Saginaw Valley State University

Higher education in the Saginaw Valley region dates back to the founding of Bay City Junior College in 1922. Though the junior college was replaced by Delta College in 1961, the area still lacked a four-year baccalaureate institution. Saginaw Valley College was founded as a private institution in November 1963, and became a state-supported institution in 1965. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] The name changed to Saginaw Valley State College in 1974 and again to Saginaw Valley State University in 1987. In 1955, civic leaders in the Saginaw Valley region met to discuss prospects for a local institution of higher education. The next year, a committee of 300 recommended a two-year community college which would expand to a four-year college. The two-year college, Delta, was approved by voters in 1958 and opened in 1961. Saginaw Valley College Articles of incorporation for what would become Saginaw Valley College (originally called Delta Senior University) were drawn up in 1963, and the state granted a charter to SVC as a private, four-year liberal arts institution. Samuel D. Marble, the president of Delta College, was appointed president of SVC in 1964. After holding both presidencies for four months, he resigned from Delta. The first class of 119 students completed two years at Delta and transferred to SVC. The first commencement ceremony was held in 1966 at a Midland church for a graduating class of ten. A site for a permanent SVC campus (the college was operating out of Delta's basement) was chosen in Kochville Township in 1966 and classes were moved to a building on that site the next year. Ground was broken for what would become Wickes Hall in the late summer. Saginaw Valley College received full accreditation by the North Central Association in April 1970. The college's athletic teams were named the Redbirds, shortly thereafter changed to Cardinals after two coaches spotted a kitchen decoration with a cardinal on it at a golf tournament in Kentucky.

In 1972, the Cardinals became a charter member of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, and in 1974 Frank "Muddy" Waters was hired as the college's first football coach.

The name changed to Saginaw Valley State College in 1974. That same year, Samuel D. Marble, the college's president who had also served in that role at Delta College, submitted his resignation. Marble had also served as president of Wilmington College (Ohio) in Ohio. He would be named president emeritus and is honored with a lecture hall named in his honor in Wickes Hall. In November 1974, Jack M. Ryder became president of the college. A report by the Michigan Efficiency Task Force in 1977 recommended to then-Governor William G. Milliken that SVSC and Delta could be run more efficiently if they were combined, an idea which gained no traction. In 1980 the Higher Learning Commission/North Central Association continued this accreditation and granted accreditation at the master's degree level. Both accreditations have been retained continuously since the original accreditation. Also in 1980, two Japanese students attended SVSC for two weeks, beginning what is now a flourishing international student enrollment. A fire in 1985 destroyed financial records, registration files, and other important records. [ 7 ] The college became home to the works of the noted sculptor Marshall M. Fredericks in June 1987.

On November 5, 1987, SVSC became Saginaw Valley State University. Jack Ryder resigned as president in 1989 and Eric R. Gilbertson succeeded him. An off-campus location was opened in Cass City in 1991. In 2000, George W. Bush visited the Ryder Center days before the election where he would be elected President of the United States . The annual Battle of the Valleys , a fundraising competition against rival Grand Valley State University , was established in 2003. In 2009, SVSU alumnus Tony Ceccacci was the lead flight director for STS-125 , a mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope , and an SVSU pennant was sent to space on board the Space Shuttle Atlantis . The pennant is currently on display in Pioneer Hall. On June 18, 2013, President Gilbertson announced his intention to retire when the university's board of control finds his replacement. [ 8 ] Ming Chuan University , the first Asian university to be accredited in the United States, opened their Michigan Campus in Gilbertson Hall in 2014. [ 9 ] In 2015, SVSU applied to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to receive a Community Engagement Classification. To be selected, institutions provide descriptions and examples of institutionalized practices of community engagement that showed alignment among mission, culture, leadership, resources and practices. The designation is in effect for 10 years.