Voorhees History

Voorhees University, founded by Elizabeth Evelyn Wright in 1897, is a private, coeducational institution affiliated with the Episcopal Church and the United Negro College Fund. The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award baccalaureate and graduate degrees. Its mission is to produce highly qualified graduates who coalesce intellect and faith in pursuit of life-long learning, healthy living, the betterment of society, and an abiding faith in God.

Wright, who studied under Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee Institute, was a native of Talbotton, Georgia, and wanted to start a school to educate black children. Her desire was fulfilled, at the age of 23, when she founded a school that would later become Voorhees University. Wright survived many adversities including threats, attacks, and arson; not to mention poor health. Undeterred and envisioning a better future for blacks through education, she founded Denmark Industrial School in 1897, modeling it after Tuskegee.

New Jersey philanthropist Ralph Voorhees and his wife donated $5,000 to buy the land and build the first building, allowing the school to open in 1902 with Wright as principal. It was the only high school for blacks in the area. In 1924 the American Church Institutes for Negroes, which was part of the Episcopal Church, agreed to support the school. It began a long relationship between the school and the church, an affiliation that continues today. In 1947, the school became Voorhees School and Junior College. In 1962, it was accredited as a four-year institution and the name changed to Voorhees College. In 2022, Voorhees celebrated its 125th anniversary and became Voorhees University. 

https://www.voorhees.edu/our-college/history 

Voorhees Culture

Led by our 10th President, Dr. Ronnie Hopkins, Voorhees University is a small liberal arts faith-based institution in rural Denmark, South Carolina reaching the “Next Level of Excellence.” The university has approximately 500 students who have the option of attending the institution online or in person. Annual activities to complement academics include welcome week, homecoming and spring fest with artists and acts from across the nation. Students also attend special convocations and chapel regularly. They learn inside and outside the classroom as the university places a priority on service learning and community engagement. Students can study abroad in places like Senegal, Ghana, and other African countries. The student body includes many international students from the Bahamas, Jamaica, Liberia and Nigeria. Voorhees also has demonstrated success in athletics with championship-winning programs in men’s basketball and national qualifiers for men’s and women’s track and field. Student-athletes maintain impressive GPAs. Members of the renowned Voorhees University Choir will perform at Carnegie Hall on Easter Sunday (2023). U.S. News & World Report has ranked Voorhees as a #1 best value, #3 in social mobility and #33 among regional colleges in the south and #26 among Historically Black Colleges and Universities, nationally, in 2022-2023.

What to know about Voorhees 

• Voorhees University is a welcoming campus with all of the resource’s students need to be successful.
• Tuition is affordable.
• Classes are small to enhance student learning outcomes.
• Students can earn degrees online or in person.
• Voorhees University offers 18 undergraduate programs. They include accounting, biology, computer science, English, mass communications, health and recreation, emergency management, childhood development, sociology and organizational management. Pre-professional programs in medicine and nursing are also available. Graduate studies consist of two concentrations in education.
• The university offers new majors in environmental science and hospitality and tourism management.
• The most popular degrees are criminal justice, business administration and sports management. Campus housing is available.
• The campus has a radio station, WVCD. Programming is streaming and can be accessed at voorhees.edu.
• The campus has large shaded outdoor spaces for studying and quiet time. The mission of the athletics department is to provide an opportunity for athletes to enhance, refine, and demonstrate their athletic skills on the playing surfaces, as well as their scholarly skills in the classroom. It is this underlying mission of all-around excellence that creates the foundation of the department, as well as Voorhees University. All freshmen and transfer students must register with the NAIA Eligibility Center at www.playnaia.org. Transcripts must be forwarded to the NAIA directly from the student’s high school or previous college.
• Voorhees is a member of the NAIA – Continental Athletic Conference.
• Sports include men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, softball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s indoor & outdoor track and field, cheerleading and dance.
• As a first-time freshman, students must meet two of three qualifications for eligibility in athletics:
• Students must graduate from an accredited high school with a minimum 2.0 grade point average
• Students must rank in the upper 50th percentile o Students must meet the test score requirements
  • § *ACT – 18
  • § SAT – 970 (without the writing)

Future Endeavors Looking to the future, Voorhees University President Ronnie Hopkins has articulated the following goals:

• Growing student enrollment
• Increasing graduate degree offerings
• Launching institutes and centers under Becoming Beloved Community
  • Rural Community Development Institute
  • Institute for Social and Environmental Justice, Diversity, and Inclusion 
  • Center for Women’s Advancement and Empowerment
• Cultivating nearly 200 acres of land to be used for solar and organic farming

Voorhees Photo Gallery