Grambling State University (GSU, Grambling, or Grambling State) is a
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...
historically black university
Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...
in
Grambling, Louisiana
Grambling is a city in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 4,949 at the 2010 census. The city is home to Grambling State University and is part of the Ruston Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Grambling was designated a " ...
. Grambling State is home of the
Eddie G. Robinson Museum and is listed on the
Louisiana African American Heritage Trail
Louisiana African American Heritage Trail (french: Sentier de l'héritage afro-américain de la Louisiane) is a cultural heritage trail with 38 sites designated by the state of Louisiana, from New Orleans along the Mississippi River to Baton Rouge ...
. Grambling State is a member-school of the
University of Louisiana System
The University of Louisiana System (UL System) is a public university system in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It enrolls more students than the other three public university systems in the state. Its headquarters are in the Claiborne Building in ...
and
Thurgood Marshall College Fund
The Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) is an American non-profit organization that supports and represents nearly 300,000 students attending its 47 member-schools that include public historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), medic ...
.
Grambling State's athletic teams compete in
Division I of the
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...
and are known as the
Grambling State Tigers
The Grambling State Tigers and Lady Tigers represent Grambling State University in NCAA intercollegiate athletics. Grambling's sports teams participate in Division I (I-FCS for football) as a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). ...
. The university is a member of the
Southwestern Athletic Conference.
History
![Charles P](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Charles_P._Adams_bust_at_Grambling_State_Univ._IMG_3649.JPG)
Grambling State University developed from the desire of African-American farmers in rural north Louisiana who wanted to educate other African Americans in the northern part of the state. In 1896, the North Louisiana Colored Agriculture Relief Association led by Lafayette Richmond was formed to organize and operate a school. After opening a small school west of what is now the town of Grambling, the Association requested assistance from
Booker T. Washington
Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American c ...
of
Tuskegee Institute
Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature.
The campus was de ...
in
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County
, LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham
, area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...
.
Charles P. Adams, sent to aid the group in organizing an industrial school, became its founder and first president.
Under Adams' leadership, the Colored Industrial and Agricultural School opened on November 1, 1901. Four years later, the school moved to its present location and was renamed as the North Louisiana Agricultural and Industrial School. By 1928, the school was able to offer two-year professional certificates and diplomas after becoming a state junior college. The school was renamed Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute.
In 1936, the program was reorganized to emphasize rural education. It became known as "The Louisiana Plan" or "A Venture in Rural Teacher Education." Professional teaching certificates were awarded when a third year was added in 1936, and the first baccalaureate degree was awarded in 1944 in elementary education. The institution's name was changed to Grambling College in 1946 in honor of a white sawmill owner, P.G. Grambling, who donated a parcel of land for the school. Thereafter, the college prepared secondary teachers and added curricula in sciences, liberal arts and business. With these programs in effect, the school was transformed from a single purpose institution of teacher education into a multi-purpose college.
In 1949, the college was accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). The Grambling science building is one of twenty-six public structures in Louisiana constructed by the prominent contractor
George A. Caldwell, who completed major public buildings throughout the state. In 1974, the addition of graduate programs in early childhood and elementary education allowed the college to be granted university status under its present name, Grambling State University.
From 1977 to 2000, the university grew and prospered. Several new academic programs were incorporated. New facilities were added to the campus, including a business and computer science building, school of nursing, student services building, stadium, stadium support facility, and an intramural sports center.
State Representative George B. Holstead of Ruston, whose grandfather had been instrumental in the founding of Louisiana Tech, worked to increase state appropriations for both Louisiana Tech and Grambling State University during his legislative tenure from 1964 to 1980.
On December 7, 2010, the
Grambling State University Historic District
The Grambling State University Historic District is a historic district located in Grambling State University campus, in Grambling, Louisiana.
The district area includes 16 contributing buildings and 5 non-contributing buildings. The district co ...
, an area comprising 16 buildings dating from 1939 to 1960, was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
.
[ wit]
16 photos and two maps
/ref>
In 2019, Grambling broke ground for building of the first digital library
A digital library, also called an online library, an internet library, a digital repository, or a digital collection is an online database of digital objects that can include text, still images, audio, video, digital documents, or other digital ...
on a HBCU campus and first for a Louisiana collegiate institution. The $16.6 million 50,000 square feet project is slated to be complete in 2020.
Presidents
Following the first President Charles P. Adams, Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones became the second president and the highly successful baseball coach from 1936 until his retirement in 1977. Five presidents served from 1977 to 2001: Dr. Joseph Benjamin Johnson, Dr. Harold W. Lundy, Dr. Raymond Hicks, Dr. Leonard Haynes III, and Dr. Steve A. Favors.
Dr. Neari Francois Warner was selected as the university's first female president, when she served a three-year interim term. Dr. Horace Judson, who became the institution's seventh president in 2004, led the most ambitious 5-year campaign to rebuild the institution's facilities. He retired at the end of October 2009. That year Dr. Frank Pogue started as the institution's eighth president. On April 4, 2014, Pogue announced his retirement effective June 30, 2014. Dr. Cynthia S. Warrick became Grambling's second female president, serving a one-year interim term starting on July 1, 2014, and ending on July 1, 2015. Dr. Willie Larkin served as president from July 1, 2015, to July 1, 2016. The current and tenth president is GSU alumnus Richard J. Gallot, Jr. Esq.
Academics
Grambling State University offers undergraduate and graduate degrees through the following four colleges:
*College of Art & Sciences
*College of Business
*College of Educational and Graduate Studies
*College of Professional Studies
In addition, there is the Earl Lester Cole Honors College available for high-achieving undergraduate students seeking a more unique academic experience. Also an Army ROTC program is available for undergraduate students interested in a college curriculum with a military foundation.
Grambling State offers its only doctoral degree
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...
in Developmental Education through the College of Educational and Graduate Studies.
In 2020, Grambling became the first collegiate institution in Louisiana to offer bachelor's degrees in cybersecurity
Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, t ...
and cloud computing
Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage ( cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over mu ...
. Both programs are housed under the College of Art & Sciences.
Grambling State is accredited by 18 separate accrediting associations, a member in good standing in 20 organizations, and accredited in all of the programs required by the Louisiana Board of Regents.
Student life
Athletics
The Grambling Tigers represent Grambling State University in NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
intercollegiate athletics. Grambling's sports teams participate in NCAA Division I
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...
( Football Championship Subdivision for football) in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). Currently, the Grambling State University Department of Athletics sponsors Men's Intercollegiate football, along with men's and women's basketball, baseball, track & field, softball, golf, soccer, tennis, bowling and volleyball.
Grambling State's most notable rivals are their south Louisiana foe Southern, Prairie View A&M, Jackson State, and Alcorn State.
Student body
, approximately 30% of GSU's student body is from outside Louisiana; Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
, California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, and Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
are the three largest feeder states. 60% of the student body is female, 40% is male. 91% of the student body identify as black, 9% identify as non-black. GSU's student body of nearly 5,000 students is the second largest among HBCUs in Louisiana.
Residential life
GSU has five traditional residence halls
A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university ...
and nine apartment style housing on campus. All traditional first-year, full-time undergraduate students are required to live on campus as a result of the university's academic success and retention strategies.
*Men only student-housing: Garner Hall, Jeanes Hall, Crispus Attucks
*Women only student-housing: Jewett Hall (named after Fidelia Jewett), Hunter Hall, Robinson Hall
*Co-Ed student-housing: Richmond Hall, Tiger Village Jones, Tiger Village Wheatley & Bethune, Tiger Village Truth & Holland, Tiger Village Douglass & Knott, Adams, Pinchback, Tubman & Bowen, Steeple's Glen
Marching band
GSU's World Famed Tiger Marching Band
GSU Tiger Marching Band, also known as the Tiger Marching Band is Grambling State University's marching band. It is often billed as the "World Famed Tiger Marching Band". The band was formed by Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones in 1926.
Highlights
* In ...
is a historic marching band with many special accolades and accomplishments. For instance, they are the only HBCU marching band in the nation to perform at two consecutive U.S. presidential inaugurations. "World Famed" was founded in 1926 and serves as one of the premier ambassadors of the university. One of the band's most anticipated traditions is the annual nationally televised "Battle of The Bands" against Southern University's Human Jukebox marching band during Bayou Classic weekend in the Superdome. The yearly event attracts tens of thousands of alumni, fans, and spectators.
"World Famed" is led by four drum majors
A drum major or field commander is the leader of a marching band, drum and bugle corps, or pipe band, usually positioned at the head of the band or corps. The drum major is often dressed in more ornate clothing than the rest of the band or cor ...
and features a danceline from Grambling'
Orchesis Dance Company
(ODC).
GSU media
*''The Gramblinite'' is the university's weekly student newspaper that is consistently awarded for excellent journalism.
* KGRM Tiger Radio 91.5 FM is a 24-hour student-run radio station that provides a variety of music, news, sports and public affairs programming.
*The GSU-TV Media Center is operated by the Department of Mass Communications to train students interested in broadcasting careers.
Gallery
File:Grambling State University sign IMG 3645.JPG, Grambling State University campus in Grambling
Grambling State University (GSU, Grambling, or Grambling State) is a public historically black university in Grambling, Louisiana. Grambling State is home of the Eddie G. Robinson Museum and is listed on the Louisiana African American Heritag ...
in Lincoln Parish west of Ruston, Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
, U.S.
File:President's Home at Grambling State Univ. IMG 3674.JPG, The President's Home at Grambling State University is particularly elegant and stately.
File:Favrot Student Union at Grambling State Univ. IMG 3660.JPG, Favrot Student Building at Grambling
Notable alumni
Alumni of Grambling State include numerous MLB
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
, NBA and NFL players, public officials, lawyers, doctors, scholars, journalists, business professionals, and artists.
* NFL Hall of Famer Buck Buchanan of the Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division.
The ...
* Eight-time Mr. Olympia winner Ronnie Coleman
* Actress Natalie Desselle-Reid
Natalie Ann Desselle-Reid (July 12, 1967 – December 7, 2020) was an American actress who performed in several films, including ''B.A.P.S.'', ''Def Jam's How to Be a Player'', '' Set It Off'' and ''Cinderella'', and the television series '' Buil ...
* Grammy-winner Erykah Badu
Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu (), is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Influenced by R&B, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the late 1990s when her debut al ...
attended Grambling State University and once served as a campus queen.
* ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' columnist Charles M. Blow
Charles McRay Blow (born August 11, 1970) is an American journalist, commentator and op-ed columnist for ''The New York Times'' and current political analyst for MSNBC.
Early life
Blow was born and raised in Gibsland, Louisiana. He was educated ...
* Super Bowl XXII MVP quarterback Doug Williams is not only an alumnus, but previously served as the Tigers' head football coach.
* West coast Bay Area rap artist E-40
Earl Tywone Stevens Sr. (born November 15, 1967), better known by his stage name E-40, is an American rapper. He is a founding member of the rap group The Click, and the founder of Sick Wid It Records. He has released 26 studio albums to date, ...
* Alumnus Dr. Ivory V. Nelson was named a Fulbright Scholar in 1966.
* Alumnus Cedric Glover
Cedric Bradford Glover (born August 9, 1965) is a Democratic Party politician who is a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, representing District 4. He was earlier the two-term mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana, the first African-Ame ...
, now a state representative, was the first African-American mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana.
* Alumna Ollie Tyler is the first African-American female mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana.
* Stephanie A. Finley
Stephanie Ann Finley (born 1966) is the former United States Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana and is a former nominee to be a United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the West ...
(B.S. 1988) is a United States Attorney
United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...
and a President Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
nominee for United States District Judge of the .
* Bob French is a well-known jazz musician.
* Alumnus Paul (Tank) Younger is the first Black football player from a HBCU to sign a contract and play professional football.
* Alumna Alma Dawson is a scholar of library and information science who held the Russell B. Long Professorship at Louisiana State University.
* The writer Judi Ann Mason was a double major graduate of Grambling. She began her writing career at GSU by winning two major playwrighting awards through the American College Theatre Festival.
* N. Burl Cain, former warden of Louisiana State Penitentiary
The Louisiana State Penitentiary (known as Angola, and nicknamed the "Alcatraz of the South", "The Angola Plantation" and "The Farm"Sutton, Keith "Catfish".Out There: Angola angling. ''ESPN Outdoors''. May 31, 2006. Retrieved on August 25, 2010. ...
, has a master's degree in criminal justice from Grambling.
*Ernie Ladd
Ernest Ladd (November 28, 1938 – March 10, 2007), nicknamed "The Big Cat", was an American professional football player and professional wrestler. A standout athlete in high school, Ladd attended Grambling State University on a basketball sc ...
was an American professional football player and a WWE Hall of Famer.
*Willis Reed
Willis Reed Jr. (born June 25, 1942) is an American retired basketball player, coach and general manager. He spent his entire professional playing career (1964–1974) with the New York Knicks. In 1982, Reed was inducted into the Naismith Me ...
is an NBA Hall of Famer and member of the "50 Greatest Players in NBA History
The 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, also referred to as NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team, were chosen in 1996 to honor the 50th anniversary of the founding of the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was the third anniversary team ...
".
References
External links
*
{{authority control
Historically black universities and colleges in the United States
Educational institutions established in 1901
Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
Louisiana African American Heritage Trail
Education in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana
Buildings and structures in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana
Tourist attractions in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana
Grambling, Louisiana
1901 establishments in Louisiana
Public universities and colleges in Louisiana
Historically black universities and colleges in Louisiana