Metropolitan State University
 |
|
| Motto | Where life and learning meet |
|---|---|
| Type | Public |
| Established | 1971 |
| Endowment | $2.6 million |
| President | Ginny Arthur |
|
Academic staff
|
750 community faculty 174 resident faculty |
| Students | 11,580 |
| Location |
St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, United States 44°57′25″N 93°4′26″W / 44.95694°N 93.07389°WCoordinates: 44°57′25″N 93°4′26″W / 44.95694°N 93.07389°W |
| Campus | Urban |
| Nickname | Metro State |
| Affiliations | MnSCU |
| Website | www.metrostate.edu |
Metropolitan State University, commonly referred to as Metro State, is a four-year, comprehensive public university located in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, United States. It is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) system.
The institution was founded in 1971 as Minnesota Metropolitan State College with a mission to educate non-traditional students from the Twin Cities metropolitan area whose needs were not served by other existing institutions like the University of Minnesota.David E. Sweet was appointed the university's first president and the school admitted the first class of 50 students in 1972 on a rented building located in Minneapolis. When Metropolitan State began, it was a college for working adults. It was strictly an upper-division college where students could only complete their junior and senior years of academic study. The university initially followed a non-traditional course: students could design their own degree plans, instructors wrote 'narrative evaluations' instead of using traditional letter grades, and much of the teaching was done by 'community faculty' who had advanced degrees as well as extensive practical work experience in their respective fields.
During the 1980s enrollment of students at the university grew from around 1,000 students to over 2,500 students. The university expanded its programs to 30 baccalaureate programs as the state increased funding for the institution.
The university began admitting freshmen and sophomores and calculating grade point averages in 1994. Letter grades have always been offered at Metro State, but have never been required. Prior to the fall of 1998, Metro State operated on the quarter system. After this, the university adopted a trimester format. In 1992, the main campus of the university moved to a larger campus that is located in the Dayton's Bluff section of east Saint Paul. This change eventually led to the distributed campus system that exists today with the main campus located in Saint Paul, and additional campus facilities located in the Midway neighborhood and in Minneapolis. Metropolitan State currently has four campuses.
Although Metro State adopted a more traditional format in the 1990s, it still has the College of Individualized Studies (CIS). On July 1, 2012, Metro State's 'First College' was renamed the CIS. The CIS allows students to design their own individualized and/or interdisciplinary majors (typically called 'focuses') and curriculums. The individualized degrees are a popular alternative for students who are not interested in traditional 'structured' degrees.
...
Wikipedia