University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff

Branch Normal College, c. 1910 The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff was authorized in 1873 by the Reconstruction-era legislature as the Branch Normal College and opened in 1875 with Joseph Carter Corbin principal. A historically black college , it was nominally part of the "normal" (education) department of Arkansas Industrial University, later the University of Arkansas . It was operated separately as part of a compromise to get a college for black students, as the state maintained racial segregation well into the 20th century. (Although the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville was integrated when it opened in 1872, it soon became segregated after the end of Reconstruction and didn't start desegregation until 1948.) It later was designated as a land-grant college under the 1890 federal amendments to Morrill Land-Grant Acts . As Congress had originally established the land grant colleges to provide education to all qualified students in a state, in 1890 it required states maintaining segregated systems to establish a separate land-grant university for blacks as well as whites. In 1927, the school severed its ties with the University of Arkansas and became Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical & Normal College ( Arkansas AM&N ). It moved to its current campus location in 1929. In the mid-1950s AM&N administrators asked students not to support civil rights causes perceived as radical by Arkansas politicians as they feared getting their funding cut by the state. John B. Pickhart, an alumnus of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville , wrote that therefore AM&N being in Pine Bluff "might actually have slowed development of an integration movement" for that community. [ 5 ] In 1972, Arkansas AM&N re-joined what is now the University of Arkansas System . As a full-fledged campus with graduate study departments, it gained its current name and university status in the process.

Since 1988, the university has gained recognition as a leading research institution in aquaculture studies, offering the state's only comprehensive program in this field. It supports a growing regional industry throughout the Mid-South (according to the school, aquaculture is a $167 million industry in Arkansas alone and worth approximately $1.2 billion in the Mississippi Delta region). In 2012, the program was enhanced by the addition of an Aquaculture/Fisheries PhD program. The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff is the oldest and largest HBCU in Arkansas.

More information Race and ethnicity, Total ... Undergraduate demographics as of Fall 2023 [ 6 ] Race and ethnicity Total Black 90% Hispanic 3% White 3% International student 2% Two or more races 2% Economic diversity Low-income [ a ] 67% Affluent [ b ] 33% Close Caldwell Hall UAPB is divided into eight academic divisions. [ 7 ] The School of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Human Sciences The School of Arts and Sciences The School of Business and Management The School of Education Graduate Studies & Continuing Education Carolyn F. Blakely Honors Program Military Science University College UAPB is fully accredited by the Higher Learning Commission . [ 8 ] UAPB has the only comprehensive aquaculture program in Arkansas, established to help support the state's $167 million aquaculture industry. [ 9 ] Since UAPB offers only one engineering degree program ( agricultural engineering ), it has a partnership with the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville (UA) that allow qualified students to spend three years to complete an engineering related bachelor's degree at UAPB then automatic admissions into UA to complete their engineering bachelor's degree in two years. Students who successfully complete the UAPB-UA engineering program will have two bachelor's degrees in approximately five years. [ 10 ] In 2019, UAPB established a partnership a with UALR William H. Bowen School of Law . UAPB students with at least a 3.4 cumulative GPA, minimum 154 LSAT score, and a clean disciplinary record will automatically be admitted. In addition to being admitted, they will receive a 25 percent tuition scholarship. [ 11 ]

Much of the campus is in the Pine Bluff city limits though some portions are in unincorporated areas . [ 12 ]