Mississippi State University

The Mississippi State University of Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a land-grant university located in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, United States, partially in the town of Starkville and partially in an unincorporated area.Mississippi State, Mississippi, is the official designation for the area that encompasses the university.

It is classified as a "comprehensive doctoral research university with very high research activity" by the Carnegie Foundation. The university has campuses in Starkville (main), Meridian, Biloxi, and Vicksburg, Mississippi.

History

The University began as The Agricultural and Mechanical College of the State of Mississippi (or Mississippi A&M), one of the national land-grant colleges established after Congress passed the Morrill Act in 1862. It was created by the Mississippi Legislature on February 28, 1878, to fulfill the mission of offering training in "agriculture, horticulture and the mechanical arts . . . without excluding other scientific and classical studies, including military tactics." The university received its first students in the fall of 1880 in the presidency of General Stephen D. Lee.