After a long history of service, Delaware State University has a promising future

Editor's note: This year, Delaware State University is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its designation as a university. The News Journal is publishing a series of articles this week by DSU leaders, alumni, students and supporters about the school's past, present and future. This op-ed was written by Wilma Mishoe, the 11th president of Delaware State University and the first woman to serve in that role.

"Enter to learn, go forth to serve."

The motto that stood at the entrance of Delaware State University for decades is etched on the heart of every student, faculty and staff member who has spent some of the most important moments in their life at 1200 North DuPont Highway. The simplicity of that concept is a powerful testament to the notion that access to quality education is fundamental to a healthy citizenry — “service above self.” 

These notions have fueled our existence for 127 years, but that history pales in comparison to our ambitions.

For many years, separate but equal Delaware would not give students of color a chance to get a high school education, and only Howard High School and Delaware State College afforded us that opportunity.  

Before the University of Delaware would accept a single African-American into its family, only Delaware State College would provide a comprehensive college degree, which made us the leading producers of black educators, nurses and social workers in the state. 

Before anybody paid attention to the quality of our students or our faculty, we grew into a university with historic enrollment, a full complement of undergraduate and graduate options, a $22 million research portfolio, the most racially and ethnically diverse campus in the state, and one of the leading Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the country.

Still, many call us the hidden gem, the school behind that brick wall on Route 13.  

More op-eds

Delaware progressives didn't get their revolution. What happens now?

This young entrepreneur is what Delaware's economy needs

The people of Ellendale deserve clean water

I remember when Delaware State College became Delaware State University almost as if it were yesterday. I was about halfway through my career as a dean at Delaware Technical and Community College, and thinking about running for a seat on the Capital School Board of Education.

When I saw Gov. Tom Carper and Delaware State University President William B. DeLauder sitting at the table to sign the document conferring university status, my mind went back to the 1960s, when I spent my teenage years growing up on the Dover campus.

In 1960 my father, Dr. Luna Mishoe, began what turned out to be a 27-year-long career as the college president. I would grow up on campus before I left to attend Howard University in 1967.

As I wander around the university’s main campus today, I am constantly struck by the similarities and differences I see. So many of our traditions and so many of the buildings (like Loockerman, Delaware and Grossley Halls) are still standing. But today they exist side by side with a new Martin Luther King Jr. Student Center, the glass-walled OSCAR Building and the Claibourne D. Smith Administration Building.

Grossley Hall, which used to be my father’s office and held the registrar’s office, is today the new on-campus home of the Early College High School, International Programs, and a number of labs for Computer and Information Sciences.

I take comfort in seeing some of the same trees that stood on campus 50 years ago throwing off shade like old friends.

Watching the students hurrying to class and laughing with their friends, I am constantly struck with how different, yet unchanged, they are from the students who have always come to us. The clothes and hairstyles have changed, of course, and today’s students can’t be separated from their smartphones, but in essence they remain the same bright-eyed, curious and intent young people who have always sat in our classrooms.

Delaware State College began its existence 127 years ago as the Delaware College for Colored Students, to subsequently be changed by the General Assembly in 1893 to the State College for Colored Students to avoid confusion with then-Delaware College (now the University of Delaware). If you were a Delaware citizen of African-American (or even Native American) descent and you wanted to work toward a college degree, Delaware State College was pretty much the only game in town. 

The original allocation of funds from the General Assembly awarded Delaware State College just $1,000 in the 1893 budget (the University of Delaware received the princely sum of $6,000). There has always been disparity of funding for institutions that serve students like ours — promising young souls who have either been overlooked, underserved or underprepared. Our professional lives at Delaware State are spent balancing resources against revenue to ensure that they get the quality education they deserve.

We choose to focus on the opportunities we have, not the resources we have to scramble to assemble. And that focus shows up in our students every single day.

By 1987, when my father retired as president, it was clear that because of his leadership, the status and importance of Delaware State College was rising.

His successor, Dr. William B. DeLauder, took the next logical step. He instituted a major building program, boldly envisioned the elimination of internal streets to make Delaware State the tree-filled walking campus we see today, and pushed hard to obtain increased state funding, develop graduate programs and expand the campus’ physical infrastructure.

Dr. DeLauder knocked on every door in the state and became quickly convinced that, without growing the institution to university status, Delaware State College would never be recognized as the sole public land-grant institution in the state and the only one that could truly say that access to higher education did not depend on what you looked like, where you came from or how much money your parents had. He found a ready ally in then-Gov. Carper, who eagerly helped lobby the General Assembly to authorize the change.

It was not an easy sell in many quarters — even among the institution’s own faculty and staff. People worried about whether the institution was ready to take its rightful place. But neither Dr. DeLauder nor Gov. Carper would be deterred.

Twenty-five years have more than proven the vision of these two men and the foundation of men and women upon whose shoulders they stand. 

Today, Delaware State University is approaching a historic enrollment of 5,000 — one of the only HBCUs in the nation to consistently increase the size of its student body over the past 10 years. The university awards multiple doctorates, conducts big-league research and is home to nationally recognized aviation, nursing and education programs, as well as internationally accredited business programs, among many others.

Yet our campus also retains that sense of family and community that has always made it special. Here is where you find the advisers, the professors, the financial aid staff and all the other people who are determined to support each and every student. 

Here is where you find students supporting each other in late-night study sessions. Here is where you find Inspire Scholars giving back thousands of hours in community service around Delaware.

Here is where you find the young men and women who will help change our world.

I have been away, but now I have come home. As the 11th president of Delaware State University, I have the charge of shepherding this great institution forward into the age of fully realized digital learning, online courses, and new fields of research and service.

I am guided by the principle advanced by the great Christian writer, G.K. Chesterton, who considered education “the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.” Heart and soul, we anticipate even more than another 127 years of educating young people to “go forth and serve.”