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KYSU TIMELINE

1886  State Normal School for Colored Persons established
John Henry Jackson named first president
1887  Recitation Hall (now Jackson Hall) built
1897  Library consisted of 400 books and 650 pamphlets
1898  James Edward Givens named second president
Board of Trustees purchased 265 acres adjacent
to original 29-acre campus
1890 Morrill Land Grant Act added departments of agriculture, mechanics and domestic economy
1900 James Shelton Hathaway named third president
152 students enrolled
1902 Name changed to Kentucky Normal Industrial Institute
Kentucky Legislature increased annual state support to $5,000 and allotted $15,000 for construction of a female dormitory
1903 111 female students, 89 male students from 45 of Kentucky’s then-119 counties
1908 State appropriated $40,000 for construction and improvements
1909 Hume Hall and original Trades Building added
First athletic teams organized
1911 First summer session held
1912 Green Pinckney Russell named fourth president
10 staff, 300 students and $11,000 annual budget
1917 Enrollment reached 830, including students in the high school program
1920 Russell Memorial Hall built
1921 $7,500 received from Veteran’s Bureau for World War I veterans’ scholarships
1922 Legislature approved $42,000 for capital construction
1923 Francis Marion Wood named fifth president
1926 Name changed to Kentucky State Industrial College for Colored Persons
Three female students died in a dorm fire
1928 $184,145.66 allocated for a new women’s dorm
1929 Rufus B. Atwood named sixth president
High school program phased out
1931 Bell Gymnasium built at a cost of $32,000
Bachelor’s programs in agriculture and health and physical education were added
Departments of English, modern languages, home economics, history and government, sociology and economics, and natural sciences and mathematics were added
1935 Atwood Hall (men’s dorm) built
1936 Music education program added
1938 Name changed to Kentucky State College for Negroes
1939 29 student scholarships totaling $2,485.75 awarded
Library contained 12,000 books and periodicals
Mildred Chandler Hall (women’s dorm) built
1940 E.E. Underwood Refectory, first student dining facility, completed
1949 McCullin Hall built
1952 Name changed to Kentucky State College
1954 Rosenwald Laboratory School Building built
1956 Accreditation received from the National Council on Accreditation of Teacher Education
1957 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was the commencement speaker
1958 KSU became one of the first 14 black colleges to be granted full membership to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Blazer Library built. An annex was added in 1968
1960 Fire destroyed Bell Gymnasium
First white student enrolled
Alumni House built
1961 Agriculture department eliminated
1962 Dr. Carl McClellan Hill named seventh president
Bell Gymnasium rebuilt in old location
1963 Board of Regents approved a $9 million expansion plan
1964 Enrollment reached 1,226
Combs and Hunter Halls (dorms) built
1965 Bradford Hall built
1967 Hathaway Hall and Whitney M. Young Jr. Hall built
1968 Carver Hall Annex completed
1969 Athletic Complex built
1970 KSC had 1,600 students
Jones Field House and Shauntee Hall built
Men's Basketball Team won NAIA Championship
1971 Carl M. Hill Student Center built.
Additions were made in 1984 and 2003
Betty White Health Center built
Men's Basketball Team won NAIA Championship
1972 The college became Kentucky State University
Hillcrest, the president's residence, was built
Men's Basketball Team won NAIA Championship
1973 Jackson Hall added to National Register of Historic Places
The first graduate students enrolled in the School of Public Affairs
1974 12 students awarded the first Master of Public Administration degrees
1975 Dr. William A. Butts named eighth president
Federal Financial Aid allocation reached $1.2 million
The pre-law curriculum added
1977 Gov. Julian Carroll committed $10 million for improvements to KSU Memorial Athletic Complex and Alumni Stadium built
1978 KSU received its first large private grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in the amount of $406,000
1981 Julian Carroll Academic Services Building built
KSU won NAIA Women's Basketball Championship
1982 Dr. Raymond M. Burse named ninth president
Center of Excellence for the Study of Kentucky African Americans established
1983 Whitney M. Young Jr. College of Leadership Studies opened
1984 Aquaculture Research Center built
1986 The university celebrated its centennial anniversary
The university bought the Research and Demonstration Farm
1989 Dr. Mary Smith named interim president
1990 Dr. John T. Wolfe Jr. named 10th president
1991 Dr. Mary Smith named 11th president
1992 William Exum Center built
1993 Cooperative Extension Building built
1998 Dr. George W. Reid named 12th president
Whitney M. Young Jr. statue erected at the front entrance of campus
1999 Aquaculture became KSU's program of distinction
Chappell Building built
2002 Dr. Paul Bibbins named short-term interim president
KSU awarded its first Master of Aquaculture degree
2003 Dr. William H. Turner named long-term interim president
2004 Dr. Mary Evans Sias named 13th president
2005 KSU purchased 320 acres in Henry County for
its Environmental Education Center
2007 The School of Education introduced the Master of Special Education, KSU's first completely online academic program
2008 Hathaway Hall was renovated and the new Whitney M. Young Jr. Residence Hall was built.
The former Young Hall was renamed The Halls.
2009 KSU's university-wide accreditation reaffirmed by the Southern Association of
Colleges and Schools
2010 School of Business accreditation reaffirmed Center for Sustainability of Farms and Families built
2011 College of Agriculture, Food Science and Sustainable Systems established
KSU held its first Fall Commencement in December
Groundbreaking held for the Dr. Henry E. Cheaney Legacy Plaza
2012 Aquaculture Production Technologies Laboratory built
2013 Rosenwald Center for Families and Children opened
Award-winning Kentucky River Thorobred science boat unveiled
2014 Raymond M. Burse named 14th President
2016 Dr. Aaron Thompson named Interim President
Information gathered from http://kysu.edu/about-ksu/history/timeline-of-ksu-history/
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