Since its founding in 1909, Southern Arkansas University has been a leader in higher education in southwest Arkansas. Although its origins were humble – an agricultural high school teaching reading, writing, arithmetic, agriculture, and home economics – it has grown into a comprehensive, regional, four-year university offering 71 undergraduate and graduate degrees.

What is now known as Southern Arkansas University began as the Third District Agricultural School. Seeing the need for formal education in the state, Gov. George Donaghey signed Act 100, a bill creating four agricultural schools, on April 1, 1909. One school was to be placed in each of Arkansas’s congressional districts. Today, those schools have become Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, the University of Arkansas at Monticello, and Southern Arkansas University – Magnolia.

As the former Third District Agricultural School, Magnolia A&M, and Southern State College, Southern Arkansas University has served its region with a Tradition of Success since 1909. Although our name has changed, our commitment to quality higher education remains. SAU has roots that run deep in agriculture, but we celebrate our centennial with the construction of a new University Science Center, the beginning of cutting-edge lignite research that could bring energy independence to south Arkansas, and a quickly growing School of Graduate Studies.

As we begin our second century of service, we invite you to be a part of history as we pay tribute to our own.