The University of Arkansas at Monticello was established in 1909 by an act of the Arkansas General Assembly to serve the educational needs of southern Arkansas. Originally called the Fourth District Agricultural School, the school opened its doors September 14, 1910. In 1925, the General Assembly authorized the school's name to be changed to the Arkansas Agricultural and Mechanical College. Arkansas A&M received accreditation as a junior college in 1928 and as a four-year institution in 1940. During World War II, Arkansas A&M College was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to a Navy commission. Arkansas A&M became part of the University of Arkansas System on July 1, 1971, and it was then that it actually became the University of Arkansas at Monticello. From 1969 to 1972, the University of Arkansas System increased its racial diversity by adding three new campuses in Little Rock, Pine Bluff, and Monticello that either already had large numbers of Black students, or which in the case of the new campus in Little Rock, would soon have Black students enroll. On July 1, 2003, the University of Arkansas at Monticello expanded its mission to include vocational and technical education when the UAM College of Technology-Crossett and the UAM College of Technology-McGehee became part of the University of Arkansas at Monticello to create a larger system of postsecondary education in Southern Arkansas. In July 2018, the School of Agriculture merged with the School of Forestry and Natural Resources to become the School of Forestry, Agriculture, and Natural Resources.
Laboratory school
The Drew County School Board established the A and M Training School #5 as a laboratory school for the college. In 1934 school district's name changed to Drew Central School District #5. Growth in both the school district and the college as well as a fire that had destroyed the school buildings contributed to a decision for the school district to become independent of the college. The college gave the school district a 99-year lease to a plot of land. Originally that land was large. In 1983 the district added to the lease.
College of Forestry, Agriculture and Natural Resources
Divisions
UAM also has one specialized division:
Division of Music
Campus
The main campus in Monticello has two single-sex dormitories and two coeducational suite dormitories. The former are Horsfall Hall for women and Royer Hall for men, and the latter two are Bankston Hall and Maxwell Hall. University Apartments is for single upperclassman students. There is also a complex for married students, students with families, and university faculty, HHFA Apartments. The family housing is in the boundary of the Drew Central School District, which operates three schools that serve dependent minors living in the UAM family complex: Drew Central Elementary School, Drew Central Middle School, and Drew Central High School.
Athletics
University of Arkansas at Monticello athletic teams are known as the Boll Weevils and Cotton Blossoms. UAM is a member of the NCAA Division II and currently competes within the Great American Conference for ten sports, including: baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, football, men's and women's golf, softball, and women's volleyball. In 2011 the university left the Gulf South Conference to become a charter member of the Great American Conference with six other GSC member schools.
