Mississippi University for Women is a coeducational public university in Columbus, Mississippi. It was formerly the Industrial Institute and College for the Education of White Girls and later the Mississippi State College for Women. Men have been admitted to MUW since 1982 and now make up about 20% of the student body.
History
Upon its establishment in 1884, Mississippi University for Women became the first public women's college in the United States. Then formally titled the Industrial Institute and College for the Education of White Girls, the institution was created by an act of the Mississippi Legislature on March 12, 1884, for the dual purposes of providing a liberal artseducation for women and preparing them for employment. The first session began October 22, 1885, with an enrollment of approximately 250 students on a campus formerly occupied by the Columbus Female Institute, a private college founded in 1847. Richard Jones was selected by the State Institutions of Higher Learningboard of trustees as the university's first president. The name of the institution changed to Mississippi State College for Women in 1920 to reflect an emphasis on collegiate, rather than vocational, education. In 1966, three local women from Hunt High School became the first black undergraduates at MUW. They lived off campus, as the dormitories remained segregated until 1968. At the same time, three teachers from Hunt became the first graduate students at the school. The students were known collectively as The Fabulous Six. In 1971 Mississippi State College for Women won the intercollegiate women's basketball national championship. In 1974 the name was changed to the Mississippi University for Women to reflect the expanded academic programs, including graduate studies. All other Mississippi state colleges were also designated universities at this time. In 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan that the nursing school's single-sex admissions policies were in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Following this decision, the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning ordered the university to change its policies to allow the admission of qualified males into all university programs. In 1988, the Board of Trustees reaffirmed the mission of MUW as an institution providing quality academic programs for all qualified students, with emphasis on distinctive opportunities for women. In a 1997 article in Innovative Higher Education, the journalist Dale Thorn describes MUW's successful attempt to avoid a merger with another institution and to remain a separate entity. In 2009, President Dr. Claudia Limbert announced the possibility of changing the university's name to "Reneau University". The Mississippi State legislature did not approve the change. As of 2018, U.S. News & World Report ranked The W 11th as a best value among public Southern regional universities and tied at 20th among best public regional universities in the South. The W also appeared in U.S. News’ Best Colleges for Veterans in Southern regional universities at No. 40. On February 1, 2019, Nora Roberts Miller, was inaugurated as the first alumna president of Mississippi University for Women. She was named the 15th president on September 15, 2018 by the State Institutions of Higher Learning board of trustees.
