Our tradition is more than history. It’s excellence in higher education and service everyday for 125 years. It’s is more than customs. It’s collaboration in learning, teaching, and working together on our campus and in our community, city, state, country and world. It’s more than values. It’s preparing students to solve problems creatively, celebrating what makes each of us unique, and encouraging exploration and discovery.
Henderson State University is more than a public learning institution: it’s where we aspire to be a vital educational and cultural center for our local community, region, and state. Our faculty and staff are dedicated to serving a diverse student body from across Arkansas and over twenty-five other states as well as a number of foreign countries. We encourage scholarly and creative activities in a caring, personal atmosphere that reflects the university’s motto for over a century: The School with a Heart.
The mission of Henderson State University is to provide a learning environment that prepares students for a lifetime of intellectual and personal growth in an increasingly global society. This bridges students’ academic aspirations to career success by integrating professional studies and the liberal arts.
At Henderson State University, we empower everyone – students, faculty, staff, alumni and supporters – in persisting and excelling in the spirit that all things are possible. That spirit is tradition in action, and it’s what makes Henderson State University more than a public liberal arts college.
Second to none in spirit
What do a former two-term Arkansas governor, Medal of Honor recipient, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, Academy Award-winning screenwriter and actor, former general and chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force, professional golfer and crime novelist have in common? They all attended Henderson State University. Here is a little more about Henderson by the numbers.
- One of 10 public universities in Arkansas, but the only one named for an individual, Charles Christopher Henderson.
- The second oldest public, four-year-degree-granting institution in the state, behind only the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
- Six different names, 17 presidents, 124 years, but only one Reddie spirit.