BEMIDJI STATE UNIVERSITY

coeducational institution of higher learning, situated on Lake Bemidji in Bemidji, Minn., U.S. It is one of seven institutions in the Minnesota State University system. It awards an associate degree, bachelor's degree in more than 50 programs, and master's degrees in 14 programs. Reflecting the local environment, the university's facilities include an aquatics laboratory on Lake Bemidji, the Center for Environmental Studies, the C.V. Hobson Forest, and the North Central Minnesota Historical Center. Its Arrowhead University Center, on the Mesabi Iron Range, offers several degree programs. Student enrollment is approximately 5,000. Bemidji State University was founded in 1919 as Bemidji State Normal School. All of the normal (teacher-training) schools in the state university system became teacher's colleges in 1921, when they were granted the right to award four-year degrees. In 1957 they were designated state colleges, having received the right to grant master's degrees in 1953. In 1975 the schools all gained university status.