William Woods University

William Woods University is a private university in Fulton, Missouri. Founded in 1870, the university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Expanding its mission to address the need for graduate and adult-oriented programs, the institution became known as William Woods University in 1993. It began offering graduate degrees and admitting men as well as women into all of its programs. It enrolled 1,681 students in 2021. History First known as the Female Orphan School, the institution was founded in 1870 in Camden Point, Missouri in response to the needs of girls who were orphaned during the American Civil War. During the late nineteenth century, the institution moved to Fulton and expanded its elementary and secondary programs to accommodate young women who aspired to become teachers. Known briefly at the beginning of the twentieth century as Daughters College, it changed its name to William Woods College in 1900 to honor a major benefactor (William S. Woods, president of the National Bank of Commerce) and began offering a two-year college program. In 1962, anticipating dramatic changes in the role of American women in the labor force, William Woods became a four-year college. In 1952, future U.S. President Ronald Reagan gave a commencement address at the college in which he said that he "always thought of America as a place in the divine scheme of things that was set aside as a promised land." This is also a notable speech by the future President as it is one of his oldest surviving speeches.