From Tuskegee University’s proud past comes a greatness that — more than 138 years later — still permeates the hallowed grounds of the historic campus. It is where founder Booker T. Washington maintained that students must learn a trade and not just a degree, and that educating the heart was as important as training the head and the hands. It is where George Washington Carver revolutionized agricultural research and outreach. And, where the Tuskegee Airmen soared into history during World War II through their valor and patriotism. Today, as a private, state-related institution and one of Alabama’s three land-grant universities, Tuskegee continues to be regarded internationally for its academic and research innovation that uniquely combines the humanities, professional and STEM disciplines. Its rigorous academic programs lead to 41 undergraduate, 16 master’s and five doctoral degree programs. The university hosts one of Alabama’s two schools of veterinary medicine — and the only one in the country located at an HBCU. Likewise, Tuskegee is home to the nation’s only HBCU-based accredited aerospace engineering program. In September 2019, U.S. News and World Report ranked Tuskegee 8th nationally among the country’s historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and 25th among southern regional universities. It is consistently cited by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education as one of the nation’s top producers of minority graduates in agricultural and natural resource disciplines, architecture, biological and biomedical sciences, engineering, physical sciences, rehabilitation and therapeutic professions, and veterinary medicine — just to name a few. Its nearly 3,000 students represent nearly every U.S. state and a dozen countries. Its student population, more than 600 employees and property holdings spanning 5,500-plus acres make it a major contributor to Macon County’s residential, employment and tax base. Its significance in our nation’s history has twice been celebrated by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s National Park Service — first, in 1966, when it became the first HBCU designated as a Registered National Historic Landmark; and again in 1974, when it became the nation’s only HBCU designated as a National Historic Site.
