The University

Established in 1892, Central Michigan University, located in Mount Pleasant, was originally founded as a school for teacher and business education. Today, this doctoral research university is the fourth largest institution in Michigan and among the 100 largest public universities nationally. CMU is a $380 million enterprise, offers more than 200 academic programs, including 12 doctoral programs, and has nationally recognized programs in entrepreneurship, journalism, music, audiology, teacher education, psychology, physician assistant, and physical therapy.

Central Michigan University has offered off-campus degree programs through its ProfEd unit to working adults for more than 35 years. The University operates a network of CMU Learning Centers in more than 60 locations throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. CMU has awarded degrees through its off-campus programs to more than 60,000 students since its inception in 1971. Programs are offered at the undergraduate, masters, specialist and doctoral levels, including non-degree certifications.

CMU is the nation's foremost university authorizer of charter schools with 60 schools educating 29,000 students in grades K-12. CMU's Division I athletics program, a member of the Mid-American Conference (MAC), offers nine intercollegiate sports for women and seven for men. CMU Public Broadcasting operates 10 television and seven radio stations with the largest geographic reach of any Public Broadcasting system in the country. CMU is also home to the headquarters of Special Olympics Michigan.

In September of 2008, the Board of Trustees voted to establish a medical school, citing the long-term benefits to undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs in various academic divisions of CMU and the institution's responsibility to help Michigan prepare for an impending shortage of physicians. The University has appointed an interim dean, who begins his duties on July 1, 2009. Numerous feasibility studies demonstrating CMU's strength in the basic sciences, library resources and instructional technology, coupled with programs within The Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions and the College of Science and Technology, provided a strong foundation to establish a medical school that meets the accreditation standards of the Liaison Committee on Medical Education. The University is in the process of reaching agreements with appropriate health care organizations. The program as currently envisioned will have a rural focus with a hybrid instructional model in a clinical context, and the School will be housed in an addition that is being planned to the existing Health Professions Building. For further information, please see www.cmich.edu/x3297.xml.

CMU is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. The academic divisions are:

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