Delaware State University

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Delaware State University (DSU), located in Dover, is a publicly assisted, historically Black land-grant research university and one of Delaware's most significant institutions of higher education. Established on May 15, 1891, by the Delaware General Assembly under the provisions of the Morrill Act of 1890, by which land-grant colleges for Black students came into existence in states maintaining separate educational facilities, the university has grown from a small agricultural and industrial college into a comprehensive research institution offering programs from the associate to doctoral level. Today it serves a diverse and vibrant student body that includes students from 39 states and 34 countries (fall 2024), situated on a 356-acre suburban campus in Dover, just a short drive from Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. DSU is one of Delaware's most nationally recognized public universities and a leading member of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) community in the United States.

History and Naming

The Delaware College for Colored Students was established on May 15, 1891, by the Delaware General Assembly under the provisions of the Morrill Act of 1890. With the appointment of an inaugural six-member Board of Trustees, that governing body used part of the initial $8,000 state appropriation to purchase a 95-acre property north of the state capital of Dover to establish the new college.

Because there was already a private Delaware College (now the University of Delaware) located in Newark, to avoid confusion new state legislation was passed and enacted in early 1893 to change the Black school's name to the State College for Colored Students. Five courses of study leading to a baccalaureate degree were offered: Agricultural, Chemical, Classical, Engineering, and Science. The college graduated its first class of degree candidates in May 1898.

Although legislatively established in 1891 as the Delaware College for Colored Students and renamed two years later as the State College for Colored Students (SCCS), the state of Delaware would not begin to fully embrace its only Black college until the 1950s. In those first six decades, against the backdrop of the hugely ineffective "separate but equal" legal doctrine that prevailed in those years, the state directed significant financial support for the growth of a private Presbyterian school named Delaware College (now the University of Delaware), while it was far less concerned with the progress and well-being of the State College for Colored Students.

Despite the state's neglect, the SCCS persevered and managed to obtain its initial accreditation as a four-year institution of higher education in 1945. However, with the ongoing inadequate low levels of state financial support, the Black college — which the state renamed Delaware State College in 1947 — was unable to develop an adequate academic structure and physical plant to maintain that standing. DSC's accreditation was revoked in 1949.

It took the leadership of the College's sixth president, Dr. Jerome H. Holland (1953–1960), as well as the reality that allowing DSC to close would force the wholesale integration of the University of Delaware, to persuade the state that it needed to substantially increase its financial commitment to the Black college. That resulted in an unprecedented level of state funding for construction projects at Delaware State College in the 1950s. Dr. Holland and the College worked to address the other institutional shortcomings, resulting in the reaccreditation of DSC in 1957.

On July 1, 1993, Delaware State College turned another chapter in its history when Governor Thomas Carper signed a name change into law, thus renaming the college Delaware State University. The university has operated under this name ever since.

Academics and Accreditation

Undergraduate studies are organized into four colleges containing a total of 17 academic departments, which offer nine associate degrees, 46 bachelor's degrees, 26 master's degrees, and seven doctoral degrees. The university also offers several cooperative and dual degree programs. Students receive instruction in classes with a 13:1 student-to-faculty ratio.

Delaware State University is fully approved by the Delaware Department of Education and accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) as a degree-granting institution at the associate's, baccalaureate, master's and doctoral levels. Chemistry programs are approved by the American Chemical Society. The Nursing Program is accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing, Inc. (ACEN). The Social Work programs are accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). Most Teacher Education programs are accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). The Accounting, Economics, Finance, Management, Marketing, Hospitality and Tourism Management (HTM) and other Business Administration programs in the College of Business are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, International (AACSB).

The College of Agriculture, Science and Technology houses some genuinely innovative programs — their Aviation program, for instance, is one of only a handful at HBCUs nationwide. The university owns two farms near Kenton and Smyrna, and has an Airway Science Program based at Delaware Air Park in Cheswold.

In the 2026 edition of Best Colleges, Delaware State University is ranked No. 121 in Regional Universities North by U.S. News & World Report. DSU is ranked 8th among Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the U.S. News & World Report (2023). It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 4,581 (fall 2024), its setting is suburban, and the campus size is 706 acres.

Research

Delaware State University has invested heavily in building a research infrastructure commensurate with its aspirations as a doctoral and research institution. Delaware State is one of only 14 HBCUs to hold the R2 research classification, which is awarded to institutions that average at least 20 doctoral graduates per year and exceed $5 million in annual research spending.

Doctoral candidates enjoy extraordinary research opportunities at the Center for Research and Education in Optical Sciences and Applications (CREOSA), an NSF-funded lab housed on campus. Established in 2006 through a National Science Foundation CREST grant, CREOSA conducts high-level research with applications in areas such as medicine, homeland security, telecommunications, the environment, and computer science. Researchers are also accomplished investigators engaged in high-level inquiries for major funders such as NASA, the Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation, and NIH.

Delaware State University has been awarded grants totaling more than $2.2 million related to its goal of becoming an R1 Research Institution. DSU received a three-year National Institutes of Health $750,000 STRONG grant to support a project entitled "Identifying Needs and Building Research Capacity at a Historically Black University." DSU also received a three-year, $1.48 million National Science Foundation grant that will support it as the lead institution in the NSF program "Advancing Research Capacity at HBCUs through Exploration and Innovation."

Delaware State University was also awarded a $5 million grant for a NASA research and education program that continues its partnership with the space agency. The university's research enterprise spans multiple centers and involves partnerships with federal agencies, private foundations, and peer institutions across the country.

The Wesley College Acquisition

One of the most significant milestones in the modern history of Delaware State University was its acquisition of Wesley College in Dover. On July 1, 2021, Delaware State University officially finalized its acquisition of Wesley College, a private institution founded by the Methodist Church in 1873. This acquisition makes Delaware State the first historically Black university to acquire an institution that is not a historically Black college or university.

Delaware State University took over a 50-acre campus in the downtown section of the capital city of Dover and 14 new academic programs. No money changed hands in the acquisition. In lieu of a purchase price, Delaware State agreed to take on Wesley's liabilities. The university also agreed to accept all Wesley students in good standing.

The university has renamed the former Wesley campus "DSU Downtown," reflecting its close proximity to downtown Dover, and has relocated most of its College of Health and Behavioral Science programs to that additional 41-acre site. That academic division has been renamed the Wesley College of Health and Behavioral Sciences as a way to preserve the history of the former Wesley College.

DSU President Tony Allen noted that enrollment at Delaware State had grown 40 percent over the past ten years and the acquisition would fulfill space needs as the university works to become a 10,000-student institution. One undergraduate year at Wesley had cost students $43,000, compared to about $24,000 at DSU — making the transition financially favorable for former Wesley students who chose to remain in Dover.

In December 2020, the university received a record-setting philanthropic gift. MacKenzie Scott donated $20 million to Delaware State University, the largest single gift in the university's history.

Athletics

Delaware State University's athletic teams compete under the name the Delaware State Hornets. DSU athletics offers 21 NCAA Division I sports. A combination of women's and men's sports, the student-athletes mainly compete in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), consisting of 8 Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the southeastern and mid-Atlantic United States.

The Hornets have been members of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference since 1970. While most teams play in the MEAC, the women's equestrian team plays in the ECAC/National Collegiate Equestrian Association, and the baseball, women's soccer, women's lacrosse, and women's golf teams compete in the Northeast Conference.

The Hornets have achieved notable success in basketball. The men's basketball team won the 2005 MEAC championship and earned a berth in the 2005 NCAA tournament. Playing as a sixteen-seed, the Hornets lost 57–46 in the opening round to one-seed Duke University. The women's basketball team won the 2006 MEAC championship and earned a berth in the 2006 NCAA tournament.

On the football field, the Delaware State Hornets football team represents DSU at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision level as a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, and plays at the 7,193-seat Alumni Stadium in Dover. In the 2007 season, the Hornets made a school record of 10 wins, won the MEAC championship, and made their first ever appearance in the NCAA playoffs.

In 2024, Delaware State announced the school would field a women's wrestling program, the first for an HBCU. The program would begin competition in 2025 when women's collegiate wrestling becomes an official NCAA sport.

Notable Alumni

Delaware State University has produced graduates who have contributed to public life, the arts, sciences, and professional sports. Among the most notable is jazz trumpeter Clifford Brown, who won the DownBeat magazine Critics' Poll for New Star of the Year in 1954 and was inducted into the DownBeat Hall of Fame in 1972.

In the visual arts, Simmie Lee Knox is an American painter who painted the official White House portrait of former United States President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton — he was the first Black American artist to receive a presidential portrait commission.

In professional football, Jamaal J. Jackson is a former American football center who played for nine seasons for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). After playing college football for Delaware State, he was signed by the Eagles as an undrafted free agent in 2003 and was the Eagles' starting center from 2005 to 2010.

In politics, Wayne Thomas Gilchrest is a former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives who represented Maryland's 1st congressional district. Robin R. Christiansen is an American politician who has served as the mayor of Dover, Delaware, having been elected mayor in a special election on June 17, 2014.

The growth and development of Delaware State University has been guided by the leadership of its 12 presidents, including Wesley P. Webb (1891–1895), William C. Jason (1895–1923), Richard S. Grossley (1923–1942), Howard D. Gregg (1942–1949), Jerome H. Holland (1953–1960), Luna I. Mishoe (1960–1987), William B. DeLauder (1987–2003), Allen L. Sessoms (2003–2008), Harry L. Williams (2010–2017), Wilma Mishoe (2018–2019), and Tony Allen (2020–present).