Alderson Broaddus University derived its name from the merging of two Baptist institutions in 1932. The older of the two,
Broaddus Institute, was founded in
Winchester, Virginia, in 1871 by Edward Jefferson Willis, a Baptist minister who named the new school after William Francis Ferguson Broaddus, a prominent Baptist minister at the time of the
American Civil War. In response to economic hard times, Broaddus Institute was moved across the
Allegheny Mountains to
Clarksburg, West Virginia, in 1876. The college was moved again to the small town of Philippi in 1909. In 1918, it transitioned back to its former name
Broaddus College. The other institution,
Alderson Academy, was founded in
Alderson, West Virginia, in 1901 by Emma C. Alderson, a committed Baptist laywoman. Designed as a home school, it provided academic work in
classics, sciences and
normal studies. Originally supported by the Greenbrier Baptist Church, control was assumed by the West Virginia Baptist Association in 1910. As the years passed, Broaddus became a junior college, then a senior college—first granting
baccalaureate degrees in 1926—and Alderson Academy also added junior college status. Financial hardship in the late 1920s led to a decision to merge the two colleges, which shared common missions and outlooks as Baptist and liberal arts institutions; the merged institution,
Alderson-Broaddus College, opened its doors in 1932. Since its founding, Alderson-Broaddus had been committed to a strong liberal arts education that seeks to imbue students with an appreciation of literature and the arts, Christian faith, music, and the sciences. In more recent times, the college was focused on developing programs in the natural and applied sciences as well. In 1945, Alderson-Broaddus developed the first four-year
nursing and the first
radiologic technology programs in West Virginia. A portion of the physical assets of
Storer College, a
historically black Baptist college founded in 1865 in
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, were transferred to Alderson-Broaddus in 1964 and used to fund the "Storer Scholarship" given annually to an African-American student. In 1968, the college pioneered the nation's first four-year
physician assistant (PA) program, an innovation that had significant influence on the development of the PA profession nationwide. From this program emerged in 1991 the college's first graduate degree offering, the Physician Assistant Master's program. In 2011, the college chose Richard Creehan as president. Creehan embarked on a plan to expand the college and the institution increased enrollment by over 600 students, expanded the athletic department, and added many new academic programs. In 2013, the college's board of governors renamed the institution to Alderson Broaddus University. That same year, the institution matriculated the largest incoming freshman class in school history. In June 2017, the Higher Learning Commission put the University on probation because it determined that the institution was at risk due to financial difficulties. In 2019, it was no longer on probation, due to improved financial performance. On July 31, 2023, the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission revoked Alderson Broaddus University's ability to confer degrees after the end of 2023 and ordered to it cease admitting students so it can begin to close. The commission stated that the "University's financial condition renders the institution unable to create a stable, effective, and safe learning environment for its students". The state's governor,
Jim Justice, worked to help the university stay open and resolve its financial challenges, but they were so significant that the university had failed to pay its recent utility bills. On the same day, the university's board of trustees voted to close the university. On August 31, 2023, the campus filed for
Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation. ==Campus==