When the war ended, student enrollment at Delta State increased from 185 to 483, aided by the federal program for veterans known as the GI Bill to encourage education.

[9] During the 1947 session of the Delta Council, Dean Acheson (Under-Secretary of State in Truman's administration) delivered a speech on campus that unveiled the Marshall Plan.

Thirteen years after the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), ruling that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional and three years after passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the state and administration ended racial segregation at DSU.

In 2005, Delta State assisted evacuees from Hurricane Katrina by opening Hugh White Hall as temporary housing.

Delta State University is located on 332 acres (1.34 km2) at 1003 W Sunflower Rd (Highway 8 West), in the northwest area of Cleveland, MS, 38733.

Particularly famous facilities at Delta State University are the large natatorium for holding swimming competitions, the Bologna Performing Arts Center (pictured left) with two theaters (one that seats 1,178, and another that seats 135), and the sound recording studios of the Delta Music Institute.

However, since the late 1980s, the student body embraced a mascot that depicts a piece of okra wearing boxing gloves and brandishing a fierce expression.

The institution competes intercollegiately in men's American football, basketball, baseball, swimming, diving, tennis, soccer, and golf.

The women's intercollegiate program consists of basketball, tennis, fast-pitch softball, cross-country, swimming, soccer, cheerleading, and diving.

Lloyd Clark is a member of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame along with other DSU heroes Margaret Wade, Lusia Harris-Stewart, and former Boston Red Sox pitcher Dave "Boo" Ferriss.

Boo Ferriss coached the baseball program for nearly thirty years and led them to three appearances in the NCAA Division II College World Series before retiring in 1988.

San Francisco Giants catcher Eli Whiteside played baseball for the university, as did Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Brent Leach.

In 2008, Grisham returned to the campus to join Ferriss in an evening of baseball tales, raising more than $100,000 for the athletic program.

Delta State has a fairly large flight school and is also the only university in Mississippi to offer a degree in Commercial Aviation.

Even though Delta State University has relatively few fraternities and sororities on campus, many students participate in Greek life.