Jacksonville State University (JSU) was founded in 1883 as a State Normal School in the city of Jacksonville, Alabama, and it did not become a university until 1966 when a name change was required to reflect the institution’s continuing growth.

Today the university is home to more than 8,600 students, the majority of whom are undergraduates. The university also has study options at master’s and Education Specialist level, and in 2011 JSU offered its first doctoral degree course in Science in Emergency Management.

There are four main academic colleges – the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Nursing, the College of Education and Professional Studies, and the College of Commerce and Business Administration – which offer the vast majority of the four-year JSU courses.

The main university campus is comprised of 59 buildings spread over a 459-acre plot in northeast Alabama, in addition to two smaller satellite campuses known as Little River Canyon Center campus in Fort Payne, and McClellan campus in Anniston, Alabama.

The main campus is the flagship campus for Jacksonville State and has a range of state-of-the-art education facilities, sports facilities and a range of university residential halls.

JSU is also home to The Marching Southerners, the university marching band that was established in 1956 and are recognised as one of the leading college bands in the United States, winning the George Washington Honor Medal for their 2009 ‘Of Thee I Sing’ show. Together with the JSU dance team, the Marching Southerners performed at the New Years Day Parade in London in 2012.