“F” is for Furman University. The Furman Academy and Theological Institution, organized by the South Carolina Baptist Convention (SCBC) opened its doors in 1827. In 1850, the state legislature chartered “The Furman University” composed of a department of college preparatory studies, a collegiate department composed of six “schools,” and a theological department—with graduate studies—that provided justification for Furman’s designation as a university. In 1924 the university was accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and named a beneficiary of the Duke Endowment. During the 1930s Greenville Women’s College became the coordinate women’s college of Furman. In 1953, the school opened a new nine hundred-acre campus on the outskirts of Greenville. In 1990 the school’s trustees voted to sever ties with the SCBC. Among Furman’s notable graduates was Nobel laureate Charles Hard Townes.
“F” is for Furman University
