Southern Arkansas University

Overstreet Hall, the administrative building

Southern Arkansas University was established by an Act of the Arkansas Legislature in 1909 as a district agricultural high school for southwest Arkansas and was originally named Third District Agricultural School, often called by students and faculty "TDAS."[3] Its first term began in January 1911, with its curriculum including only subjects at the secondary school level.[4] In 1925, the State Legislature authorized the school to add two years of college work and to change its name to Agricultural and Mechanical College, Third District (Magnolia A&M).[5] The school continued to offer both high school and junior college courses until 1937, at which time the high school courses were discontinued.[6]

In the fall of 1949, the Board of Trustees, exercising authority vested in it by the State Legislature, decided to develop the college as a four-year, degree-granting institution. The Board authorized the addition of third-year college level courses to being with the fall semester of 1950.[7] Fourth-year courses were added in the fall semester of 1951.[8] By Act Eleven (January 24, 1951), the State Legislature changed the name of the institution to Southern State College.[9]

Like Arkansas' other six state-supported colleges, Southern State College did not allow non-white students to enroll as undergraduates until after 1954's Brown v. Board of Education. Most began to admit African American students—though in tiny numbers and only for Saturday or night classes—in the fall of 1955. SSC's first Black student was Wilmar B. Moss, who "was admitted but only when he refused to accept an initial rebuff," according to an official history of the school. "At SSC from 1956 to 1963 an occasional black student enrolled in a Saturday or summer class, but there is no history of a black undergraduate attending regular classes during fall or spring semesters in those eight years".[10]

More change came after Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. On May 29, SSC’s board of trustees concluded, “Nothing was to be gained by refusing admittance to qualified Negroes.” About ten Black undergraduates were allowed to enroll that fall. In 1966, Black students were finally allowed to live in school dormitories. The first Black graduate received her diplomat in 1967, and the first Black faculty member began teaching in 1974.[11]

In 1975, the institution was approved and accredited to offer a Master of Education Degree in some areas.[12] The Board of Trustees approved another name change, to Southern Arkansas University by the Board of Higher Education on July 9, 1976, in accordance with Act 343 of the General Assembly of 1975.[13]

Also in 1975, Southwest Technical Institute in Camden, Arkansas, joined the SAU system as Southern Arkansas University Tech.[14]

Southern Arkansas University offers 70 undergraduate options, including pre-professional tracks, and 2+2 degree completion programs in four different academic colleges:[15]

• David F. Rankin College of Business
• College of Education and Human Performance
• Dempsey College of Liberal and Performing Arts
• College of Science and Engineering

Southern Arkansas University also offers 19 graduate programs, which are offered either face-to-face, online, or as a hybrid combination of the two.[16]

Muleriders football game

Southern Arkansas University is in the NCAA Division II as a member of the Great American Conference.[19]

The university's athletic nicknames are Muleriders and Lady Muleriders. The Muleriders take their name from the legend that the football team in the early 1900s had to ride mules from the college's agricultural department to catch the nearest train 6 miles (9.7 km) north of the college in order to reach out-of-town football games.[20]

The Muleriders football team won the Gulf South Conference Championship in 1997.[21]

In each of 1953 and 1954, the then Southern State College Mulerider tennis team went undefeated winning the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference in both singles and doubles and was invited by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics to represent their district in their National Tennis Championships in 1953.[22]

In 2006 and 2009, the Mulerider baseball team won the Gulf South Conference championship. In 2009 the Mulerider baseball team hosted the NCAA Division II South Regional for the first time in school history.[23]

In 2007, the Mulerider coed cheerleading squad competed at the NCA National Competition. In 2008, the cheerleading squad went back to nationals and took 5th in their division.[24]

• Jordan Babineaux – NFL football player for the Seattle Seahawks[27]
• Ken Beck – defensive tackle for the Green Bay Packers in 1959 and 1960 seasons; later, educator and coach in Cotton Valley, Louisiana[28]
• Bruce Bennett – Arkansas attorney general (1957–1960 and 1963–1966)[29]
• Kristi Bennett – Police Chief, Texarkana, Arkansas.
• Ken Brown – former NFL player[30]
• Joyce Elliott – Democratic member of the Arkansas Senate since 2009[31]
• Steve Forbes – Head basketball coach for the Wake Forest men's basketball team[32]
• Tanner Hudson – former NFL player. He transferred after his sophomore season[33]
• Dan Kyle – Louisiana politician[34]
• Tracy Lawrence – Award-winning country music performer[35]
• Nik Lewis – CFL All-Star football player for the Montréal Alouettes[36]
• Lynn Lowe – Republican state party chairman, 1974–1980; Republican gubernatorial nominee, 1978[37]
• Fred Perry – CFL All-Star football player for Edmonton Eskimos[38]
• Kenneth Pettway – former NFL player. He transferred after his sophomore season[39]
• Ron Simmons – Member of the Texas House of Representatives from Carrollton since 2013; reared in southern Arkansas, attended SAU, and transferred to Dallas Baptist University, from which he received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree[40]
• Frank Spooner – Louisiana businessman and politician; attended first two years of college at SAU in the 1950s[41]
• Harry Thomason – film & television producer/director of TV series: "Fall Guy","Designing Women"[42]
• Cedric Thornton – NFL football player for the Dallas Cowboys[43]
• Tommy Tuberville – United States Senator from Alabama; Former head football coach at University of Cincinnati, Texas Tech University, Auburn University, & Ole Miss[44]
• DeAnn Vaught – farmer in Sevier County and a Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives since 2015[45]
• Horace M. Wade – General in the United States Air Force[46]
• Dennis Woodberry – former NFL player[47]

• Robert Kibbee (died 1982), Chancellor of the City University of New York

• 
  Science building
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  The marching band
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  Business building
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  Engineering lab
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  Runner on the farm road
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  Bell tower and mall area

• Willis, James F. Southern Arkansas University: The Mulerider School's Centennial History, 1909-2009 (Magnolia: Southern Arkansas University Foundation, 2009) 447 pages.

• Official website
• Southern Arkansas Athletics website