Dillard University

Dillard University is a private historically Black university located in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded in 1930 through the merger of Straight College and New Orleans University, it is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church. Dillard offers undergraduate programs in the liberal arts, sciences, business, nursing, and public health. The university is known for its emphasis on academic rigor within a small campus environment and for its historic campus in the Gentilly neighborhood. With a mission rooted in expanding access to higher education, Dillard attracts students seeking a close-knit academic community and a strong tradition of African American educational leadership.

Dillard University was founded in 1930 in New Orleans, Louisiana, following the merger of Straight College and New Orleans University, two institutions established after the Civil War to educate formerly enslaved people and their descendants. The newly formed Dillard University was named for educator James H. Dillard and opened on its current Gentilly campus in 1935. Will W. Alexander served as the first president, and in 1936 William Stuart Nelson became the first full-time and first African American president. In 1941, Albert W. Dent began a long presidency marked by campus expansion and growth in academic programs, including advancements in nursing education. In the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, Dillard University continued to strengthen its liberal arts focus, expand facilities, and adapt to changing educational demands while maintaining its mission as a historically Black university.