state’s oldest and largest historically black college.

Twenty years later, in 1984, the men’s cross country team won the university’s next national championship under coach John McDonnell.

The team wasted no time waiting for another title, winning the indoor and outdoor track and field championships in the spring of 1985 to also become the first team in the nation to win the Triple Crown of track and field.

Instead, the campus and supporters from across the state raised money to renovate the building, and it reopened in 1991 for another century of service.

Also in 1996, Red River Technical College in Hope joined the system and was renamed the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope.

That watershed moment in 1998, however, has proven to be a fitting tribute to our past, a solid foundation for our present, and a significant springboard toward our future.

In April 1999, the University of Arkansas unveiled a set of institutional historical markers designed to commemorate significant research and intellectual achievements, notable leaders, outstanding alumni, historic events, sites and campus lore.

Just since 2000, we've added, renovated or expanded more than 25 buildings, each designed with a strong sense of our historic fabric but also a nod to the future.

In 2001, Petit Jean College joined the system and was renamed the University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton.

In 2002, Westark Community College joined the system and was renamed the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, beginning its transition from a two-year to a four-year institution.

• In 2003, the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation gave $300 million to the university, the largest single gift to an American institution of higher education at the time.

While serving in the House of Representatives, he was instrumental in securing federal funding for the agriculturally oriented Arkansas World Trade Center, which was established in 2007 in his hometown of Rogers.

A side benefit: The Arkansas Alumni Association established its first international alumni chapter in Panama in 2010.

In 2011, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching added the University of Arkansas to its top level of research institutions, putting it among the top 2 percent based on the number of doctoral degrees granted, the annual research expenditures and our scholarly productivity.

The university's first international alumni chapter was established in Panama in 2012.

In 2014 Boozman underwent emergency heart surgery but returned to the Senate later that year.