Truman State University was founded in 1867 by Joseph Baldwin as the First Missouri
Normal School and Commercial College. Baldwin is considered a pioneer in education and his school quickly gained official recognition in 1870 by the
Missouri General Assembly, which designated it as
the first public teaching college in Missouri.The school continued to grow and Basil Brewer wrote the school song "The Purple and White" in 1902, and thus the colors of the university became purple and white.Thirteen years later, in 1915, the bulldog
became the official mascot of the college (two bulldogs are currently the "mascots" of the university, Spike and Simeon). In
1924 a massive fire destroyed Old Baldwin Hall and the library. Both Baldwin Hall and the library were rebuilt, with funds for
the new library donated by alumnus Joseph Pickler.The college was renamed Northeast Missouri State University in 1972, and in 1983 the university was awarded the G. Theodore Mitau
Award for Innovation and Change in Higher Education by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.Northeast Missouri State continued its push for excellence and had not gone unnoticed by the state government. On June 20, 1985, Governor John Ashcroft signed a bill that designated the university as Missouri's only statewide public liberal arts and sciences university. This changed the school's mission to a
state-wide rather than a regional (northeast) objective.The school continued to win praise from such publications as US News and World Report and its reputation spread. Many of the students by-passed crowded and
costly alternatives such as Washington University in
favor of Truman's small size, pleasant small-town atmosphere and rigorous academic studies in the liberal arts and sciences.By the 1990s, the university no longer was solely a teachers' college. The college had
a nationally-known accounting division, schools of science and mathematics, computer science and literature. Indeed, just 10
years after Governor Ashcroft's designation, Governor Mel Carnahan signed
legislation renaming the school to its current Truman State University title. Several schools had petitioned for the Truman name,
but only Northeast Missouri State University demonstrated the academic excellence and national reputation worthy of being named
after Missouri's only president. Truman State University has since become Missouri's premier public liberal arts and sciences
institution.In recent years, there are approximately 6000 students earning degrees in 43 undergraduate and 9 graduate programs. Ninety-four percent of
graduates go on to work and study fields related to their degree of study. President Barbara Dixon is the current president
of the university. She is the 14th president of the school. The names and legacies of past university presidents continue to live
on in buildings and monuments around campus; a list of them follows: