William Carey University (Carey, William Carey, or WCU) is a private Christian university in Mississippi, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and the Mississippi Baptist Convention. The main campus is in Hattiesburg, and a second campus is in the Tradition community north of Biloxi.
William Carey University was founded by W. I. Thames in 1892 as Pearl River Boarding School in Poplarville, Mississippi. A disastrous fire destroyed the school in 1905, and in 1906, with the backing of a group of New Orleans businessmen, Thames reopened the school in Hattiesburg as South Mississippi College. Another fire destroyed the young institution, forcing it to close. In 1911, W. S. F. Tatum acquired the property and offered it as a gift to the Baptists, and the school reopened as Mississippi Woman's College. In 1953, the Mississippi Baptist Convention voted to make the college coeducational, which necessitated a new name. In 1954, the board of trustees selected the name William Carey College in honor of William Carey, the 18th-century English cordwainer-linguist whose decades of missionary activity in India earned him international recognition as the "Father of Modern Missions." The gained official university status in 2006.
The university offers baccalaureate degrees, Master's degrees, and doctoral degrees. William Carey opened the college of Osteopathic Medicine in 2009 and welcomed its first class of 110 students in 2010. The academic year comprises three trimesters of eleven weeks each. Two summer sessions, a January Term, and a May Term are also offered.
History
The institution that is now William Carey University had its earliest origins in Poplarville, Mississippi, when the noted educator W. I. Thames opened Pearl River Boarding School in 1892. As did many institutions of its day, Pearl River Boarding School offered "elementary, preparatory, and some college work." A disastrous fire destroyed the school in 1905, and Professor Thames moved to Hattiesburg where, with the backing of a group of New Orleans businessmen, he opened South Mississippi College in 1906. After a fire destroyed this campus, W.S.F. Tatum acquired the property and in 1911, opened the school as Mississippi Woman's College. In 1954, the Board of Trustees, changed its name to William Carey College when the college became coeducational. The school is named for the 18th century English cobbler-linguist whose decades of missionary activity in India earned him international recognition as the "Father of Modern Protestant Missions" William Carey D.D. (1761–1834).
In 1939, the school, which was then called the Mississippi Woman's College, took third place in the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, and it remains the only women's college to ever place in that competition.
In 1968 William Carey entered a new era when it announced a merger with the Mather School of Nursing in New Orleans.
In 1976, the college purchased the Gulf Coast Military Academy campus in Gulfport. The beachfront property was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, and classes were held in other facilities until the William Carey University-Tradition Campus opened in August 2009. Located off Highway 67 in Biloxi, it is the center of the 4,800-acre Tradition Planned Community.
On August 14, 2006, William Carey University celebrated its Centennial. This day also marked the transition of William Carey College to William Carey University.
Accreditation
William Carey University is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, master's, specialist and doctoral degrees. It is also accredited by the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE) for its business and management programs offered through the School of Business.
The William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine is the 29th osteopathic medical school in the United States. Upon the graduation of its inaugural class in 2014, the school was fully accredited by the American Osteopathic Association's Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation.
William Carey University's School of Business has the following degree programs accredited by the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education: Master of Business Administration, Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with concentrations in: Accounting, Finance, Computer Information Systems, Management/Marketing, Workforce Training and Management.