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Philander Smith University History

Founded in 1877, Philander Smith University is the result of the first attempt west of the Mississippi River to make education available to freedmen (formerly enslaved African Americans). The forerunner of the university was Walden Seminary, named in honor of Dr. J. M. Walden, one of the originators and the first corresponding secretary of the Freedmen's Aid Society and was run by Helen Perkins, principal of Walden Seminary until 1881.

In 1882, Dr. G.W. Gray, president of Little Rock University, the institution for the Arkansas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, met Mrs. Adeline Smith, widow of Mr. Philander Smith of Oak Park, Ill., while soliciting funds. The late Philander Smith had been a liberal donor to Asiatic Missions and had developed an interest in the work of the church in the South. In making her gift to Dr. Gray, Mrs. Smith designated $10,000 for Walden Seminary. The trustees accepted the gift and gave it special recognition by changing the name of Walden Seminary to Philander Smith College. A new site for the school had already been purchased at Eleventh and Izard Streets. The gift made by Mrs. Smith was a significant contribution towards the construction of Budlong Hall, the first brick building on the new site. The first president of Philander Smith College was Rev. Thomas Mason.

Philander Smith College was chartered as a four-year college on March 3, 1883. The first baccalaureate degree was conferred in 1888. Rev. Thomas Mason, resigned in 1896. He was succeeded by a member of the faculty of the college, the Rev. James Monroe Cox, professor of ancient languages. Dr. Cox retired from the presidency of the college in 1924, and was succeeded by the Rev. George Collins Taylor, a graduate of the college. Dr. Taylor served as president from 1924 to 1936. 

In May 1936, Dr. Marquis LaFayette Harris succeeded Dr. Taylor as president. During the administration of Dr. Harris, the campus area was greatly enlarged. In July 1948 the site of the Little Rock Junior College, adjacent to the South end of Philander Smith’s campus, was purchased. On March 30, 1949, after an extensive program of academic improvement, Philander Smith College was fully accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Dr. Harris was succeeded by Dr. Roosevelt David Crockett, a graduate of the institution, on June 1, 1961. 

Dr. Earnest Dixon, Philander Smith’s sixth president, took office Jan. 1, 1965. He was succeeded by Dr. Walter R. Hazzard, who took office as the seventh president of the college on July 1, 1969. Dr. Hazzard was succeeded by Dr. Grant S. Shockley who took office as the eighth president on Jan. 1, 1980. Dr. Shockley was succeeded by Dr. Hazo W. Carter, who was elected unanimously July 19, 1983 by the Board of Trustees, and took office Aug. 20, 1983. 

Dr. Carter resigned the presidency in August 1987. He was succeeded by Dr. Myer L. Titus, a 1954 graduate of the institution. Upon Dr. Titus’s retirement on June 30, 1998, Dr. Trudie Kibbe Reed became the eleventh and first female president of Philander Smith College on July 1, 1998. 

In the summer of 2004, Dr. Julius Scott was appointed by the Board of Trustees to serve as the interim president while the college completed a national search for the next president in the wake of Dr. Reed’s resignation. In October 2004, the Board announced the selection of Dr. Walter M. Kimbrough as the twelfth president and he took office on Dec. 13, 2004. In the spring of 2012, Dr. Johnny Moore, a 1989 graduate of Philander Smith College was appointed by our Board of Trustees as our thirteenth president.

Dr. Roderick L. Smothers, Sr. was inaugurated on August 29, 2015 as the college’s fourteenth president. Dr. Smothers was dedicated to moving "Philander Forward" and working to advance the institution and support the scholarship of its students.

On November 18, 2022, the Institutional Actions Council of the Higher Learning Commission approved Philander's first graduate studies program, the Masters of Business Administration, and its inaugural cohort began on May 24, 2023.

In the summer of 2023, Dr. Cynthia Bond-Hopson was appointed by the Board of Trustees to serve as interim president.

On August 1, 2023, Philander Smith College officially transitioned to Philander Smith University, becoming the only HBCU in Central Arkansas with a university status.

On August 1, 2024, Dr. Maurice D. Gipson was appointed by the Board of Trustees to serve as interim president.