Adding an Undergraduate Experience (1925-1941)
The first Brazil Hall of Nation's international student program outside the Brazilian Embassy circa 1940.
In 1927 the First Undergraduate Class graduated from AU and celebrated by planting a tree next to Hurst Hall.
AU officially welcomed its first undergraduate students in 1925 with the creation of the College of Liberal Arts, which would become the College of Arts and Sciences in the 1930s. The first five students graduated in 1926 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. From this point on AU would begin a period of rapid growth with the creation of the journalism program in 1929 and the School of Public Affairs in 1934.
The university sought to attract a variety of students from diverse background. AU had been founded as a place were men and women could study equally, but in 1937 the AU Board was challenged further with the application of their first colored student. The Board of Trustees officially made AU became one of first Universities in a segregated city to allow black students that year. They also began target program to bring international students from around the world to AU with the creation of the Hall of Nations program.