Fast Facts About APSU
Austin Peay State University occupies a site that has served the cultural and educational needs of the Clarksville-Montgomery County area for more than 200 years. Clarksville is the state’s fifth-largest city and is home to Tennessee’s youngest population. The school is named after former Tennessee Gov. Austin Peay, a Clarksville native. Austin Peay is a four-year public, doctoral-level university.
Decision Support and Institutional Research
Decision Support and Institutional Research offers a variety of data and informational facts that provide a more detailed insight about the University, as well as a Fast Facts section that provides enrollment, financial, demographic and other key data in a condensed, printable PDF format for finding primary data more easily.
Enrollment
With 10,439 students (enrolled in Fall 2024), Austin Peay is a mission-driven, community-minded institution that provides transformational experiences through innovative, creative and scholarly activities. To see detailed data and related enrollment facts, please visit our Fact Book page.
Board of Trustees
In 2016, the Tennessee General Assembly passed the FOCUS Act, changing the governance structure of higher education in Tennessee and calling for the establishment of an institutional Board of Trustees for Austin Peay and the other five universities previously governed by the Tennessee Board of Regents. The legislation established a 10-member board – eight voting members appointed by the governor and confirmed by the General Assembly, one nonvoting student member appointed by the APSU Board of Trustees and one voting faculty representative selected by the APSU faculty.
Doctoral Degrees
In the fall of 2018, Austin Peay began offering a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) degree in Educational Leadership – the first doctoral degree in the institution’s history. That June, the program received its final approval from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) – the region’s higher education accrediting body. Austin Peay later added a Psy.D. degree in counseling psychology.
Centers of Excellence
The Tennessee General Assembly established the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts at APSU in July 1985, and that program received a major boost a few months later when country music legend Roy Acuff generously endowed a chair of excellence. In July of 1986, the University opened another specialized program – the Center of Excellence for Field Biology.
State’s Leader in Military-Affiliated Students
Austin Peay is the state’s largest provider of higher education to military-affiliated students, with 2,422 military-related students enrolled in Fall 2021. In 2015, the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) honored the University’s support of this population by naming Austin Peay a Veterans Education Transition Support (VETS) Campus. According to THEC, VETS Campus certification is awarded to higher education institutions that “not only prioritize outreach to veterans but successfully deliver the services necessary to create a supportive environment where student veterans can prosper while pursuing their education.”
Austin Peay offers a full-time Veterans Affairs counselor on campus through the VetSuccess program, as well as a Student Veterans Organization and the Newton Military Family Resource Center. The University also has a federally funded Veterans Upward Bound Office on campus to assist low-income veterans and veterans who are first-generation college students to earn a college education.
The University also offers academic programs and classes at its Austin Peay Center at Fort Campbell. Active-duty military service members, veterans and civilians can earn an associate, bachelor’s or master’s degree through 7 1/2-week courses at the center, allowing them to achieve their objectives faster than during traditional 16-week semesters.
Winning Athletic Teams
The Governors and Lady Govs compete in the ASUN Conference in NCAA Division I. A traditional powerhouse in men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, volleyball and men’s golf, the University competes in 16 sports.
Top ROTC Program
APSU's Army Reserve Officer Training Corps was named a MacArthur Award recipient in 2020, placing it among the top eight programs in the country for the eighth time in the program’s history.
How Do You Pronounce “Peay?”
The word Peay, as in Austin Peay, is pronounced just like the letter P or the vegetable pea.
Doctoral-Trained Faculty
APSU employs approximately 390 full-time faculty members, and 90 percent hold a doctorate or other appropriate terminal degree in their respective fields.
Highest Level of Safety
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation statistics annually show APSU to be one of the safest universities in the state.
New Facilities
The University also has opened several new facilities recently, including the state-of-the-art Maynard Mathematics and Computer Science and Art + Design buildings, the Governors Terrace residence halls, Fortera Stadium, the new Ann Ross Bookstore and the Newton Family Military Resource Center. Austin Peay soon will start work on a new health professions building, and the University’s basketball teams soon will move into F&M Bank Arena in downtown Clarksville.
Who was Austin Peay?
He was Tennessee governor from 1923-1927 and a favorite son of Clarksville. Peay signed
a law establishing Austin Peay Normal School on April 26, 1927. That is why APSU’s
mascot is the “Governors.”
More about Austin Peay