Brief History of Athens State

Athens State University is the oldest college in the state of Alabama. The institution was founded in 1822 by local citizens who purchased five acres of land, erected a building, and established Athens Female Academy. In 1842, ownership of the institution was transferred to the Tennessee Conference of the Methodist Church. The institution then came under the jurisdiction of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church when the Conference was established in 1870.

On May 10, 1974, the Board of Trustees requested permission from the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church that the institution be allowed to seek affiliation with the State of Alabama. The Conference, at its annual meeting in June, 974, granted the Board of Trustees permission and authorized the transfer of the institution to the State of Alabama.

In June 1975, the institution was accepted by the Alabama State Board of Education subject to the appropriation of operating funds by the Alabama Legislature. Later that year, the Legislature appropriated funds for the operation of the institution to serve the graduates of state junior, community, and technical colleges/institutes.

Through these changes in governance and purpose, the institution’s name has changed several times in its history. Athens Female Academy, upon transfer to the Tennessee Conference of the Methodist Church in 1842, became Athens Female Institute. Then in 1889 after transfer to the newly formed North Alabama Conference, the Institute became known as Athens Female College. In 1931, the College became coeducational and was renamed Athens College. In 1975, when the institution became part of the state educational system, it was renamed Athens State College, marking the initiation of a new era of for the institution as an upper-division institution. In 1998, an act of the Alabama Legislature renamed the College as Athens State University.

By an act of the Alabama Legislature effective October 1, 2012, Athens State University was removed from governance under the Alabama State Board of Education and Department of Postsecondary Education, and from membership in the Alabama Community College System. On that date, an autonomous Board of Trustees assumed all authority over the University.

The long history of service by the University is the foundation upon which the future of the University rests.