University Timeline (1987- Present)

1987 The ASU Convocation Center opens. Spring Commencement is the first event held in the new facility.

July 1, 1992 Arkansas State University begins its first capital campaign.

1992 Eugene W. Smith retires as ASU’s president.

1992 White River Vo-Tech becomes a part of ASU-Beebe; it later attains stand-alone status and becomes ASU-Newport.

1992 ASU Football moves to Division I-A level.

1992 ASU grants its first doctoral degree in educational leadership to Jane Jamison of Jonesboro.

July 13, 1992 John Mangeri becomes the newest president of Arkansas State University.

1993 ASU baseball is played on George Kell Field in the new J.A. “Ike” Tomlinson Stadium.

1994 New athletic logo replaces “Runnin’ Joe.”

April 1994 Dr. Robert Hoskins is appointed interim president of Arkansas State.

July 1994 Dr. Mossie Richmond is appointed as acting president following the sudden death of Dr. Robert Hoskins.

August 1994 Dr. Eugene W. Smith returns as interim president of Arkansas State University while a nationwide search for a new president is conducted.

December 14, 1994 The Judd Hill Foundation makes a $1 million gift to the Arkansas State University Foundation to endow the Judd Hill Chair in Environmental Biology. It is the first million-dollar gift to the university’s foundation.

April 24, 1995 The Sturgis Trust, operating in memory of Roy and Christine Sturgis, makes a $1 million gift to the ASU Foundation to fund scholarships to Arkansas State University’s brightest students.

1995 U.S. President and Arkansas native William Jefferson Clinton dedicates the eight-story bell tower that highlights the expansion of the Dean B. Ellis Library and integrates it with the ASU Museum

July 1, 1995 James Leslie Wyatt becomes the tenth president of Arkansas State University.

July 1, 1995 ASU establishes a campus at Mountain Home, Arkansas, to be known as ASU-Mountain Home.

June 30, 1996  ASU’s first-ever capital campaign ends successfully after five years with charitable gifts made to the ASU Foundation totaling more than $21 million.

1997 KASU celebrates 40 years of public radio service to the university and the region.

August 1997 Arkansas State begins offering a doctoral degree in Environmental Science.

1998 Jonesboro residents Wallace and Jama Fowler presents a $5 million gift to the university toward the construction of a performing arts center. At the time, it is the largest gift in the history of the ASU Foundation.

Fall 1998 A class of 80 students begins degree work at what quickly becomes ASU-Heber Springs, a satellite campus of ASU-Beebe.

1999 The men’s basketball team appears in the NCAA Tournament for the first time.

July 1999 The Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center opens in Piggott, Arkansas as the university's first off-campus heritage site.

2000 The Equine Center, home of Garry Meadows Arena, opens at the northeastern corner of the campus.

2000 Collegiate Park, a new concept in upperclassman student housing, is completed.

2000 ASU Men’s Rugby Club receives national recognition, winning the National Championship Division II, Plate Division.

January 2001 Fowler Center, named for Wallace and Jama Fowler, opens as the regions new home for civic, arts and community activity.

August 2001 A third doctoral degree, in Heritage Studies, is offered. The first class has 14 students.

September 13, 2002 ASU alumna Kathy Brittain White makes a $2 million gift to the ASU Foundation to establish the Horizon Institute of Technology.

November 14, 2002 ASU President Dr. Les Wyatt announced a $2.8 million gift to the ASU Foundation from the estate of ASU alumnus James L. Thompson.

July 1, 2001 Delta Technical Institute at Marked Tree merges with Arkansas State University and becomes the ASU Technical Center.

Spring 2003 First nurse anesthesia program in the State of Arkansas is established at Arkansas State University.

July 1, 2003 Foothills Technical Institute merges with ASU-Beebe to become ASU-Searcy, a technical institute of ASU-Beebe.

September 2003 Darrell and Charlotte Pugh Cooper of Clarkston, Michigan make a gift of more than $2 million toward the construction a new alumni center on the ASU campus.

March 24, 2004 The $18 million Student Union opens on the ASU campus. Students began working toward the new building in 1997, when the Student Government Association voted to assess students a $10 per credit hour fee to pay for the facility.

April 22, 2004 The Judd Hill Foundation makes a second gift to the Arkansas State University Foundation to endow the Judd Hill Chair in Agricultural Biotechnology.

September 18, 2004 A public celebration is held to mark the opening of the Arkansas Biosciences Institute. The ABI was created as the major research component of the Tobacco Settlement Proceeds Act of 2000, which was approved in the general election by 64 percent of Arkansas voters.

September 10, 2005 The Judd Hill Foundation makes its third $1 million charitable gift to the Arkansas State University Foundation to construct Judd Hill Center, home of the ASU Foundation.

October 2006 Dr. Robert L. Potts becomes the first chancellor of Arkansas State University-Jonesboro.  Dr. Les Wyatt becomes first president of the Arkansas State University System.

October 2006 The Southern Tenant Farmers Museum opens in Tyronza, Arkansas as the university's second off-campus heritage site.

June 2007 The largest gift in ASU history--$14.5 million--is made to the ASU Foundation from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation for the construction of the Reynolds Center for Health Sciences. 

September 2007   The Lakeport Plantation opens in Lake Village, Arkansas as the university's third off-campus heritage site.

February 28, 2008   The athletic nickname and mascot, 'Indians' and the Indian Family, are officially retired during a halftime ceremony at the men's basketball game between ASU and Louisiana-Monroe.

March 13, 2008   Red Wolves becomes the "new face" of ASU & ASU athletics.  A roll-out ceremony took place at the Student Union to unveil the new mascot & imagery for the Red Wolves.