University Handbook

About

Mission & Vision

Vision

To develop tomorrow’s leaders through the transformative impact of education, scholarship, and service.

Mission

Southern Arkansas University provides individuals with opportunities for intellectual growth, personal enrichment, skills development, and meaningful career preparation by fostering an environment conducive to excellence in teaching, learning, scholarship, creative endeavors, and service.

Core Values

SAU believes…

• • • That education leads to productive and fulfilling lives
    • That education supports the value of all individuals
    • That education is the foundation of a free and democratic society
    • That education creates an informed and participatory citizenry
    • That education and scholarship contribute to the advancement of knowledge

Introduction

As a new or current faculty or staff member at SAU, the information provided in the University Handbook will be helpful.  The Handbook provides information on employment practices, benefits, facilities, and the responsibilities that faculty and staff members are expected to accept.  Much of the material covered in the Handbook is summarized.  Appropriate administrative offices can provide more detailed information.

Notice

This handbook does not create a contract of employment.  None of the benefits or policies in this handbook are intended by reason of their distribution to confer any rights or privileges upon any faculty or staff member, or to entitle any employee to be or remain employed by SAU, Magnolia.  The contents of this handbook are presented for information only.  While SAU believes wholeheartedly in the plans, policies, and procedures described herein, they are not conditions of employment and may not be relied upon by any employee as a contract or other right.  The provisions of the handbook are subject to change at any time by SAU, Magnolia, without notice.  Changes to the Handbook may also result from, among other reasons, changes in federal and state laws, rules, and regulations of state and federal agencies, or changes deemed necessary by the Board of Trustees to meet changing needs of the University.

University History

• • • 1909 – The Arkansas Legislature passed Act 100, authorizing the establishment of four district agricultural boarding schools, one in each quadrant of the state, giving rural children access to a high school education.
    • 1910 – Old Main, Dining Hall, Holt, and Jackson Halls were constructed.
    • 1911 – Third District Agricultural School (TDAS) opened its doors a mile north of the city of Magnolia, in Columbia County, Arkansas.  McCrary and Caraway Halls were constructed sometime later.
    • 1912 – The Mulerider name was chosen by the football team.
    • 1914-21 – E. E. Austin served as president.  Curriculum emphasized agriculture for males and home economics for females.  Coursework also included literature, history, and science.
    • 1919 – The Muleriders had their first unbeaten football season. Dolph Camp, later to become the president of Southern State College (now SAU), was a member of this team.
    • 1921-45 – Charles A. Overstreet served as last principal of TDAS and first president of Magnolia A&M.
    • 1922 – Yearbook was renamed Mulerider.
    • 1923 – Student newspaper, The Bray, began.
    • 1925 – Act 45 made TDAS the State Agricultural and Mechanical College, Third District. Most commonly referred to as Magnolia A&M, it was a two-year junior college.
    • 1926 – National Guard Armory was constructed on campus. This facility was also used for A&M classes, basketball games, and plays. Students earned money to attend school as members of guard companies. Students and the Magnolia guard companies participated in U.S. wars from 1917 to 2010.
    • 1921 – A&M was accredited by North Central Association.
    • 1931 – College student enrollment exceeded that of high school students for first time.  High school classes ended in 1937.
    • 1936-37 – Cross Hall, Nelson Hall and the Greek Theatre were constructed.
    • 1937 – Sultan’s Magnolia Belle gained nationwide recognition for milk and butter production and was awarded a gold medal as national champion by the American Jersey Cattle Club.
    • 1944 – Overstreet Hall’s construction began in 1940.  Occupied for first time in 1944.
    • 1945-50 – Colonel Charles S. Wilkins served as president. Wilkins Stadium and Bussey Hall were constructed.
    • 1950-59 – Dr. Dolph Camp served as president. Dolph Camp Fine Arts Building, Peace Library, Graham Hall, and the President’s home constructed.  A Counseling Center was also established.
    • 1951 – Act 45 renamed A&M Southern State College (SSC), a four-year liberal arts college.
    • 1951-52 – Coach Elmer Smith’s Mulerider football teams won back-to-back Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference (AIC) championships.
    • 1955 – SSC accreditation was awarded by North Central Association.  Camp proclaimed a two-day holiday for faculty and students.
    • 1955-56 – First tentative steps taken toward integration of the college with admission of first black undergraduate.  Full integration was achieved after 1964.
    • 1959-76 – Dr. Imon E. Bruce served as president.  Greatest building program in history of institution – new gymnasium, new student center (now Bruce Center), Talbot Hall, Talley Hall, Harrod Hall, Graham Annex, Greene Hall, Wilson Hall, Wharton Nursing Building, Harton Theater, Magale Library, National Guard Armory, and Physical Plant. Many original campus buildings were removed.
    • 1965-83 – Coach Margaret Downing’s women’s basketball teams won eight state and conference championships.
    • 1966-67 – Coach W. T. Watson’s basketball teams won back-to-back AIC championships.
    • 1970 – Fraternities were established for the first time.
    • 1972 – Coach Rip Powell’s Mulerider football team won the AIC championship.
    • 1974 – Master of Education degrees instituted.
    • 1975 – Branch campus established in El Dorado and control assumed of Southwest Technical Institute in Camden for a three-branch SAU system.  SAU El Dorado Branch became an independent community college in 1991.  The Camden school was retained as an SAU branch community college, SAU Tech.
    • 1976 – Southern State College became Southern Arkansas University.  Four schools approved:  Business, Education, Liberal and Performing Arts, and Science and Technology.
    • 1976-91 – Dr. Harold T. Brinson served as president.
    • 1980 – First Murphy Lecture.
    • 1980-03 – Coach Steve Goodheart’s baseball teams won nineteen championships, the most in school history, and played three times in the NAIA World Series.
    • 1984 – Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton delivered spring commencement address.
    • 1984 – Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke on campus for Democratic presidential candidate.
    • 1985 – First Amfuel Lecture.
    • 1988 – Water Tower was first decorated as an illuminated holiday candle.
    • 1991 – Brinson Art Building completed.
    • 1991 – First Joe D. and Deane Reid Woodward Visiting Artist series was established.
    • 1991 – Faculty Senate began.
    • 1992-01 – Dr. Steven G. Gamble served as president.  Brinson Art Building, Dolph Camp Fine Arts Building, and Nelson Hall remodeled.  Gym expanded into HKR Complex.  Last original campus buildings removed.
    • 1993 – Business/Agriculture-Business Building completed.
    • 1994 – First Emerson-Thomas-Crone Lectureship instituted with address by Arthur Schlesinger Jr.
    • 1995 – Southern Arkansas University became member of the NCAA Division II and joined the Gulf South Conference.
    • 1996 – Inaugural Walz Lecture in History.
    • 1997 – Muleriders won their first Gulf South Championship in football.
    • 2002 – Dr. David F. Rankin selected as President.
    • 2002 – Present  Blue and Gold Vision launched second greatest building program in school history: Reynolds Center, Honors and East Halls, University Village, Band Hall, Wharton Nursing Building addition, Mulerider Stables, lights for baseball field and remodeled Wilkins Stadium, including artificial turf with Mulerider Logo.  Mulerider Activities Building under construction and Science & Technology Center completed in 2010.  Plans laid for Agricultural Center.  Alumni made donations of a marble fountain, a walking trail, and monumental signs.
    • 2003 – Welcome Center was established for the Alumni Association and SAU Foundation.
    • 2003 – Honors Program began.
    • 2004 – Donald W. Reynolds Campus and Community Service Center completed.
    • 2004 – Dr. Kathleen Mallory Distinguished Lecture series began.
    • 2004-08 – Master’s degrees instituted in agriculture, business, computer science, and public administration. New programs in master’s of education degrees approved. Colleges of Business, Education, Liberal & Performing Arts, and Science & Technology, and School of Graduate Studies reorganized.
    • 2005 – Farmers Bank Lecture series began.
    • 2005 – Acquisition of the Governor Ben Laney farm doubled campus acreage, the largest expansion of land holdings since 1910.
    • 2006 – Muleriders won their first Gulf South Championship in baseball. A second title was won in 2009.
    • 2009 – Centennial celebrations included Governor Mike Beebe’s re-enactment of signing Act 100 (1909) at the state capitol; first Founders Day at SAU on April 1; free concert by country-western star Tracy Lawrence, a former SAU student; Great SAU Mule Ride to re-enact 1912 football’s team’s trips to away games; and Boomtown Classic football game in El Dorado with traditional arch-foe, the University of Arkansas at Monticello, originally one of four state agriculture schools established in 1909.
    • 2015 – Dr. Trey Berry selected as President

Open as its own page →