Wilberforce University Wilberforce University is a private , coed , liberal arts historically black university ( HBCU ) located in Wilberforce , Ohio . Affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal ( AME ) Church , it was the first college to be owned and operated by African Americans . It participates in the United Negro College Fund . The founding of the college was unique as a collaboration in 1856 by the Cincinnati , Ohio Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the African Methodist Episcopal Church ( AME ) . They planned a college to provide classical education and teacher training for black youth . Leaders of both races made up the first board members . When the number of students fell due to the American Civil War and financial losses closed the college , in 1863 the AME Church purchased the institution to ensure its survival . Its first president , AME Bishop Daniel A . Payne , was one of the original founders . Prominent supporters and the US government donated funds for rebuilding after a fire in 1865 . When the college added an industrial department in the late 19th century , state legislators could sponsor scholarship students . The college attracted the top professors of the day , including W . E . B . Du Bois . In the 19th century , it enlarged its mission to include students from South Africa . The university supports the national Association of African American Museums to broaden the reach of its programs and assist smaller museums with professional standards . Academics . Cooperative education . Wilberforce requires all students to participate in cooperative education to meet graduation requirements . The cooperative program places students in internships that provide practical experience in addition to academic training . NASA SEMAA project . In October 2006 , Wilberforce held the grand opening and dedication for the NASA Science , Engineering , Mathematics and Aerospace Academy ( SEMAA ) and the associated Aerospace Education Laboratory ( AEL ) . It was attended by Dr . Bernice G . Alston , deputy assistant administrator of NASA ’ s office of Education , and the Honorable David L . Hobson , U . S . Representative from Ohio ' s 7th congressional district . NASA ’ s program is designed to provide training in science , technology , engineering , and mathematics to underprivileged students to support NASA ’ s future needs . There are 17 NASA SEMAA project sites through the United States . Through this partnership , Wilberforce will offer training sessions for students in grades K - 12 during the academic year and during the summer . The AEL is computerized classroom that provided technology to students in grades 7 – 12 that supports the SEMAA training sessions . History . Located three miles ( 5 km ) from Xenia , Ohio in the southwestern part of the state , the founding of Wilberforce University was a collaboration among leaders of the Cincinnati Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the African Methodist Episcopal Church . They planned to promote classical education and teacher training for black youth . Among the first 24 members of the Board of Trustees in 1855 were Bishop Daniel A . Payne , Rev . Lewis Woodson and Messrs . Ishmael Keith and Alfred Anderson , all of the AME Church . Also on the Board were Salmon P . Chase , then Governor of Ohio and a strong supporter of abolition ; a member of the Ohio State Legislature , and other Methodist leaders from the white community . They named the college after the British abolitionist and statesman , William Wilberforce . As a base for the college , the Cincinnati Conference bought a hotel , cottages and of a resort property , named Tawawa Springs after a Shawnee word for " clear or golden water " . European Americans had founded the health resort because of the springs , which historically the Native Americans had long used . Because of its location , the resort attracted summer people from both Cincinnati and the South . Some people in this area of abolitionist sentiment were shocked when wealthy Southern planters arrived at the resort with their entourages of enslaved or free African - American mistresses and mixed - race " natural " ( illegitimate ) children . Given migration patterns , this was also an area where numerous free blacks settled , many having moved across the Ohio River from the South for better living conditions . Xenia had quite a large free black population , as did other towns in southwestern Ohio , such as Chillicothe , Yellow Springs and Zanesville . Free blacks and anti - slavery white supporters used houses in the town as stations on the Underground Railroad in the years before the war . Wilberforce College also supported freedom - seeking slaves . The college opened for classes in 1856 , and by 1858 its trustees selected Rev . Richard S . Rust as the first President . By 1860 the university had more than 200 students . Most were from the South rather than Ohio or northern states . They were the " natural " mixed - race sons and daughters of wealthy white planters and their African - American mistresses . The fathers paid for the education denied their children in the South . They were among the fathers who did not abandon their mixed - race children but provided them with the social capital of education . The outbreak of Civil War threatened the college ' s finances . Not only were Methodist church resources diverted , but the southern planters withdrew their children , and no more paying students came from the South . The college closed temporarily in 1862 when the Cincinnati Methodist Church was unable to fully fund it . Led by Bishop Daniel Payne , in 1863 the African Methodist Episcopal Church ( AME ) decided to buy the college to ensure its survival ; they paid the cost of its debt . Founders were Bishop Payne , who was selected as its first President ; James A . Shorter , pastor of the AME Church in Zanesville and future bishop ; and Dr . John G . Mitchell , principal of the Eastern District Public School of Cincinnati . Payne was the first African American to become a college president in the United States . When an arson fire damaged some of the buildings in 1865 , Salmon P . Chase , then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States , and Dr . Charles Avery from Pittsburgh each contributed $ 10 , 000 to rebuild the college . Mary E . Monroe , another white supporter , contributed $ 4200 . The US Congress approved a $ 25 , 000 grant for the college , which raised additional monies privately from a wide range of donors . In 1888 the AME Church came to an agreement with the Republican - dominated state legislature that brought considerable financial support and political patronage to the college . It negotiated contemporary pressures to emphasize industrial education for many black youth by accommodating both that and the classical education . As an act of political patronage , the state legislature established a commercial , normal and industrial ( CNI ) department at Wilberforce College . While this created complications for administration and questions about the mission of the college , in the near term it brought tens of thousands of dollars annually in state aid to the campus . Each state legislator could award an annual scholarship to the CNI department at Wilberforce , enabling hundreds of African American students to attend classes . The state - funded students could complete liberal arts at the college , and students at Wilberforce could also take " industrial " classes . By the mid - 1890s , the college also admitted students from South Africa , as part of the AME Church ' s mission to Africa . The church helped support such students with scholarships , as well as arranging board with local families . The college became a center of black cultural and intellectual life in southwestern Ohio . Because the area did not receive many European immigrants , blacks had more opportunities at diverse work . Xenia and nearby towns developed a professional elite . Generations of leaders : teachers , ministers , doctors , politicians and presidents of other colleges , and later men and women of all occupations , have been educated at the university . In the 19th century , Bishop Payne established his dream , a theological seminary , which was named in his honor . Top - ranking scholars taught at the college , including W . E . B . DuBois , the philologist William S . Scarborough , Edward Clarke , and John G . Mitchell , dean of the seminary . In 1894 Lieutenant Charles Young , the third black graduate of West Point and then the only African - American commissioned officer in the US Army , led the newly established military science department . Additional leading scholars taught at the college in the early 20th century , such as the politician , theologian and missionary Theophilus Gould Steward and the sociologist Richard R . Wright , Jr . , the first African American to earn a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania . He was a future AME bishop and president of Wilberforce . These men were prominent in the American Negro Academy , founded in 1897 to support the work of scholars , writers and other intellectuals . In 1969 the organization was revived as the Black Academy of Arts and Letters . Growth of the university after the mid - 20th century led to construction of a new campus in 1967 , located one mile ( 1 . 6 km ) away . In 1974 , the area was devastated by part of the Super Outbreak tornado storm , which destroyed much of the city of Xenia and the old campus of Wilberforce . Older campus buildings still in use include the Carnegie Library , built in 1909 with matching funds from the Carnegie Foundation , and listed on the National Register of Historic Places ; Shorter Hall , built in 1922 ; and the Charles Leander Hill Gymnasium , built in 1958 . The former residence of Charles Young near Wilberforce was designated a National Historic Landmark , in recognition of his significant and groundbreaking career in the US Army . In the 1970s , the university established the National Afro - American Museum and Cultural Center , to provide exhibits and outreach to the region . It is now operated by the Ohio Historical Society . The university supports the national Association of African American Museums , to provide support especially to smaller museums across the country . Financial aid audit . In 2008 the US Department of Education , Office of the Inspector General ( OIG ) completed an audit of financial management , specifically the university ' s management of Title IV funds , which related to its work - study program . For the two - year audit period ( 2004 – 2005 , 2005 – 2006 ) the audit found numerous faults . In summary , the OIG found : " The University did not comply with the Title IV , HEA program requirements because it was not administratively capable . During the audit period , the University experienced significant staff turnover and lacked sufficient financial aid staff , failed to develop and implement written policies and procedures , did not maintain all records needed to demonstrate compliance with the HEA and applicable regulations , and did not ensure sufficient communication between the financial aid office and all other institutional offices at the University . " Student activities . Athletics . Wilberforce University teams , nicknamed athletically as the Bulldogs , are part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics ( NAIA ) , primarily competing as an Independent of the Association of Independent Institutions ( AII ) . The Bulldogs formerly competed as members of the American Mideast Conference . Men ' s sports include basketball and cross country ; while women ' s sports include basketball and cross country . Students also participate in the following intramural sports : basketball , softball , volleyball , flag football , and tennis . NPHC Organizations . All nine of the National Pan - Hellenic Council organizations currently have chapters at Wilberforce University . These organizations are :