Arkansas State University

Arkansas State University (also known as A-State) is a public university and is the flagship campus of the Arkansas State University System, the state's second largest college system and second largest university by enrollment. It is located atop 

1,376 acres (5.6 km2) on Crowley's Ridge at Jonesboro, Arkansas, United States. The university 

marked its centennial year in 2009.

A-State was founded as the First District Agricultural School in Jonesboro in 1909 by the Arkansas Legislature as a regional agricultural training school. Robert W.

 Glover, a Missionary Baptist pastor who served in both houses of the Arkansas Legislature from Sheridan (1905–1912), introduced in 1909 the resolution calling for the establishment of four state agricultural colleges, including the future ASU

In 1918, ASU began offering a two-year college program. In 1925, it became First District Agricultural and Mechanical College.

 A four-year degree program was begun in 1930. A & M College became Arkansas State College in 1933. In 1967, the Arkansas Legislature elevated the college to university status and changed the name to Arkansas State University.

In the fall of 2013, A-State welcomed its most academically prepared freshman class. The result of several years of growing both admission standards and increasing on-campus housing, A-State's incoming first-year first-time student composite ACT was 23.3 with an average high school GPA of 3.44.

 This was the second consecutive year of high ACT/GPA freshman classes for Arkansas State. The university also posted back-to-back high graduate counts in spring 2012 and spring 2013, producing the most graduates in a two-year period in school historya

Master's degree graduate programs were initiated in 1955, and ASU began offering its first doctoral degree, in educational leadership, in the fall of 1992. A second doctoral program, in environmental science, was begun in the fall of 1997, and the doctoral program in heritage studies began in the fall of 2001. Newer doctoral programs are in environmental science, molecular biosciences and physical therapy.

Today, the institution has more than 70,000 alumni. Programs at the specialist's, master's, bachelor's and associate degree levels are available through the various colleges

degree programs through the doctoral level; Beebe (White County), Mountain Home (Baxter County), and Newport (Jackson County), where associate degree programs are offered; and at Heber Springs, Marked Tree, and Searcy.

 Arkansas State University-Beebe became part of the ASU System in 1955. It associated with White River Vo-Tech at Newport in 1992; that campus attained stand-alone status and is now Arkansas State University-Newport. The Mountain Home campus officially became ASU-Mountain Home on July 1, 1995.

 Delta Technical Institute at Marked Tree merged with ASU and became Arkansas State University Technical Center on July 1, 2001. A new campus was built for ASU-Heber Springs, which operates as a sister campus of ASU-Beebe. Foothills Technical Institute at Searcy was merged with ASU-Beebe on July 1, 2003, and is now ASU-Searcy, a technical institute of ASU-Beebe.

ASU offers bachelor's degree programs, master's degree programs and upper level courses through ASU degree centers at ASU-Beebe, ASU-Mountain Home, and three other cities -- Blytheville, Forrest City, and West Memphis—where partnership 

agreements have been established in cooperation with the local community colleges. ASU also operates an instructional site at nearby Paragould in Greene County.

A-State has grown rapidly over the past 20 years. Current enrollment for the Jonesboro campus stands close to 14,000, and the system has an enrollment of greater than 20,000.