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Tuskegee University Bio

Tuskegee University is an independent and state-related institution of higher education. Its programs serve a student body that is coeducational as well as racially, ethnically and religiously diverse. With a strong orientation toward disciplines which highlight the relationship between education and work force preparation in the sciences, professions and technical areas, Tuskegee University also emphasizes the importance of the liberal arts as a foundation for successful careers in all areas. Accordingly, all academic majors stress the mastery of a required core of liberal arts courses.

Tuskegee University is located in Tuskegee, Alabama, which is 40 miles east of the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery and is within easy driving distance to the cities of Birmingham, Alabama, and Atlanta, Georgia.

The academic programs are organized into five Colleges: (1) The College of Agricultural, Environmental and Natural Sciences; (2) The College of Business and Information Science; (3) The College of Engineering, Architecture, and Physical Sciences; (4) The College of Liberal Arts and Education; and (5) The College of Veterinary Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health. The curricula for the five colleges currently offer 49 degrees including 35 Bachelor’s, 12 Master’s, a Doctor of Philosophy in Materials Science and Engineering , Doctor of Philosophy in Integrative Biosciences, and the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine.

Graduate instruction leading to the Master’s degree and Doctor of Philosophy Degree is offered in three of the five colleges.

The University is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools; and the following programs are accredited by their respective professional bodies: Business, Education, Engineering, Clinical Laboratory Sciences, Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Social Work, and Veterinary Medicine. Of special note is the fact that Tuskegee University is the only independent, historically black university with four engineering programs that are nationally accredited by the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET), the major accrediting body for the engineering sciences. Also, Tuskegee University’s chemistry program is one of only a few among Historically Black Colleges and Universities that is approved by the American Chemical Society. Furthermore, the Dietetics Program is approved by the American Dietetic Association and the Food Science Program is approved by the Institute of Food Technologists.

Tuskegee University was the first black college to be designated as a Registered National Historic Landmark (April 2, 1966), and the only black college to be designated a National Historic Site (October 26, 1974), including units of the district that are administered by the National Park Service of the U. S. Department of Interior.

Special features in Tuskegee University’s program include: The General Daniel “Chappie” James Center for Aerospace Science and Health Education, honoring America’s first black four-star general who was a Tuskegee University graduate, and housing the nation’s only Aerospace Science Engineering program at an HBCU; Media Center, School of Veterinary Medicine, with the state-of-the-art video up-link and down-link, intra-school communications, audio/visual, graphics, photography and document production; The Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center, a state-of-the-art hotel and meeting facility for educational, business and cultural events; The Tuskegee University National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care, a distinctive research, teaching and outreach program that addresses issues of ethics and public policy in the treatment of people of color and rural Americans in health care.

Other special features which enhance the educational and cultural environment of the University include: The Booker T. Washington Monument, “Lifting the Veil,” which honors the University’s Founder; the George Washington Carver Museum (named for the distinguished scientist who worked at Tuskegee), which preserves the tools and handiwork of Dr. Carver; the Tuskegee Archives, a chief center for information on the challenges, culture and history of black Americans since 1896; The Tuskegee Airmen’s Plaza, commemorating the historic feats of America’s first black pilots, who were trained at Tuskegee University; The Reserve Officers Training Corps Center, and the Center for Continuing Educationa nucleus for continuing adult education.

Over the past 127 years since it was founded by Booker T. Washington in 1881, Tuskegee University has become one of our nation’s most outstanding institutions of higher learning. While it focuses on helping to develop human resources primarily within the African American community, it is open to all. Tuskegee’s mission has always been excellence in knowledge and service to people - not education for its own sake. Stressing the need to educate the whole person, that is, the hand and the heart as well as the mind, Dr. Washington’s school was soon acclaimed-first by Alabama and then by the nation for the soundness and vigor of its educational programs and principles. This solid strength has continued through subsequent administrations of the late Drs. Robert Russa Moton (1915-1935), Frederick D. Patterson (1935-1953) and Luther H. Foster (1953-1981). This vitality has been amplified and new luster added during the current administration of Dr. Benjamin Franklin Payton, who assumed responsibility as fifth president of the University on August 1, 1981. It is the current administration which redefined and upgraded Tuskegee from Institute to University status in 1985.

Tuskegee enrolls more than 3,000 students and employs approximately 900 faculty and support personnel. Physical facilities include more than 5,000 acres of forestry and a campus on which sit more than 100 major buildings and structures. Total land, forestry and facilities are valued in excess of $500 million.