Grambling State University (GSU, Grambling, or Grambling State) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

Grambling, Louisiana Grambling is a city in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,239 in 2020. The city is home to Grambling State University and is part of the Ruston micropolitan statistical area. Grambling was designated a "city" in ...

, United States. Grambling State is home of the Eddie G. Robinson Museum and is listed on the

Louisiana African American Heritage Trail Louisiana African American Heritage Trail () is a cultural heritage trail with 38 sites designated by the state of Louisiana, from New Orleans along the Mississippi River to Baton Rouge and Shreveport, with sites in small towns and plantations als ...

. Grambling State is a member-school of the

University of Louisiana System The University of Louisiana System (UL System) is a public university system in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It enrolls more students than the other three public university systems in the state; as of October 2023, it claims more than 91,500 st ...

and

Thurgood Marshall College Fund The Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) is a non-profit organization that supports and represents nearly 300,000 students attending its 55 member-schools that include public historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), medical school ...

. Grambling State's athletic teams compete in Division I of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

and are known as the

Grambling State Tigers The Grambling State Tigers and Lady Tigers represent Grambling State University in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA intercollegiate athletics. Grambling's sports teams participate in Division I (I-FCS for College football, football ...

. Grambling State is a member of the

Southwestern Athletic Conference The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which is made up of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southern United St ...

History

Grambling State University developed from the desire of African-American farmers in rural north Louisiana who wanted to educate other African Americans. In 1896, the North Louisiana Colored Agriculture Relief Association led by Lafayette Richmond was formed to organize and operate a school. After opening a small school west of what is now the town of Grambling, the Association requested assistance from

Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, and orator. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the primary leader in the African-American community and of the contemporary Black elite#United S ...

Tuskegee Institute Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU; formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute) is a Private university, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama, United States. It was f ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. Charles P. Adams, sent to aid the group in organizing an industrial school, became its founder and first president. Under Adams' leadership, the Colored Industrial and Agricultural School opened on November 1, 1901. Four years later, the school moved to its present location and was renamed as the North Louisiana Agricultural and Industrial School. By 1928, the school was able to offer two-year professional certificates and diplomas after becoming a state junior college. The school was renamed Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute. In 1936, the program was reorganized to emphasize rural education. It became known as "The Louisiana Plan" or "A Venture in Rural Teacher Education". Professional teaching certificates were awarded when a third year was added in 1936, and the first baccalaureate degree was awarded in 1944 in elementary education. The institution's name was changed to Grambling College in 1946 in honor of a white sawmill owner, P. G. Grambling, who donated a parcel of land for the school. Thereafter, the college prepared secondary teachers and added curricula in sciences, liberal arts and business. With these programs in effect, the school was transformed from a single purpose institution of teacher education into a multi-purpose college. In 1949, the college was accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). The Grambling science building is one of twenty-six public structures in Louisiana constructed by the prominent contractor George A. Caldwell. In 1974, the addition of graduate programs in education allowed the college to be granted university status under its present name, Grambling State University. From 1977 to 2000, the university grew and prospered. Several new academic programs were incorporated. New facilities were added to the campus, including a business and computer science building, school of nursing, student services building, stadium, stadium support facility, and an intramural sports center. In May 1999,

President Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the att ...

served as the commencement keynote speaker.

State Representative A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United St ...

George B. Holstead of Ruston worked to increase state appropriations for Grambling State University during his legislative tenure from 1964 to 1980. On December 7, 2010, the

Grambling State University Historic District The Grambling State University Historic District is a historic district located in Grambling State University campus, in Grambling, Louisiana. The district area includes 16 contributing buildings and 5 non-contributing buildings. The district ...

, an area comprising 16 buildings dating from 1939 to 1960, was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. wit
16 photos and two maps
In 2019, Grambling broke ground for building of the first

digital library A digital library (also called an online library, an internet library, a digital repository, a library without walls, or a digital collection) is an online database of digital resources that can include text, still images, audio, video, digital ...

on a HBCU campus. The US$16.6 million project was completed in 2024.

Presidents

# Charles P. Adams (1901-1936) - first president of the university #

Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones Sr. (August 6, 1905 – April 9, 1982), known as Prez Jones, was an American educator and administrator. He served as the second president of Grambling State University, a historically black university in Grambling, Lo ...

# Joseph Benjamin Johnson # Harold W. Lundy # Raymond Hicks # Leonard Haynes III # Steve A. Favors # Neari Francois Warner - first female president. # Horace Judson # Frank Pogue # Cynthia S. Warrick # Willie Larkin # Richard J. Gallot, Jr. - first GSU alumnus to serve as president # Martin Lemelle - current president and GSU alumnus

Academics

Grambling State University offers undergraduate and graduate degrees through the following four colleges: *College of Art & Sciences *College of Business *College of Educational and Graduate Studies *College of Professional Studies Grambling State University offers two doctoral degree programs, one in Developmental Education and one in Criminology and Justice Administration. In 2020, Grambling State University became the first collegiate institution in Louisiana to offer bachelor's degrees in

cybersecurity Computer security (also cybersecurity, digital security, or information technology (IT) security) is a subdiscipline within the field of information security. It consists of the protection of computer software, systems and networks from thr ...

and

cloud computing Cloud computing is "a paradigm for enabling network access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable physical or virtual resources with self-service provisioning and administration on-demand," according to International Organization for ...

Student life

Athletics

The Grambling Tigers represent Grambling State University in

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

intercollegiate athletics. Grambling's sports teams participate in

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

(

Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Bowl Subdivision (F ...

for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

) in the

(SWAC). Currently, the Grambling State University Department of Athletics sponsors Men's Intercollegiate football, along with men's and women's basketball, baseball, track & field, softball, golf, soccer, tennis, bowling and volleyball. Grambling State's most notable rivals are their south Louisiana foe Southern, Prairie View A&M, Jackson State, and

Alcorn State Alcorn State University (Alcorn State, ASU or Alcorn) is a public historically black land-grant university adjacent to Lorman, Mississippi. It was founded in 1871 and was the first black land grant college established in the United States. T ...

Student body

, approximately 40% of GSU's student body is from outside Louisiana;

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

are the three largest feeder states. 65% of the student body is female, 35% is male. 93% of the student body identify as black, 7% identify as non-black.

GSU Tiger Marching Band

The GSU Tiger Marching Band also known as "The World Famed Tiger Marching Band" is a historic marching band. They are the only HBCU marching band in the nation to perform at two consecutive U.S. presidential inaugurations. "World Famed" was founded in 1926 and serves as one of the premier ambassadors of the university.

Campus media

*''The Gramblinite'' is the university's weekly student newspaper that is consistently awarded for excellent journalism. * KGRM Tiger Radio 91.5 FM is a 24-hour student-run radio station that provides a variety of music, news, sports and public affairs programming. *The GSU-TV Media Center is operated by the Department of Mass Communications to train students interested in broadcasting careers.

Gallery

File:President's Home at Grambling State Univ. IMG 3674.JPG, The President's Home at Grambling State is particularly elegant and stately. File:Favrot Student Union at Grambling State Univ. IMG 3660.JPG, Favrot Student Building at Grambling State File:Eddie G. Robinson Museum Grambling, Louisiana, USA.jpg, The Eddie G. Robinson Museum at Grambling State File:Frederick C. Hobdy Assembly Center IMG 3659.JPG, Frederick C. Hobdy Assembly Center at Grambling State File:Eddie G. Robinson Memorial Stadium Grambling, Louisiana.jpg, Eddie G. Robinson Stadium at Grambling State

Notable alumni

Alumni of Grambling State include numerous

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

and NFL players, public officials, lawyers, doctors, scholars, journalists, business professionals, and artists. * Rick Gallot - appointed president of the

and 10th president of Grambling State University *

Erykah Badu Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu, is an American singer and songwriter. Influenced by rhythm and blues, R&B, Soul music, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the late 1990s when her debut al ...

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

winner (attended, but did not graduate) * Charles M. Blow, ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' columnist * Buck Buchanan, former

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

football player and NFL Hall of Famer * N. Burl Cain, commissioner of the

Mississippi Department of Corrections The Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) is a state agency of Mississippi that operates prisons. It has its headquarters in Jackson. Burl Cain is the commissioner. History In 1843 a penitentiary in four city squares in central Jack ...

and former warden of

Louisiana State Penitentiary The Louisiana State Penitentiary (known as Angola, and nicknamed the "Alcatraz of the South", "The Angola Plantation" and "The Farm"Sutton, Keith "Catfish".Out There: Angola angling. ''ESPN Outdoors''. May 31, 2006. Retrieved on August 25, 2010. ...

Ronnie Coleman Ronald Dean Coleman (born May 13, 1964) is an American former professional bodybuilder who is widely regarded as the greatest Bodybuilding, bodybuilder of all time. Known as "The King", Coleman shares the all-time record for most Mr. Olympia ...

, retired professional bodybuilder and eight-time

Mr. Olympia Mr. Olympia is the title awarded to the winner of the professional men's bodybuilding contest in the open division at Joe Weider's Olympia Fitness & Performance Weekend—an international bodybuilding competition that is held annually and is sanct ...

winner * Alma Dawson, scholar of librarianship *

Natalie Desselle-Reid Natalie Ann Desselle-Reid (July 12, 1967 – December 7, 2020) was an American actress who performed in several films, including '' B.A.P.S.'', '' Def Jam's How to Be a Player'', and ''Cinderella'', and the television series '' Built to Last'', ' ...

, actress *

E-40 Earl Tywone Stevens (born November 15, 1967), better known by his stage name E-40, is an American rapper. Stevens is a founding member of the rap group The Click (band), The Click and the founder of Sick Wid It Records. He has released 27 stud ...

, American rapper (attended, but did not graduate) * Stephanie A. Finley,

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

and former nominee for United States District Judge * Bob French, jazz drummer and radio show host * Cedric Glover, state representative, first African-American former mayor of

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, third-most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, Lo ...

Ernie Ladd Ernest L. Ladd (November 28, 1938 – March 10, 2007), nicknamed "the Big Cat", was an American professional American football, football defensive tackle and professional wrestling, professional wrestler. A standout athlete in high school, Ladd ...

, former professional football player and a WWE Hall of Famer. * Lenton Malry, retired New Mexico state legislator * Judi Ann Mason television writer, producer and playwright * Ivory V. Nelson, American chemist, educator, and academic administrator.

Fulbright Scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the peopl ...

in 1966 *

Willis Reed Willis Reed Jr. (June 25, 1942 – March 21, 2023) was an American professional basketball player, coach, and general manager. He spent his entire ten-year pro playing career (1964–1974) with the New York Knicks of the National Basketball ...

, former professional basketball player, NBA Hall of Famer, member of the "

50 Greatest Players in NBA History The 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, also referred to as NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team, were chosen in 1996 to honor the 50th anniversary of the founding of the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was the third anniversary team ...

" and

NBA 75th Anniversary Team The NBA 75th Anniversary Team, also referred to as the NBA 75, was chosen in 2021 to honor the 75th anniversary of the founding of the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was the fourth and most recent anniversary team in the league. S ...

* Doug Williams,

Super Bowl XXII Super Bowl XXII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Washington Redskins and American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for th ...

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

quarterback * Paul "Tank" Younger, former professional football player

References

External links

* {{authority control Universities and colleges established in 1901 Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Louisiana African American Heritage Trail Education in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana Buildings and structures in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana Tourist attractions in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana Grambling, Louisiana 1901 establishments in Louisiana Public universities and colleges in Louisiana Historically black universities and colleges in Louisiana