In more than 120 years, the sweep of history has carried Morehead State University and its predecessor institution, the Morehead Normal School, from one makeshift classroom to the high-tech world of Internet-based classes and a radio telescope/space tracking system which reaches from a campus ridgetop literally to the stars.

One student appeared on the first day of class in October, 1887, in a little, rented cottage where the Adron Doran University Center now stands. Tens of thousands of students have come from the foothills and mountains, the river towns and the hillside farms of East Kentucky and beyond to seek the means to a better life in this beautiful, forested valley. Our first president, Frank Button, and his widowed mother, Phebe, literally spent their lives bringing "a light to the mountains" by founding a church-sponsored school to train teachers. The institution came under state control in 1922 and achieved university status in 1966.

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Today, Morehead State University enrolls more than 9,000 students from 100 Kentucky counties, 39 states and 27 nations. They are enrolled on campus, at regional campuses in Ashland, Jackson, Mount Sterling, Prestonsburg and West Liberty, and several other locations in East Kentucky and across the globe through the World Wide Web. MSU's Morehead campus is ranked among the safest in the nation.

Morehead State has been recognized for the fourth consecutive year as one of the top public universities in the South in the 2008 edition of "America's Best Colleges" by U.S.News & World Report. MSU is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges & Schools (SACS). More than 55,000 persons have received degrees from MSU. Nearly 80 degree programs are available on the two-year, four-year and graduate levels through four colleges (Caudill College of Humanities, College of Business, College of Education, and College of Science and Technology) and the Institute for Regional Analysis and Public Policy. Two-thirds of the faculty hold doctoral degrees. The University boasts a student to professor ratio of 16-to-1.  MSU supports its missions of teaching, applied research and public service through an annual budget in excess of $118 million.

Morehead State was the first institution in Kentucky to offer a complete degree program, the Master of Business Administration (MBA), totally through the World Wide Web. In addition, the University hosts graduate-level programs for nurse practitioners and physicians assistants through the University of Kentucky. The University has erected a space tracking system in partnership with NASA as the first component of the Space Science Center.  A new $15.6 million instruction and research support facility is under construction and additional funding is being sought for a $9.6 million second phase.

MSU established East Kentucky's first public radio station, WMKY, in 1965 and today provides this region of the state with a 24-hour network of three FM transmitters identified as Morehead State Public Radio. Preserving the region's cultural heritage is the primary responsibility of MSU's Kentucky Folk Art Center and Kentucky Center for Traditional Music, both of which are located in downtown Morehead.

Dr. Wayne D. Andrews took office Jan. 1, 2005 as the 13th president of the University. He came to MSU after serving as vice president for administration and chief operating officer at East Tennessee State University. President Andrews and his wife, Sue, live on campus in the President's Home which is listed  on the National Register of Historic Places.

The University is located in the foothills of the Daniel Boone National Forest in Rowan County, midway between Lexington, Ky., and Huntington, W.Va., on Interstate 64.

MSU is a charter member of the Ohio Valley Conference in NCAA Division I and sponsors 18 intercollegiate sports for men and women. The football Eagles compete in the Pioneer Football League. Our coed cheerleading squad has won 18 national championships and the all-girl squad has six national titles.