# Philander Smith University

Philander Smith University (previously Philander Smith College) is a private historically black college in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and is a founding member of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). Philander Smith College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.

## History

Philander Smith College was officially founded in 1877 under the name of Walden Seminary to provide educational opportunities for emancipated slaves west of the Mississippi River. In 1882 the school was renamed Philander Smith College in honor of the financial contributions of Adeline Smith, widow of Philander Smith. It was chartered as a four-year college in 1883 and conferred its first bachelor's degree in 1888. In 1933, it merged the assets of the George R. Smith College in Sedalia, Missouri, which burned down in 1925. In 1943, Philander Smith was accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
During the Civil Rights Movement, Philander Smith College was a pioneer in activism: many of its students engaged in nonviolent resistance against segregation laws or customs (such as sitting in at "whites-only" lunch counters).
On August 1, 2023, the college announced the addition of its first ever master's degree program and the change of its name from Philander Smith College to Philander Smith University.

### Rankings and education conservancy

Walter Kimbrough, former president of Philander Smith College, joined the Education Conservancy in criticizing the annual U.S. News & World Report college rankings; he signed a letter circulating among college presidents that asks them to refrain from participating in the peer assessment portion of the survey.

## Campus

The school campus is located in central Little Rock. Interstate 630 (the Mills Freeway) was constructed just north of the campus, which is bounded by 10th and 14th streets to the north and south, and Gaines and Chester streets to the east and west. The core of the campus was originally built for Little Rock Junior College (now the University of Arkansas at Little Rock), and a two-block section of it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. One of its centerpieces is the former U.M. Rose School building, now the Cox Administration Building, designed by the noted Arkansas architect John Parks Almand in 1915, when he was working for Charles L. Thompson. The campus also includes the "Old Gym", a gymnasium built by the WPA during the Great Depression; and a former barracks building of the Camp Robinson Air Force Base, which was moved here in 1948.

## Athletics

The Philander Smith athletic teams are called the Panthers. The college is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), primarily competing in the HBCU Athletic Conference (HBCUAC), formerly the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC), since the 2011–12 academic year. The Panthers previously competed as an NAIA Independent within the Association of Independent Institutions (AII) from 2009–10 to 2010–11.
Philander Smith competes in ten intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include basketball, baseball, cross country and track & field (indoor and outdoor); while women's sports include basketball, cross country, track & field (indoor and outdoor) and volleyball; and co-ed sports include cheerleading.

### Accomplishments

The 2012–13 Philander Smith men's basketball team made history by bringing home their first GCAC conference tournament title.
On February 21, 1989, the Philander Smith women's basketball team gained a 92–89 victory over Rust College of Holly Springs, Mississippi, on their court, ending the longest home-court winning streak in NCAA Division III women's basketball history.

## Notable alumni

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| "Geese" Ausbie | | former Harlem Globetrotters player and coach |
| Al Bell | | founder of Stax Records and former president of Motown Records |
| John A. Bell | 1951 | Director of the Education and Secondary Education Division of the Office of Civil Rights, United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare |
| Isaac M. Burgan | | President of Paul Quinn College from 1883–1891, 1911–1914 |
| Deon Cole | | comedian |
| James Hal Cone | 1958 | major figure in systematic theology and liberation theology |
| L. Clifford Davis | 1945 | civil rights, attorney, judge |
| Joycelyn Elders | 1952 | former Surgeon General of the United States |
| Stephanie Flowers | | Arkansas State Senator since 2011 and former member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from Pine Bluff |
| Scipio Africanus Jones | coursework before transfer to Shorter College | lawyer and businessman |
| Calvin King | 1975 | farm developmer, and the President of the Arkansas Land and Farm Development Corp |
| Amina Claudine Myers | | musician |
| Elijah Pitts | 1961 | former Green Bay Packers player, 2x Super Bowl champion |
| Devon Scott | | basketball player in the Israel Basketball Premier League |
| Lottie Shackelford | | former mayor of Little Rock, Arkansas |
| Robert L. Williams | 1953 | prominent figure in the history of African-American psychology |

## Notable faculty

| Name | Department | Notability | Reference |
| Lee Lorch | | mathematician and civil rights activist | |
| Georg Iggers | | historian | 10 |