The University of Southern Mississippi
The University of Southern Mississippi was
established by an act of the Legislature approved on March 30, 1910, by Governor Edmund F. Noel.
Its first name was the Mississippi Normal College, and its original purpose was to train teachers
for the rural schools of Mississippi. The act of March 30, 1910, did not provide any state money
for the building of Mississippi Normal College but did allow local governments to bid for its
location by offering land for a site and money for constructing buildings. On September 16, 1910,
the Board of Trustees accepted the bid of Hattiesburg and Forrest County to supply $250,000 and a
free site. That site was west of the city in cut-over timberland with great pine stumps everywhere.
Contracts were let to clear the land and to build buildings.
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College Hall
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Five still-existing buildings -- College Hall, Forrest County Hall, Hattiesburg Hall, the
Industrial Cottage (now the Honor House) and the President's Home (now the Alumni House) -- and a
temporary wooden Dining Hall and other necessary improvements were barely finished when Mississippi
Normal College opened on the rainy morning of September 18, 1912, with a president, a faculty of
eighteen, and a student body of 200.
On October 17, 1911, Joseph Anderson Cook, Superintendent of Schools, Columbus, Mississippi, was
elected president. The University of Southern Mississippi has had only seven presidents since its
founding. The Board of Trustees elected Claude Bennett president effective October 10, 1928. On
April 23, 1933, the Board of Trustees elected Dr. Jennings Burton George as the third president,
effective July 1, 1933. On June 13, 1945, the Board of Trustees elected Dr. Robert Cecil Cook as
the fourth president and he officially assumed office on July 1, 1945. On October 21, 1954,
President Cook submitted his resignation. He served until December 31, 1954, and Dr. Richard Aubrey
McLemore became acting president on January 1, 1955. The Board of Trustees, on May 19, 1955,
elected Dr. William David McCain as the fifth president. He officially assumed office on August 1,
1955, and retired as of June 30, 1975. Dr. Aubrey Keith Lucas became the sixth president of the
University on July 1, 1975. Dr. Horace Weldon Fleming became the seventh president on January 1,
1997.
On March 7, 1924, the Legislature changed the name of Mississippi Normal College to State
Teachers College. On February 8, 1940, the Legislature changed the name to Mississippi Southern
College. On February 27, 1962, the Legislature changed the name to The University of Southern
Mississippi.
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USM Admin. Bldg
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Mississippi Normal College did not grant degrees in its early years but awarded certificates for
the completion of certain specified courses of study. On April 8, 1922, the Legislature authorized
the awarding of the Bachelor of Science degree. The Bachelor of Music degree was authorized by the
Board of Trustees on June 19, 1934. The first Bachelor of Arts degree was awarded on August 20,
1940. On May 26, 1947, the Board of Trustees authorized the initiation of graduate work and the
awarding of the Master of Arts degree. In the years since 1947, the University's graduate programs
have developed logically to meet the needs for professional competence beyond the academic measure
of the baccalaureate degree. Doctoral programs were first authorized by the Board of Trustees on
May 20, 1959.
[from
http://www.usm.edu/usmweb/welcome/history/index.html]
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