History

Thousands of men and women have attended Mountain State University since it was founded as Beckley College in 1933. Located in the heart of Southern West Virginia, the private, nonprofit institution began as a junior college in response to the community's desire to offer quality, affordable education to its youth at the height of the Great Depression.

Today, Mountain State University is a dynamic, four-year institution that also offers graduate programs. MSU has become the University of choice for many individuals throughout West Virginia, the nation, and the world.

During the Depression era, the condition of the economy, the mountainous terrain, and the inadequacy of the road system made attending any one of the three nearest West Virginia colleges an overwhelming burden. At a time when less than 10 percent of high school graduates in the area were attending college, Beckley College opened with 97 students and classrooms rented from a local church.

During the first half-century, the College experienced slow, but steady increases in enrollment, staff, facilities, and programs. In 1990, five presidents and 57 years later, President Charles H. Polk took on the challenges of leading Beckley College into a new and exciting era.

The decade of the 1990s brought an era of tremendous change, including the transition from a two-year to a four-year college, and then to a master's level institution. New buildings were erected and degree program offerings were expanded to include high-demand professional and technology fields, as well as the humanities, arts, and sciences.

The global view taken by the new administration resulted in the need for a name change, thus Mountain State University was born in August 2001. The University is a not-for-profit, independent institution serving more than 6,000 students from 43 states and a host of other countries. Its offerings include not only traditional, classroom-based academic studies, but also innovative programs in distance learning, nontraditional credit options, and collaboration with a variety of industry and education partners.

Mountain State University continues its mission of providing quality programs designed to lead to gainful employment for its graduates. The University remains committed to its founding philosophy that every individual should have the opportunity to obtain an education and maximize his or her human potential.