Alfred University was founded in 1836 as a non-sectarian select school by
Seventh Day Baptists. Unusual for the time, the school was
co-educational, and within its first 20 years enrolled its first African-American and Native American students. From its founding as a select school, the institution received a charter as Alfred Academy from the New York State Board of Regents in 1842. Focused initially on the education of teachers, the institution continued to grow. In 1855, a curriculum was created for the Academic Department and the Collegiate with courses divided into three areas: the classic, the scientific and one for women involves most subjects in the other areas. There was no theology course in the initial period, however, the desire to organize a theological seminary led the academy, through Jonathan Allen, an early teacher, later second president, to apply for a license for a government-accredited university. After facing difficulties for more than two years, he received his charter as Alfred University from the New York State Legislature in March 1857, so that years later the Department of Theology was created. The college has evolved into the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and contains certain departments of both the School of Engineering and the School of Art and Design. The engineering curriculum includes the study of ceramics and glass, while the School of Art and Design provides art practice instruction in ceramics and glass. The College of Ceramics remains part of the State University of New York system, while Alfred University also maintains a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a College of Business in its private sector. In 1908, the New York State Legislature approved the formation of the New York College of Agriculture at Alfred University. That college became autonomous in 1941 as a junior college, and, in 1948, became a member of the
State University of New York system. While a separate and autonomous institution,
Alfred State College, located on the opposite side of Main Street in the Village of Alfred, maintains close relations with Alfred University, and both institutions host an annual "Hot Dog Day" in the spring. The origin of the name "Alfred" is uncertain. Residents of the town and students at the two schools believe that the town received its name in honor of
Alfred the Great, king of the Saxons, although the first documented occurrence of this connection was in 1881, 73 years after the first record of the name being used to describe the geophysical area during assignments by the state legislature. State records which might have verified the connection between the Saxon king and the university were lost in a fire in 1911. Regardless of whether the connection is historically accurate, Alfred University has embraced King Alfred as a
symbol of the school's educational values, and a statue of the king stands in the center of the campus quad. Alfred University has hosted guest lecturers, artists and musicians including
Frederick Douglass,
Ralph Waldo Emerson and
Ghostface Killah. In April 2000, Alfred University received national attention when freshman Eric Zuckerman orchestrated a campus visit from then–First Lady,
Hillary Clinton, during her campaign for the United States Senate from New York. In the 1990s, Alfred University, together with
Corning Incorporated and the State of
New York, began developing the Ceramic Corridor, an incubator project designed to take advantage of the emerging ceramics industry and to create new jobs. This industrial development program has focused on developing start-up industries between Corning, NY and Alfred, NY and includes business incubator facilities in Alfred and Corning. Since its initiation, the incubator facility in Alfred has joined The Western New York Incubator Network. stands at the center of AU's quad, and is often decorated by students. In this picture, he has a
Jack-o'-lantern on his head for Halloween 2019, leading to his temporary renaming as 'Pumpking Alfred'. In 1971, the village of Alfred, where the university is located, became only the fourth municipality in the U.S. to ban employment discrimination based on sexuality. Amidst the dissolution of the AU Greek System, the
Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity chapter at Alfred University led a successful effort to ban discrimination based on religion, age, disability, and sexual orientation in the constitution of the 210 chapter international fraternity in 2002. Alfred University's ranking by
U.S. News & World Report in its 2021 edition of Best Colleges is Regional Universities North, #45, while in 2019 the university had an acceptance rate of 66% with the middle 50% of students admitted having an SAT score between 940 and 1180 or an ACT score between 20 and 27. ==Events and culture==