Vincennes University, located in
Vincennes, Indiana, is best known to residents of Indiana as the state’s first college. As well, it is the 39th university ever to be created in the United States.
William Henry Harrison, the first governor of the Indiana territory (and later 9th
president of the U.S.) founded it in 1801, under the name
Jefferson Academy. In 1806, the Indiana territorial legislature passed an act to rename Jefferson Academy as
Vincennes University.
In 1889, Vincennes
University made the transition from a four-year
liberal arts college into a two-year junior college and trade school. By this act, it was one of the nation’s first institutions to recognize the roll of a junior college in the education system.
Today, Vincennes University is a model junior college, offering more than 150
associate degree programs and options. VU also offers seven extensive
baccalaureate degrees in specialized fields, mainly centering upon
computer technology. The university is mainly funded by
state grants and private donations. It is one of only a handful of
junior colleges in Indiana. It also offers
joint-admission programs with
Southern Indiana University and
Ball State University. VU has also branched out to include a second campus at
Jasper, Indiana, and extension sites at the
Indianapolis International Airport and the
Indiana School for the Deaf, which is also located in
Indianapolis.
The school has also been undergoing renovations to many departments, both
architecturally and educationally. By the fall of 2008, it hopes to be fully recognized once again as a four-year institution that offers baccalaureate degrees in all fields, as well as masters and doctorates programs in specialty areas. By 2010, it hopes to have extended its campuses, both at Vincennes and at Jasper to include at least 80 more acres combined. It will also have completed construction on its
state of the art Red Skelton Performing Arts Center on the Vincennes campus by the fall of 2006.
It has many of the major
intercollegeit sports, including
basketball, cross country, track and field, tennis, golf, and swimming/diving, all for both men and women, as well as women's vollyball and men's baseball. The school's team name is the
Trailblazers, a reference to the school's historic past. Most of the sports programs are strong pressences in the NJCAA, and both men and
women's basketball and
men's baseball teams hold national titles.
Vincennes University enrolls approximately 5,000 to 7,000 students each year, which includes
extension campus,
Internet, and
distance learning students. The school boasts of an excellent
Honors Program and a networked
military learning, or
ROTC, program. Because it is such a small school, many class sizes are 25 members or less. It is a relatively cheap school, at about $1500 a semester, including the price of books. It makes a great start to a great college education in the state of
Indiana.