Oakwood College Campus Logo
Oakwood University is a private, historically black university located in Huntsville, Alabama, United States. It is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. A group of College constituents made the decision on December 2, 2007, to change the school's name from Oakwood College to Oakwood University, effective January 1, 2008.
Oakwood University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) and the Department of Education of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists to award the associate, baccalaureate, and master's degrees. The first master's degree offered by the University was the Master of Pastoral Studies Degree (January 2008). The first graduate students were conferred degrees on May 9, 2009. Oakwood also conferred its first honorary doctorate on May 9, 2009, to Wintley Phipps, internationally renowned musician and the 2009 Commencement speaker. Oakwood University has been a member institution of the United Negro College Fund since 1964.
The University has performed well in external rankings, having listed among the Best Baccalaureate Colleges in the Southern Region (#31) and #28 on the list of Best Historically Black Colleges and Universities by the U.S. News & World Report, tied with Alabama A&M University (also in Huntsville) and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. The University is also listed on a regular basis among the top 20 institutions of higher learning that provide African-Americans to medical schools