University of Mississippi History
Chartered on February 24, 1 844, the University of Mississippi began its first session on November 6, 1848, with a faculty of four members offering instruction in a general curriculum in the liberal arts. Continually strengthening this college of liberal arts, the trustees and the faculty sought to broaden the work of the institution as named. In accordance with this purpose the School of Law was opened in 1854 during the presidency of Augustus Baldwin Longstreet. His successor, Frederick A. P. Barnard, who was later to achieve further renown as president of Columbia University, initiated a strong program of scientific instruction and research which was terminated by the coming of the Civil War.
The outbreak of hostilities in 1861 forced the University to suspend classes. The institution fortunately escaped physical damage during the war. Its buildings were used from time to time by both Confederate and Union troops to hospitalize the sick and wounded.
The University was reopened in the fall of 1 865. Meeting resolutely the difficulties of the new era, it provided education for the many Confederate veterans who sought instruction, reestablished itself firmly, and resumed its growth. Co-education came with the admission of women students in 1 882, and the first woman was added to the faculty in 1885. Expansion was particularly notable under Chancellor Robert Burwell Fulton (1892-1906). The first summer session was held in 1893, the School of Engineering was established in 1900, and the Schools of Education and Medicine were opened in 1903. Subsequently, the School of Pharmacy was created in 1908, the School of Commerce and Business Administration in 1917, and the Graduate School in 1927.
The University occupies a position of educational leadership not only in the state, but also in the South and the nation. It pioneered in the accreditation of high schools in Mississippi, was a charter member of what is now the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, a regional accrediting agency, and helped to found the National Association of State Universities.
The University Medical Center, located in Jackson where the second campus of the University was established in 1955, consists of a School of Medicine, a School of Nursing, a Division of Graduate Studies in the Medical Sciences, a Teaching Hospital and a recently created School of Dentistry. Authorized by an act of the State Legislature in 1973, the Dental School admitted its first class in September and has already gained accreditation from the Council on Dental Education.
The original campus at Oxford, which consisted of 640 acres and five buildings, now comprises more than two square miles of rolling land noted for its natural beauty. The Lyceum, the only remaining original building, stands today as the chief symbol of the University.
The campus now includes some 190 buildings and more than 1,800 acres of land, with the University owning an additional 23,000 acres in forest lands in South Mississippi.
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