Fort Valley State University
Fort Valley State University is a public land-grant historically black university in Fort Valley, Georgia, United States. It is part of the University System of Georgia and a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.
Fort Valley State University is the state's 1890 land-grant university and enrolls over 2,500 students. Approximately 90% of the student body is of African-American descent. The university is located in the town of Fort Valley in Peach County. Its 1,365-acre main campus is Georgia's largest public university in area.
History
Fort Valley State University, was founded as Fort Valley State College in 1939. It began with the 1939 consolidation of the Fort Valley High and Industrial School, and the State Teachers and Agricultural College of Forsyth. Both schools had been founded privately, and were affiliated with the American Missionary Association; they were transferred to state control and operation, to form Fort Valley State College.In 1947, the state Board of Regents adopted a resolution moving the "land grant" designation from Georgia State College to Fort Valley State College. In response to the Regents' resolution, in 1949 the Georgia General Assembly officially designated the Fort Valley State College as the Land-Grant College for Negroes in Georgia. During this time, public education was segregated due to Jim Crow laws.
The school became Fort Valley State University, a state and land-grant university, in June 1996.
Presidents
The president of Fort Valley State University is the chief executive officer of the university. Paul Jones has held the position since 2015. The complete list of presidents includes:| Name | Years | Notes |
| Horace Mann Bond | 1939–1945 | |
| Cornelius V. Troup | 1945–1966 | |
| Waldo W. E. Blanchet | 1966–1973 | |
| Cleveland W. Pettigrew | 1973–1982 | |
| Luther Burse | 1983–1989 | |
| Oscar L. Prater | 1991–2001 | |
| Kofi Lomotey | 2001–2005 | |
| Larry Eugene Rivers | 2006–2013 | |
| Ivelaw Griffith | 2013–2014 | |
| Paul Jones | 2015–present |
Academics
Fort Valley State University offers bachelor's degrees in more than 50 majors, as well as master's degrees in several fields of study. FVSU is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award associate, baccalaureate, master's and specialist degrees.The university also offers the Cooperative Developmental Energy Program which provides an opportunity for qualified students to receive a STEM degree from FVSU and an engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Texas at Austin, Pennsylvania State University, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, or University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley.
The university's honors program is a selective undergraduate program designed to cater to high-achieving students.
Outreach services include Fort Valley State's Cooperative Extension Service Program, where extension service specialists operate in 42 Georgia counties, and the Pettigrew Conference Center, which hosts more than 500 courses and events for 51,000 patrons each year. In an effort to accommodate graduate and non-traditional students, external degree program courses are also being offered at off-campus sites in Macon, Cochran, Warner Robins and Dublin. The university offers online courses via WebCT, which allows students to pursue a number of majors and programs from home.