Framingham State University

Framingham State University

Motto	Live to the Truth
Type	Public
Established	1839
Endowment	$32,763,694 (2014)[1]
President	F. Javier Cevallos
Dean	Melinda K. Stoops
Administrative staff	167 full-time, 86 part-time
Students	6,429
Undergraduates	4,584
Postgraduates	1,845
Location	Framingham, Massachusetts, USA 42°17′52″N 71°26′12″W / 42.297742°N 71.436598°W / 42.297742; -71.436598Coordinates: 42°17′52″N 71°26′12″W / 42.297742°N 71.436598°W / 42.297742; -71.436598
Campus	Suburban, 73 acres (0.3 km²)
Newspaper	The Gatepost
Colors	Black and Gold
Mascot	Ram
Affiliations	NCAA Division III, New England Football Conference
Website	http://www.framingham.edu

Framingham State University (FSU) is a public university located in Framingham, Massachusetts, United States, 20 miles from Boston. It offers undergraduate programs in a range of subjects, including art, biology, and communication arts, and graduate programs, including MBA, MEd, and MS.

History

Cyrus Peirce, first president

As the first secretary of the newly created Board of Education in Massachusetts, Horace Mann instituted school reforms that included the creation of an experimental normal school, the first one in the United States, in Lexington, in July 1839. Cyrus Peirce was its first principal or president.^[2] A second normal school was opened in September 1839 in West Barre (the school later moved to Westfield) followed by Bridgewater State College the next year. Growth forced the first normal school's relocation to West Newton in 1843, followed in 1853 by a move to the present site on Bare Hill in Framingham.

In 1922, the Framingham Normal School granted its first Bachelor of Science in Education degrees in conjunction with a four-year study program. Ten years later, with degreed teachers becoming the norm, the normal schools were renamed State Teachers Colleges. The name was changed in 1960 to the State College at Framingham when Bachelor of Arts degrees were added. At present, Masters' of Education, Arts, and Science degrees are granted as well. In 2007, the college began offering the Master's of Business Administration (MBA) degree. In October 2010, seven of the state colleges become state universities, unaffiliated with the University of Massachusetts system.^[3] The measure was signed into law by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick on July 28, 2010.^[4][5]

Timeline of name changes

The school has had several names in the past:^[2]

• 1839 opened as the The Normal School in Lexington^[6]
• 1844 designated The Normal School in West Newton^[6]
• 1845 designated The State Normal School in West Newton
• 1853 designated The State Normal School in Framingham
• 1865 designated The Framingham Normal School
• 1889 designated The Framingham State Normal School
• 1932 became State Teachers College at Framingham
• 1945 became Framingham State Teachers College
• 1960 became State College at Framingham
• 1965 became Framingham State College
• 2010 became Framingham State University

Campus

May Hall, 19th-century architectural rendering

The 73-acre campus is located in Framingham, Massachusetts.^[7] Seven residence halls house over 1,500 students.^[8] The Henry Whittemore Library has over 200,000 volumes, wifi, and access to over 70,000 electronic journals.^[9]

Sustainability

In 2007, the school signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. That year, Massachusetts issued Executive Order No. 484, which mandated reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption for all state agencies and institutions. Greenhouse gases must be reduced 80% by 2050. In 2010, the school adopted a plan to convert its heating plant to natural gas and to convert its central chilled water plant to electric chillers.^[10]

Framingham State University was named a "Green College" by the Princeton Review in 2010 and 2011. FSU was one of 22 schools in Massachusetts to receive the distinction, and one of 311 nationwide.^[11] It was named to the list again in 2013.^[12]

Organization

FSU is led by an eleven-member Board of Trustees. The governor appoints nine trustees to five-year terms, renewable once. The FSU Alumni Association elects one for a single five-year term. Finally, the student body elects one student trustee for a one-year term. In addition to five full board meetings each year, which are open to the public, the board also meets in standing committees.^[13]

The University’s annual budget is $105 million, and the school has 775 full and part-time employees.^[14]

Academics

FSU has offered online courses since 1998.^[7]

Undergraduate programs

Undergraduate minors

Graduate programs

• Master of Business Administration (MBA)
• Master of Arts (MA), concentration in Counseling Psychology
• Master of Arts (MA), concentration in Educational Leadership
• Master of Arts (MA), concentration in Health Care Administration
• Master of Arts (MA), concentratino in Human Resource Management
• Master of Arts (MA), concentration in Public Administration
• Master of Education (MEd), concentration in Art
• Master of Education (MEd), concentration in Curriculum & Instructional Technology
• Master of Education (MEd), concentration in Early Childhood Education
• Master of Education (MEd), concentration in Elementary Education
• Master of Education (MEd), concentration in English
• Master of Education (MEd), concentration in History
• Master of Education (MEd), concentration in Literacy and Language
• Master of Education (MEd), concentration in Mathematics
• Master of Education (MEd), concentration in Nutrition Education
• Master of Education (MEd), concentration in Spanish
• Master of Education (MEd), concentration in Special Education
• Master of Education (MEd), concentration in The Teaching of ESL
• Master of Science (MS), concentration in Food and Nutrition, specialization in Coordinated Program in Dietetics
• Master of Science (MS), concentration in Food and Nutrition, specialization in Food Science and Nutrition Science
• Master of Science (MS), concentration in Food and Nutrition, specialization in Human Nutrition: Education and Media Technologies
• Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), concentration in Nursing Education
• Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), concentration in Nursing Leadership

Post baccalaureate programs

• Teacher Licensure Program (PBTL)

Certificate programs

Undergraduate

• Computer Programming Languages
• Information Technology Fluency
• Network and System Administration and Management
• Software Engineering

Post baccalaureate

• Pre-Health Studies Certificate Program

Graduate

• Children's Literature
• Human Resource Management
• Instructional Technology Proficiency
• Merchandising
• Nursing Education
• Nutrition Education
• STEM Education
• Sustainable Development and Policy

Student life

FSU has an Office of Student Involvement and Leadership Development.^[15]

Clubs

Through work with the Office of Student Involvement and Leadership Development and the Student Government Association, students have formed many clubs and organizations, both recreational and academic in nature. Clubs on campus include the Gaming Club, the Anime Club, the Wildlife Club, the Black Student Union, the Catholic Newman Association, Random Jam Music Club, 91.3 FM WDJM Framingham State University Radio,^[16] History Club and many others.

Clubs can be created by groups of students with interest in an area that has not yet been explored by another club. For example, the Gaming Club was created due to a lack of social structure for gamers. Since the founding, it has grown to be a very popular and successful club, rivaling some of the older recreational groups on campus.

The campus is fairly small with a very small population of students and therefore many existing clubs have branched to include many different topics and fields of study.

Athletics

A football signed by the 1975 Framingham State Rams football team after defeating Curry College, 16-8.

All Framingham State University teams compete at the NCAA Division III level. All teams compete in the Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference (MASCAC). Men's programs include baseball, cross country, football, basketball, ice hockey, and soccer. Women's programs include cross country, lacrosse, softball, basketball, field hockey, soccer, and volleyball. All teams compete on campus, except for the baseball and softball teams who play on fields off-campus, as well as the ice hockey team who skates at the Loring Arena in Framingham. FSU also offers a wide variety of intramural programs that include everything from badminton, to golf, to dodgeball. There is also a state-of-the-art athletic and recreation center that includes basketball courts, a volleyball court, and a weight room.^[17]

In 2007, the women's soccer team was awarded the NCAA Sportsmanship Award.^[18]

The Framingham State football program has seen several successful seasons in recent years. The Rams have won the MASCAC regular season championship four straight years (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013).^[19] In 2011, 2012, and 2013 the team also took the title as NEFC Bogan Division Champions, and outright NEFC Champions in 2012. In 2010, the program won its first ECAC Northeast Bowl. The Rams participated in the 2013 NCAA Division III Football Championships, losing to SUNY Cortland in the first-round.^[20]

Notable alumni

• Olivia A. Davidson, co-founder of Tuskegee Institute and wife of Booker T. Washington
• Rebecca Pennell, the first woman college professor in the United States, and niece of Horace Mann.
• Charlotte Champe Stearns, mother of T.S. Eliot.
• Christa McAuliffe (Class of 1970), who was on her way to becoming the first teacher in space when she was killed in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. There is a center at the college dedicated to her.
• Brian J. Moran, Chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia
• Ruth Graves Wakefield, inventor of the chocolate chip cookie
• Jennie Howard, member of a pioneering group of educators who founded normal schools in Argentina
• Richard Thompson, Member of the Maine House of Representatives

References

External links

• Framingham State University
• Framingham State University Athletics
• 150 Years in Framingham
• Christa Corrigan McAuliffe Center for Education and Teaching Excellence
• John Stalker Institute of Food and Nutrition

Framingham, Massachusetts
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Neighboring Communities	Ashland Dover Marlborough Natick Southborough Sherborn Sudbury Wayland