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NJCU Historical Timeline
Since the date of its charter by the New Jersey
Legislature in 1927, the institution known today as New Jersey City
University has been evolving as a place of higher learning.
Opened in 1929 as the New Jersey State Normal School at Jersey City,
the institution was renamed New Jersey State Teachers College at Jersey
City in 1935 and Jersey City State College in 1958, becoming a liberal
arts institution in 1968. In 1998, the New Jersey Commission on Higher
Education approved a change of institutional status and accepted the
present name, New Jersey City University.
Although the founding principles and mission of this urban institution
-- access and excellence -- have not changed since the first day of
class 75 years ago, New Jersey City University’s physical presence
has changed dramatically. The size of the campus has expanded six-fold;
the number of buildings and facilities has grown from one structure
to 26; the academic focus has blossomed from normal school training
to 32 undergraduate degree major programs and 19 graduate degree programs
offered in three colleges; and the student body has grown and diversified
from 330 area residents to about 10,000 students from across New Jersey,
the United States, and 50 countries around the globe.
NJCU continues to grow and evolve today. The need for ongoing capital
improvement and construction is clear. Outstanding new facilities
would further enhance the learning, teaching, and working environment
of the University for future generations. To remain competitive New
Jersey City University must follow a plan for imaginative investment
in the physical future as well as the intellectual future of the University.
By doing so, the University will ensure that the building blocks of
knowledge and success will stand securely within the steel and concrete
structures that support them.
An Historical Timeline
1. The Early Years (1929-1944) 1920's
1927: The New Jersey State Normal School at Jersey
City was chartered. The institution was built to accommodate 1,000
students and an eight-room demonstration school in its one building,
Hepburn Hall, on ten acres on what was then Hudson Boulevard.
1929: The New Jersey State Normal School at Jersey
City opened and immediately expanded its two-year teacher education
curricula, making it the only teacher preparation program in the United
States to offer a three-year program. A faculty of 12, increased immediately
to 29, served a student population comprised of 330 women and one
man, who were mostly residents of Hudson County.
1935: The name was changed to New Jersey State Teachers
College at Jersey City. The institution was authorized to offer a
four-year teacher education program and award the bachelor of science
degree in education.
1936: A degree program in health education and nursing
was initiated in cooperation with the Jersey City Medical Center for
the training of school nurses.
2. The End of World War II and the Post-War
Years (1945-1958)
1946: The G.I. Bill enabled many veterans to enroll
in the four-year Arts and Sciences Program, resulting in the rapid
growth and expansion of the program.
1950: The Arts and Sciences Program was eliminated
as a result of the graduation of many WW II veterans.
1955: The institution’s first physical expansion
took place: a small addition was made to Hepburn Hall, which enabled
the Library to expand its holdings to 65,000 volumes; and Fries Hall
Gymnasium was constructed. The institution graduated 83 students.
1958: New Jersey State Teachers College at Jersey
City became Jersey City State College and was authorized to award
the bachelor of arts degree.
3. The Middle Years (1959-1974)
1959: The institution began to offer the master of
arts in elementary education.
1962: Grossnickle Hall, a four-story academic building,
opened. To enhance its special education program, Jersey City State
College began to administer the A. Harry Moore School, becoming one
of the few colleges in the United States with a special-education
demonstration school.
1964: To accommodate a more geographically diverse
student population, the institution opened its first dormitory, Vodra
Hall.
1966: The College’s first Board of Trustees
was named by the Governor, pursuant to the Higher Education Act of
1966.
1967: Enrollment totals reached 5,700 students with
4,900 undergraduates and 800 graduate students. Full-time faculty
numbered 179.
1968: The Forrest A. Irwin Library opened. Jersey
City State College became a multipurpose institution, authorized to
develop a liberal arts program and to enlarge its teacher preparation
programs.
1969: The demonstration school in Hepburn Hall closed.
1970: Rossey Hall, a six-story academic building,
opened.
1973: The five-story Science Building and the JCSC
Women’s Center opened; the Cooperative Education Program was
established with 25 students placed in paid work assignments.
1975: The Department of Nursing was established.
4. Beyond 50 Years (1975-1990)
1976: The Student Union Building opened (renamed
the Michael B. Gilligan Student Union in 1985). A 50,000 square foot
building on West Side Avenue was renovated to house the Center for
Media Arts.
1977: Both the Department of Business Administration
and the Peter W. Rodino Institute of Criminal Justice were established.
1978: The popular Saturday Semester Program began,
offering students more flexibility in scheduling classes for both
credit and non-credit study.
1980: The Department of Computer Science was created.
1982: The Department of Media Arts was formed.
1985: The institution was awarded a $5.7 million
Governor’s Challenge Grant for an expanded Cooperative Education
Program, which would serve all academic majors. From that time, JCSC
was known as New Jersey’s premier cooperative education college.
1986: Autonomy was granted to higher education institutions
in New Jersey.
1989: The Coop Dorm was opened to house 100 undergraduates.
5. From the Information Age to the Future
(1991-2006)
1994: The four-story Professional Studies Building
and the state-of-the-art Athletic and Fitness Center opened.
1996: The Center for Public Policy and Urban Research
was established.
1997: President Carlos Hernandez appointed a task
force to consider a change of institutional status and a name change.
1998: At its March 24th meeting, the Jersey City
State College Board of Trustees approved submission of a formal petition
to the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education requesting that the
institution be granted university status and renamed New Jersey City
University. The New Jersey Commission on Higher Education approved
a change of institutional status and accepted the name change at its
May 29th meeting. The University was restructured to include three
colleges: the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Education,
and the College of Professional Studies.
1999: The University’s four-story Forrest Irwin
Library was completely redesigned and renovated to provide a spacious,
modern facility equipped with high-tech capability for study and research.
2000: The NJCU Library was dedicated in October and
renamed the Congressman Frank J. Guarini Library.
2001: The University introduced myNJCU, the initial
application of “portal” technology to provide members
of the University community with a single integrated point for immediate
access to personally relevant information, people, and processes,
and to provide a gateway to resources available on the World Wide
Web.
2002: In September, the University Academy Charter
High School enrolled its first ninth-grade class of 125 students.
2003: A new two-story Visual Arts Building opened
in September. The 56,000-square-foot structure is surrounded by a
sculpture garden, the centerpiece of which will be a work by the sculptor
Maya Lin, whose “Vietnam Memorial” in Washington, D.C.
is internationally acclaimed. The University Academy Charter High
School opened in a redesigned commercial building on West Side Avenue.
New Jersey City University joined with the City of Jersey City, the
Jersey City Board of Education, and New Jersey Transit to collaborate
on the “Bayside Project,” a redevelopment proposal that
is focusing on a 700-acre section of Jersey City that stretches from
Communipaw Avenue south to Stevens Avenue and from Bergen Avenue west
to Newark Bay. Ground was broken for a six-story Arts and Sciences
Building, designed by the renowned architect Michael Graves. The projected
completion date for the 77,000-square-foot building, which will adjoin
Fries Hall, is early 2005.
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| Staying in touch with your college classmates can be
a terrific way to network, both with old friends and new. Their support
and advice can last a lifetime! |
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| NJCU graduates include a fashion magazine art director,
NJ Assembly person, police captain, news anchor and corporate vice president! |
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