Established by the state legislature in 1887 as a two-year program for teacher and industrial training, it was originally located with Wilberforce University, a four-year institution devoted to classical academic education.

[8] It was first located at Wilberforce University, a historically black college in southern Ohio that was owned and operated by the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Wilberforce University had been founded in 1855 jointly by the Cincinnati Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in collaboration with the AME Church; they had a biracial group of trustees to manage it, including founders Bishop Daniel A. Payne and Salmon Chase, then governor of Ohio.

By 1860 the college, based on a classical education, had 200 students, mostly the mixed-race children of wealthy Southern planters.

[8] In 1887, the Ohio General Assembly enacted legislation to create the Combined Normal and Industrial Department at Wilberforce, to provide training for primary teachers in a model common in the United States, and vocational education.

The administration struggled to maintain its initial emphasis on classical education as well, and allowed students to take classes in both sections.

The university struggled to rebuild, but has since re-established itself and achieved recognition by the state of Ohio (three Centers of Excellence), with new academic degree programs in Agriculture, Sustainable Ag and Exercise Science, and national recognition as the 2017 HBCU of the Year and for its Summer Banking Institute (HBCU Digest).

Constructed in 1961, Beacom Gymnasium is the home of the Marauders volleyball and basketball teams and provides office space for the Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation.

The library portion of the building is named in honor of long-time educator and public speaker Hallie Q.

The building was named in honor of Dr. William Galloway, a physician who served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Combined Normal and Industrial Department.

During the university's centennial celebration in 1987, the Alumni Center was named in honor of Walter G. Sellers Sr., a 1951 CSU graduate.

An earlier building, constructed in 1941, was also named for Jenkins and housed the Physical Education Department, Army ROTC, and Bookstore and Grill.

Destroyed in 1974, the original Jenkins Hall housed the audio-visual department, the campus radio station, the bookstore, and office of the CSU Federal Credit Union at the time.

Opened in 1978, the center houses administrative offices, examination and treatment rooms, and laboratory facilities.

It replaced the former campus health center, also named for Dr. Lackey and earlier known as Tawawa Hospital, which was among the buildings destroyed in 1974.

It is named in honor of Combined Normal and Industrial Department graduate William Patrick McPherson, who was killed in action in World War II.

It was dedicated in 1978 in honor of the singer, actor, activist and winner of the Stalin Peace Prize, Paul Robeson.

The university is a member of the Division II level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily competing in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) since the 2015–16 academic year (with football joining first as an affiliate member from 2013–14 to 2015 before upgrading for all sports).

The Marauders and Lady Marauders previously competed in the D-II Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) from 2012–13 to 2014–15, and as an NCAA D-II Independent from 2002–03 to 2011–12; as well as competing in the American Mideast Conference of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) from 2000–01 to 2001–02.