Former names
|
Maryland State Normal School Maryland State Teachers College Towson State University |
---|---|
Type | Public |
Established | 1866 |
Endowment | $71 million (Towson University, 2014) $986 million (University System of Maryland, 2015) |
Budget | $450 million |
President | Kim Schatzel |
Provost | Timothy Chandler |
Academic staff
|
1,644 |
Students | 22,285 |
Undergraduates | 18,807 |
Postgraduates | 3,478 |
Location |
Towson, Maryland, U.S. 39°23′34″N 76°36′17″W / 39.39278°N 76.60472°WCoordinates: 39°23′34″N 76°36′17″W / 39.39278°N 76.60472°W |
Campus | Suburban, 328 acres (1.33 km2) |
Colors | Black and Gold |
Nickname | Tigers |
Mascot | Doc the Tiger |
Sporting affiliations
|
NCAA Division I – CAA |
Website | www |
Towson University, often referred to as TU or simply Towson for short, is a public university located in Towson in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. It is a part of the University System of Maryland. Founded in 1866 as Maryland's first training school for teachers, Towson University has evolved into a four-year degree-granting institution consisting of eight colleges with over 20,000 students enrolled. Towson is one of the largest public universities in Maryland and still produces the most teachers of any university in the state.
The U.S. News & World Report ranked Towson University 8th in the Public Universities-Master’s (North) category for its 2010 America's Best Colleges issue. Forbes included Towson University in its 2009 list of the top 100 public colleges and universities in the United States. Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine named Towson University one of the top 100 best values in public colleges for the 2008–09 academic year.
The General Assembly of Maryland established what would eventually become Towson University in 1865, with the allocation of funds directed toward Maryland’s first teacher-training school, or then called "normal school" (term used from a new French tradition). On January 15, 1866, this institution, known then as the "Maryland State Normal School" (M.S.N.S.), officially opened its doors as part of the substantial modern educational reforms prescribed by the Unionist/Radical Republican Party-dominated Maryland Constitution of 1864 of the Civil War-era state government, which provided for a new state superintendent of public instruction and a Board of Education to be appointed to advise and supervise the counties, in addition to the already progressive public educational system previously established in 1829 in Baltimore City. Located then at Red Man's Hall on North Paca Street in Baltimore, the new teachers' school originally enrolled eleven students and fostered three faculty members.McFadden Alexander Newell served as the school's first principal as well as the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and oversaw the first graduating class of sixteen students in June 1866.