Prairie View A&M University is a historically black university located in Prairie View, Texas and is a member of the Texas A&M University System. PVAMU offers baccalaureate degrees in 50 academic majors, 37 master’s degrees and four doctoral degree programs through nine colleges and schools.
History
Founded in 1876, Prairie View A&M University is the second oldest state-sponsored institution of higher education in Texas.
In 1876, the Fifteenth Texas Legislature, consistent with terms of the federal Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act, which provided public lands for the establishment of colleges, authorized an "Agricultural and Mechanical College for the Benefit of Colored Youth" as part of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (now Texas A&M University).[1] Governor Richard Hubbard appointed a three-man commission, including Ashbel Smith, a long-time supporter of public education. The Commissioners bought Alta Vista Plantation, near Hempstead in Waller County, Texas for $15,000, and turned the school over to the A&M board. Texas A&M President Thomas S. Gathright selected L. W. Minor of Mississippi as the first principal, and on March 11, 1878, eight young African-American men enrolled in the short-lived Alta Vista Agricultural College. They were charged tuition of $130 which included nine months of instruction, board, and one uniform.[1] In 1879, as the institution was struggling to find resources to continue, Governor Oran Roberts suggested closing the college. But Barnas Sears, an agent for the Peabody Fund, persuaded the Sixteenth Texas Legislature to issue charters two normal schools for the training of teachers, one of which would be called Prairie View Normal Institute. The Texas A&M College board met at Hempstead in August 1879, and established thirteen elementary and secondary subjects, and founded the coeducational institution. Women were housed in the plantation house called Kirby Hall (no longer exists), and boys were housed in a combination chapel-dormitory called Pickett Hall. Among the first faculty appointed to the new normal school was E. H. Anderson. In 1882, a strong storm damaged Pickett Hall. This came at the same time as state funds ran out. State Comptroller William M. Brown refused to continue paying the school's debts from the state's university fund, so Governor Roberts had to solicit money from merchants. E. H. Anderson died in 1885, and his brother L. C. Anderson became the principal of Prairie View. A longstanding dispute as to the mission of the school was resolved in 1887 when the legislature added an agricultural and mechanical department, thus returning the college to its original mission.[1]
In 1983, the Texas Legislature proposed a constitutional amendment to restructure the Permanent University Fund to include Prairie View A&M University as a beneficiary of its proceeds. The Permanent University Fund is a perpetual endowment fund originally established in the Constitution of 1876 for the sole benefit of Texas A&M University and the University of Texas. The 1983 amendment also dedicated the University to enhancement as an "institution of the first class" under the governing board of the Texas A&M University System. The constitutional amendment was approved by the voters on November 6, 1984.
In January 1985, the Board of Regents of the Texas A&M University System responded to the 1984 Constitutional Amendment by stating its intention that Prairie View A&M University become "an institution nationally recognized in its areas of education and research." The Board also resolved that the University receive its share of the Available University Fund, as previously agreed to by Texas A&M University and the University of Texas.
In October 2000, the Governor of Texas signed the Priority Plan, an agreement with the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights to make Prairie View A&M University an educational asset accessible by all Texans. The Priority Plan mandates creation of many new educational programs and facilities. It also requires removing language from the Institutional Mission Statement which might give the impression of excluding any Texan from attending Prairie View A&M University.
Academics
The university offers academic programs through the following administrative units:
- College of Agriculture and Human Sciences
- School of Architecture
- College of Arts and Sciences
- College of Business
- College of Education
- College of Engineering
- College of Juvenile Justice and Psychology
- College of Nursing
- Graduate School
Demographics
The university enrolls 6,324 undergraduate students and 1,758 graduate students who come from all 50 U.S. states and several countries throughout the world.[citation needed] Currently 56% of the students are female, and 44% are male.
Campus
The university sits on a 1,440-acre (5.8 km2) campus in Prairie View, Texas and is 47.4 miles (76.3 km) from the city hall of Houston, Texas.
Students may live in campus housing owned by American Campus Communities. Freshmen students on campus may reside in the University College community. Upperclassmen may live in apartment style living either in University Village Phase I, II, or III. Phase III has an academic standard (3.0 GPA). The first of these apartment buildings was built in 1995.
Student activities
Athletics
Prairie View A&M University offers a wide variety of varsity and intramural sports programs.
Men's and women's athletics teams are nicknamed the Panthers, and the team colors are purple and gold. Prairie View A&M is a charter member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), and is a member of the West Division of the SWAC in sports where the conference is divided. Prairie View competes in NCAA Division I-AA in football, and Division I in all other varsity sports.
Men's varsity sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, tennis, and track and field. Women's varsity sports include basketball, bowling, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field, and volleyball.
The first football coach at Prairie View was H.B. Hucles who began in 1924. Prior to coach Hucles's arrival at Prairie View, the school played two games without a coach on record: a 1907 7-0 win against a team from Wylie, Texas[2] and a 1920 6-7 loss against Tuskegee University.[3]
The team lost 80 consecutive games between 1989-98, almost doubling Columbia University's 44 straight losses between 1983-1988.[4]
On November 10, 2007, it clinched its first winning season since 1976 with a 30-27 victory over traditional power Jackson State University under coach Henry Frazier, III.
Women's basketball
The women's basketball team received national attention in 2005 with the naming of Cynthia Cooper as the head basketball coach. Cooper, a two-time WNBA MVP, led the Lady Panthers to the school's first ever SWAC title and NCAA Tournament berth in her second season as coach.
Women's outdoor track & field
In 1974 and 1976 the women's outdoor track and field team won AIAW national championships.
Marching band
Marching Storm leadership
| Prof. George W. Edwards (1948-2009) |
Director |
| Dr. Marget Sherrod |
Majorette Director |
| Dr. William McQueen |
Assistant Band Director |
| Prof. Larry Jones |
Assistant Band Director |
| Mr. Mark Gordon |
Assistant Band Director |
The university's official marching band is referred to as the Marching Storm and supports the Delta Psi chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity Inc. along with the Epsilon Psi chapter of Tau Beta Sigma National Honorary Band Sorority Inc.. Past performances include President George W. Bush’s 2001 Presidential Inaugural Parade in Washington, D.C., the 2004 Dallas Cowboys' Thanksgiving Day game, and the Honda Battle of the Bands Invitational Showcase in Atlanta, Georgia.
The marching band traveled to the 2009 Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California and performed in the opening act in front of the grandstands for the world-wide television audience.[5]
- Blackk Foxxes
The Marching Storm is joined by the Black Foxxes, the university majorette line.
- The McFunk B.O.X.
The McFunk B.O.X. is nickname for the drumline. "The B.O.X.", as they are affectionately called, was the first black collegiate showstyle drumline to debut a feature in the middle of a halftime show, beginning in the fall season of 1985.[citation needed]
Fraternities and sororities
All nine members of the National Pan-Hellenic Council are represented at PVAMU. Though not a member of the National Pan-Hellenic Council, Kappa Kappa Psi a national Honorary Band Fraternity, was the first Greek organization to have a chapter on campus.
Notable alumni
| Name |
Class year |
Notability |
Reference |
| Julius Wesley Becton, Jr. |
1960 |
Lieutenant General US Army, FEMA Director, and educator |
|
| J. Don Boney |
1948 |
First President of the University of Houston–Downtown |
|
| Rev. Emanuel Cleaver II |
|
U.S. House of Representatives, 5th District of Missouri |
|
| Cecil Cooper |
|
5-time MLB All-Star, 17-year career with Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers, former Houston Astros manager |
|
| Terry Ellis |
|
vocalist and member of female R&B group En Vogue |
|
| Sidney A. McPhee |
|
President of Middle Tennessee State University |
|
| Dewey Redman |
|
jazz saxophonist |
|
| Frederick D. Patterson |
|
founder of United Negro College Fund |
|
| Inez Beverly Prosser |
|
the first African-American woman to receive a doctoral degree in psychology |
|
| Mr. T |
|
actor (did not graduate) |
|
| Otis Taylor |
|
member of 1969 World Champion Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Fame |
|
| Wendel Eckford |
|
Ralph Bunche Distinguished Professor of History, Los Angeles City College, First African American to earn Ph.D. in history at the Claremont Graduate University, CA. |
|
| Craig Washington |
|
former member, U.S. House of Representatives, 1989-1994 18th District, Texas |
|
| DJ Premier |
|
member of Gang Starr |
|
| Ken Houston |
|
Member Pro Football Hall of Fame, 13 year career as strong safety with Houston Oilers and Washington Redskins |
|
| Charles Brown |
|
Legendary Blues Recording Artist and member of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame |
|
| Dave Webster |
|
Former American Football League All-Pro football player for the Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs, Prairie View A&M University Hall of Fame inductee and one of the first blacks to play professional football in the American Football League. |
|
| Zelmo Beaty |
|
Former professional basketball player with the St. Louis and later Atlanta Hawks (1962-1969; NBA), the Utah Stars (1969-1974; ABA), and the Los Angeles Lakers (1974-1975; NBA). |
|
| Ryan Barker |
|
singer, songwriter, and dancer |
|
| Dorrough |
|
Rapper |
|
References
External links
Coordinates: 30°05′31″N 95°59′22″W / 30.09194°N 95.98944°W / 30.09194; -95.98944
