Columbia Southern University

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Columbia Southern University

Established:	1993
President:	Robert Mayes, Jr., MBA
Vice-president:	Joe Manjone, Ed.D.
Provost:	Joe Wilkins, Ph.D.
Location:	Orange Beach, Alabama, United States of America
Website:	http://www.columbiasouthern.edu

Columbia Southern University, in Orange Beach, Alabama, USA, is a privately owned online-only higher education institution. It offers associate, bachelor, graduate and postgraduate programs in fields including fire science, criminal justice, business administration, information technology, human resource management and occupational safety and health.

Columbia Southern has been accredited by Distance Education and Training Council (DETC) since 2001. ^[1] ^[2] DETC is an accreditation agency recognized by both the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). Columbia Southern is also a member of the Higher Education Transfer Alliance (HETA), a voluntary group of accredited institutions that are concerned with the importance of student mobility, enhancing success in transfer of credit, and affirming the responsibility and prerogative of individual institutions with respect to acceptance of transfer credits. It is one of the few accredited institutions selected by the DETC to start offering accredited online Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA), a pilot program being implemented by the DETC.^{[citation needed]}

Currently Columbia Southern University has 76 full-time staff members, 10 full-time faculties and 44 adjunct part-time faculties. It enrolls and graduates thousands of students annually on both national and international level. Columbia Southern University also established agreements with University of North Alabama, University of West Alabama, and University of West Florida to offer creative online degree programs through these traditional universities.

The school was founded in 1993 by Dr. Robert G. Mayes, Sr.,^[3] as the University of Environmental Sciences.^[2] The University of Environmental Sciences developed Distance Learning programs to cater for mature individuals who were unable to attend traditional schools that subsequently led to its first-degree programs in Environmental Engineering and Occupational Safety and Health in 1994.

By 1996, the infrastructure to administer these programs was firmly in place and additional degree programs were developed and offered. The Bachelor of Science in Business Administration was the first to be offered before Computer Science, Criminal Justice Administration and Health Administration were also made available. To reflect the expanded scope of offerings, the University of Environmental Sciences was renamed Columbia Southern University in 1996.^[2]

Dr. Mayes headed the institution until his death in 2005, when his son, Robert Mayes, Jr., assumed the presidency.^[3]

Columbia Southern University is one of six Academic Partners of Delta Air Lines and one of approximately 140 schools approved to offer up-front tuition assistance through the U.S. Army’s centralized tuition assistance portal, GoArmyEd.^{[citation needed]}