Summary
Midwestern State University is a public liberal arts college in Wichita Falls, Texas, United States, and a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. As of 2009 it had about 6,500 students.
Midwestern is one of four independent public universities in Texas unaffiliated with a state public university system. It is the state's only public liberal arts college.
History
Founded in 1922 as Wichita Falls Junior College, it was renamed Hardin Junior College in 1937 when it moved to its present location off Taft Boulevard. In 1946, a senior division was added and it was renamed Hardin College. In January 1950, the name changed to Midwestern University, the junior college division remaining Hardin Junior College. In these years, wider recognition came to the school. In March 1948, the University became a member of the Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. In January 1959, the University added a Graduate School which received full approval from the State Board of Education in August of that year.
A further change in the school's status came September 1, 1961, when by action of the 56th session of the Texas State Legislature, Midwestern University became part of the Texas Colleges and Universities System and the junior college division was dissolved. In 1975, the Texas Legislature changed the name to Midwestern State University.
From its beginnings as a municipal junior college housed in a high school building, Midwestern has become a state university whose campus of 255 acres and 70 buildings offers a wide variety of academic programs in liberal and fine arts, mathematics, sciences, business, and applied sciences.[1]
Academics
Midwestern State University is organized into seven colleges with 16 undergraduate programs offering 43 majors and 30 minors, and 9 graduate programs offering 28 majors and 15 minors.
MSU is the only university in Texas with membership in the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges and was the first public university in Texas to establish a core curriculum. The university is also a member of the Association of American Colleges and Universities.
Athletics
Midwestern State fields 12 intercollegiate NCAA Division II athletic teams. MSU is a member of the Lone Star Conference (LSC). The school mascot is the mustang.
Student life
The university's campus covers 255 acres (1.0 km2) with over 50 buildings uniformly built of red brick with tiled roofs and arched facades.
Students are members of sixteen nationally-affiliated fraternities and sororities. Sororities on campus include Sigma Kappa,[XZO], Chi Omega, Gamma Phi Beta, Alpha Phi, Kappa Delta Chi, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, and Sigma Lambda Alpha. Fraternities are [XZO] Tau Kappa Epsilon, Sigma Nu, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Phi Sigma Kappa, Omega Delta Phi, Kappa Sigma, Alpha Phi Alpha and Kappa Alpha Psi.
There are more than one hundred other student organizations on campus, such as the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, several musical organizations, and sports clubs such as MSU Rugby. Air Force ROTC is also offered with a cross-town agreement with the University of North Texas.
There is a campus newspaper, The Wichitan, and a student-run television channel and production studio, MSU-TV2.