Delaware State University

Overview

Delaware State University is a privately governed, state-assisted historically Black land-grant research university in Dover, Delaware, with satellite campuses in Wilmington and Georgetown. It was established as the Delaware College for Colored Students by the Delaware General Assembly on May 15, 1891, renamed the State College for Colored Students in 1893 to avoid confusion with the whites-only Delaware College in Newark, and first awarded degrees in 1898. It gained provisional accreditation in 1945, became Delaware State College by legislative action in 1948 (its accreditation was revoked in 1949 and regained in 1957), and took its present name, Delaware State University, on July 1, 1993. It was also among the first HBCUs to adopt a no-smoking policy.

Recent History

In December 2020, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott donated $20 million to Delaware State University — the largest single gift in the university’s history. On July 1, 2021, the university finalized its acquisition of Wesley College, a 157-year-old private institution founded by the Methodist Church in 1873, making Delaware State the first HBCU to acquire an institution that was not itself historically Black. The former Wesley campus, renamed “DSU Downtown,” now houses much of the university’s College of Health and Behavioral Science.