Edward Waters College is no more after this morning’s rebranding announcement by president A. Zachary Faison Jr., J.D.! The new Edward Waters University will now offer advanced degrees and more, in a rebranding that you can read more about in the First Coast News article below.
Edwards Waters College is officially changing its name to Edward Waters University, exciting an auditorium full of people Wednesday.
President Dr. A. Zachary Faison made the announcement in front of students and distinguished guests at the university’s gym:
“As of June 17, 2021, and after 155 years from our humble beginnings at Brown Theological Institute in Live Oaks Florida, and later as Florida East Scientific and Divinity School, to our becoming Edward Waters Junior College and then Edward Waters College, as the 30th President and CEO of this remarkable institution, I’m proud to announce the next era of our education excellence at the State of Florida’s first […] independent institution of higher learning and first […] Historically Black College or University at the world’s destination institution of emerging eminence. We are Edward Waters University!”
As Dr. Faison made the announcement, those in attendance stood and loudly cheered as confetti and balloons fell onto the gym floor.
The university will now off an online master’s program in business administration with more master’s programs on the way.
The university was originally founded in 1866 by Reverend Charles H. Pearce, an elder in the African Methodist-Episcopal Church (AME), to help educate the newly emancipated Blacks following the Civil War. To meet the widespread illiteracy amongst Blacks in Florida, the school offered classes ranging from elementary to post-high school education in its early days.
The school officially changed its name to Edward Waters College in 1892 in honor of the third bishop of the AME Church.
The college was accredited as a junior college in 1955 and eventually become a four-year institution in 1979.
At the on-campus store, the university is already selling merchandise featuring the new logo.
