CMU Today
A Brief History

The University Setting
Central Michigan University is located in the heart of Michigan’s lower peninsula. Set in a region of rolling farmland and woodland, CMU’s location offers easy access to Michigan’s cultural and scenic attractions: diverse urban centers, prime recreational shoreline along Lakes Michigan and Huron, Alpine and Nordic ski areas, and the north woods country of northern Michigan.

CMU’s home community is Mount Pleasant, a city of 25,000. Together, CMU and Mount Pleasant serve as the cultural center for much of central and northern Michigan. CMU hosts a variety of cultural and sporting events throughout the year, and the university sponsors the CMU Public Television Network and National Public Radio affiliate stations.

The campus and buildings of Central Michigan University provide a physical environment for learning that is attractive, orderly, and convenient. Campus beauty is cultivated in the belief that the quality of the physical surroundings affects the quality of learning. The academic buildings form the core of the campus, with ready access to administrative services and residence units. Campus residence halls and apartments are located conveniently with respect to classroom buildings, the library, and recreational facilities. The outdoor campus setting features trees and lawns, ponds, walkways, and natural conservation areas. Automobile traffic is routed toward the campus perimeter, where parking areas are located. Bicycle pathways link major campus buildings, and bicycle racks are provided.

The Neithercut Woodland, a 255 acre natural woodland four miles northwest of Farwell, serves as a center for environmental education.
The resources provided by libraries, art galleries, studios, auditoriums, parks, theaters, gyms, and playing fields are easily available within the campus boundaries.

In addition to the main campus in Mount Pleasant, CMU has off-campus centers in a number of Michigan communities, and the university also operates outdoor teaching facilities. CMU has an extensive biological research station on Beaver Island, in Lake Michigan.
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CMU Today
Central Michigan University is a multifaceted national university offering more than 170 programs at the Bachelor’s, Master’s, Specialist’s, and Doctoral levels. The Carnegie Foundation recognizes CMU as a Doctoral/Research-Intensive University that offers a wide range of baccalaureate and graduate programs.

A richness of opportunity, both within and outside the university’s classrooms, makes CMU the school of choice for more than 19,000 students. In addition to its Mount Pleasant campus, with enrollment of more than 18,000, CMU offers classes at more than 60 College of Extended Learning centers throughout Michigan and the rest of North America. CMU’s extended learning programs serve many diverse student populations, resulting in CMU’s consistent ranking among the top schools in the nation in the number of Master’s degrees awarded to African-Americans and other underrepresented groups.

The quality and variety in CMU’s academic and extracurricular life reflect the university’s responsiveness to the educational, social, and ethical needs of its students and the society they will enter upon graduation. CMU offers students their choice of 25 degrees through eight academic divisions:

• College of Business Administration
• College of Communication and Fine Arts
• College of Education and Human Services
• College of Extended Learning
• College of Graduate Studies
• College of Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences
• College of Science and Technology
• The Herbert H. And Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions

At the heart of CMU’s success are outstanding faculty members who make teaching their top priority. CMU faculty members bring an excitement to the classroom that often is complemented by substantial research and creative activities of national and international importance.

CMU students prepare for careers through hands-on problem solving and close interaction with their professors. Among respondents to last year’s Career Services survey of graduates, 54 percent said they completed internships and cooperative work experiences, and 93 percent reported they found jobs in their fields or were accepted into graduate or professional programs.

Many CMU students also become involved through leadership training, community service, international study, and membership in more than 200 on-campus professional clubs and student organizations.

CMU’s commitment to educate students for success in a competitive job market involves progressively addressing evolving program needs. The university recently added relevant new programs in autism, gerontology, European studies, reading and literacy, administration, history, and health administration. CMU will soon expand offerings in physical therapy and engineering.

CMU’s many innovative educational and research partnerships give students real-world career experiences and opportunities to help serve emerging needs in society. For example, in the university’s Center for Applied Research and Technology, students work alongside world-renowned researchers and prospective employers on groundbreaking biotechnology research.

CMU’s programs prepare students for full participation in a changing democratic society and for careers in the international economy. The Office of International Education offers strong and expanding international programs, and many on-campus offices and groups support a diversity of ethnic and cultural events and displays. CMU’s Native American Gallery exhibits the colorful and inspired works of Native Americans in the Great Lakes area.

With the loyal support of alumni and friends, CMU offers many scholarship programs for top achievers. Two scholarships – The Centralis Scholar Award and the Multicultural Advancement Award of Distinction – cover most of the cost of tuition, room, board, fees, and general expenses. CMU also awards $1,500 scholarships to all high school seniors and community college transfer students with grade point averages of 3.5 or higher and to seniors who have distinguished themselves with records of leadership.

CMU students have exceptional facilities in which to learn. Current and recently completed projects include:

• Charles V. Park Library. Central Michigan’s newly remodeled and expanded library is a highly technological information center with advanced support for Internet use, video distribution, interactive teleconferencing, and hands-on training in multimedia information systems. The library has more than 400 public computer workstations and 300 available high-speed network connections for laptops.

• Health Professions Building. The health professions building construction, which is nearing completion, will unite CMU’s reputable health care programs in one technologically advanced environment that is conducive to learning, treatment, collaboration and discovery.

• Residence halls. Three new residence halls will open in 2003 and provide 714 additional beds to accommodate the growing on-campus student population.

Other construction has included the School of Music Building, 1997; Dow Science Complex, 1992; Student Activity Center, 1992; Industrial Technology Building, 1989; the Indoor Athletic Complex, 1999; and the Kelly/Shorts Stadium remodeling, 1999.
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A Brief History
Central opened its doors in 1892 as the Central Michigan Normal School and Business Institute. At that time, few of the state’s teachers received any formal training in teaching. School founders, deeply conscious of the poorly prepared teacher applicants seeking positions in Mt. Pleasant’s schools, made teacher training their mission in founding the state’s second normal school.

Thirty-one students attended classes in second-floor rooms over an office on the corner of Main and Michigan Streets in downtown Mt. Pleasant. Most students at the time were eighth grade graduates, attending the "Normal" for a few weeks or months prior to beginning their own careers as teachers.

Within the first two years, land was acquired following the sale of bonds, and a $10,000 Normal School Building was constructed where Warriner Hall now stands.

In 1895, the Michigan State Board of Education assumed control of the school, which had grown to 135 students, renaming it Central State Normal School. The school assembled its first football squad of 15 men in 1896, only to be defeated by Alma High School in the season’s sole game. In the same year, Central became state supported. Within a few years, Central’s women were competing in inter-school basketball.

By 1918, the campus consisted of 25 acres with five buildings, one of which—Grawn Hall—is still in use, though substantially remodeled. Enrollment had more than tripled in 10 years to 450 students.

Central’s educational offerings had also been growing more comprehensive. Students completing two years of schooling beyond high school began receiving their Life [teaching] Certificates in 1903. The school was accredited by the North Central Association for the first time in 1915. In 1918, the Bachelor of Arts degree was first awarded, and in 1927, the Bachelor of Science. Central’s first graduate courses, supervised by the University of Michigan, were offered in 1938.

Fire destroyed the school’s main building in 1925, and Warriner Hall was built to replace it. Prior to World War II, the school’s name changed again—first to Central State Teacher’s College, then to Central Michigan College of Education. Enrollment rose to more than 1,800 students.

In the post-war years of 1949-59, the first large student residence halls were built and Central’s first Master’s degree was accredited by the North Central Association.

On June 1, 1959, with 40 buildings standing on a 235-acre campus and an enrollment of 4,500 students, Central was renamed Central Michigan University, a designation that reflected growth in the complexity of the school’s academic offerings as well as its physical growth in the post-war period.

Through the sixties, enrollment grew from 4,500 to more than 14,000 students. The enormous rate of growth caused significant change in the character of the university. Buildings constructed on the land south of Preston Road more than doubled the physical size of the campus.

The gift of Neithercut Woodland near Farwell and the establishment of CMU’s Biological Station on Beaver Island gave the university valuable facilities for specialized studies.

The number and variety of programs also grew. Programs in business and in communications were developed and expanded. In 1971, the Institute for Personal and Career Development was established to provide academic programs for students with limited access to traditional forms of education. The Specialist in Education degree marked CMU’s entry into training beyond the Master’s degree level, which now includes specialist degrees in several disciplines and eight doctoral degrees.

It was also during this time that the university began to recruit a national faculty representing a diversity of geographic and institutional backgrounds and areas of expertise. The standards set for teaching credentials and research capabilities in this 15-year period continue to shape the university today.
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