Fisk University

Founded in 1866, shortly after the end of the Civil War, Fisk University is a historically black university, and is the oldest institution of higher learning in Nashville, Tennessee. Fisk’s outstanding faculty and students continue to enhance the University’s national reputation for academic excellence, which is validated year after year by the leading third party reviewers, as well as, by the pool of talented applicants and the large percentage of alumni who complete graduate or professional degrees and become leaders and scholars in their fields.

Fisk University produces graduates from diverse backgrounds with the integrity and intellect required for substantive contributions to society. Our curriculum is grounded in the liberal arts. Our faculty and administrators emphasize the discovery and advancement of knowledge through research in the natural and social sciences, business and the humanities.We are committed to the success of scholars and leaders with global perspective.

From its founding in 1866, academic excellence has been the hallmark of Fisk University, one of the foremost research and teaching universities in the United States. Fisk offers its students an exceptional curriculum and dynamic learning and mentoring experiences with an award-winning, professionally renowned faculty.

The International Student Services (ISS) is under the Division of Student Engagement and its goal is to provide high quality services and support programs that meet the needs of international students at Fisk University. The services include assisting international students with their initial adjustment to life at Fisk University and in the United States; and also providing information and advising on immigration regulations helping students to understand their F-1 regulations and status maintenance.

The W.E.B. Du Bois General University Honors Program, designed for students who have demonstrated academic capability, fosters excellence in scholarship throughout the student’s college career by encouraging and promoting honors studies and activities in the total life of the University.

Students who complete the program graduate with “General University Honors,” a designation that indicates exceptional scholastic performance marked by individual initiative, creative ability, keen intellectual insight, and excellence in oral and written expression.

The Office of Recruitment and Admission identifies and recruits talented students to comprise the entering class annually.We are looking for students of demonstrated academic acumen that possess strong records of leadership and service. Our holistic review process can be simply stated with one question: “How will Fisk be better if I attend?” We begin to answer that question with a review of your academic record and a review of your demonstrated service. Within the last four years, our applicant pool has grown increasingly competitive. In fact, a better than “B” average is now the norm for students regularly accepted for study at Fisk.

Fisk is authorized under Federal law to enroll non-immigrant students. International students should follow regular admission procedures for new freshmen or transfer students. In addition, international freshmen applicants should submit both secondary school academic records, including all grade reports (transcripts), and national examination certificates.These records must be in both the original language and certified English translation. In addition to the aforementioned items, prospective International undergraduate students must also have their transcripts evaluated by independent audit.

Fisk University offers merit-based scholarships to help academically talented students cover the cost of their education as University resources permit. In addition to a competitive academic record, students interested in merit-based awards should also present a record of demonstrated leadership and community service.Scholarships are not guaranteed and there is no separate application. Students are evaluated on the strength of their admission application in comparison against the applicant pool. The standard deadline for institutional scholarship consideration is November 1.

In 1865, barely six months after the end of the Civil War and just two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, three men — John Ogden, the Reverend Erastus Milo Cravath, and the Reverend Edward P. Smith — established the Fisk School in Nashville.

The school was named in honor of General Clinton B. Fisk of the Tennessee Freedmen's Bureau, who provided the new institution with facilities in former Union Army barracks near the present site of Nashville's Union Station. In these facilities Fisk convened its first classes on January 9, 1866. The first students ranged in age from seven to seventy, but shared common experiences of slavery and poverty — and an extraordinary thirst for learning.

Probably no single institution has played so central a role as Fisk in the shaping of black learning and culture in America. The Fisk tradition of leadership and excellence continued throughout the 20th century and is being carried on today. Thurgood Marshall, who later became the first African-American Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, was among the early participants in Charles S. Johnson's famous Race Relations Institute at Fisk. John Hope Franklin, the most eminent historian of the African-American experience, is a Fisk alumnus. Timothy B. Donaldson, Ambassador of the Bahamas to the United States and the Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States is a Fisk alumnus.