Program Details

• Fisk University is an Historically Black University (HBU) with deep and rich traditions
• Located in Nashville, Tennessee
• Spring semester only
• Exchange program:  Fisk students attend SLU in the fall; SLU attend Fisk in the spring
• Courses in all disciplines at Fisk are open to SLU students
• Emphasis on African-American culture and history
• Live in dorms

Fisk University started out as the Fisk School in former Union army barracks in 1866 - two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. It became Fisk University on August 22, 1967. Its founders hoped it would be an educational institution that would be open to all, regardless of race, and that would measure itself by "the highest standards, not of Negro education, but of American education at its best."

From its earliest days, Fisk has played a leadership role in the education of African Americans. Fisk faculty and alumni have been among America's intellectual, artistic and civic leaders in every generation since the University's beginning. Among its alumni are W.E.B Du Bois (class of 1888), social critic and cofounder of the NAACP; John W. Work, Sr., John W. Work Jr. and John W. Work III, acclaimed composer-musicologists; Thurgood Marshall, Supreme Court Justice; John Hope Franklin, eminent historian; and Nikki Giovanni, poet.

More African-American alumni of Fisk go on to get their PhDs than any institution, black or white, in the United States.

SLU - Fisk Exchange
Since 1995, St. Lawrence University has offered students the opportunity to study at Fisk University during the spring semester. The agreement between Fisk and St. Lawrence University is reciprocal; Fisk students spend fall semester on the St. Lawrence University campus.