The university is named after William Tubman, the 19th President of Liberia.

[1] In 1990, the college was accredited to offer Bachelor of Science degrees in those fields, but soon closed following the outbreak of the First Liberian Civil War.

The school remained closed through the 1990s up to the end of the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003.

The nation's first female mechanical engineer graduated from William V. S. Tubman University in 2016.

The university is governed by a board of trustees appointed by the president of Liberia.