FISK Firsts
- The first historically black college or university (HBCU) to gain accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (1930)
- The first HBCU to be placed on the approved lists of the Association of American Universities (1933)
- The first HBCU to be placed on the approved lists of the American Association of University Women (1948)
- The first HBCU to be granted a charter for the establishment of a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa (1952)
- The first HBCU to receive a chapter of The Mortar Board, a senior honor society formerly for women, now open to men