Former names
|
Fairmount College Municipal University of Wichita |
---|---|
Type | State university |
Established | 1895 |
Affiliation | Kansas Board of Regents |
Endowment | $235.5 million (2015) |
President | John Bardo |
Provost | Anthony J. Vizzini |
Academic staff
|
520 |
Students | 14,495 (fall 2015) |
Location |
Wichita, Kansas, U.S. 37°43′09″N 97°17′35″W / 37.71917°N 97.29306°WCoordinates: 37°43′09″N 97°17′35″W / 37.71917°N 97.29306°W |
Campus |
Urban 330 acres (130 ha) |
Colors | Black, Sunflower Yellow |
Nickname | Shockers |
Mascot | WuShock |
Sporting affiliations
|
NCAA Division I – MVC |
Website | wichita |
Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is the third-largest university governed by the Kansas Board of Regents.
Wichita State University offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in six colleges. The Graduate School offers 44 master's degrees in more than 100 areas and a specialist in education degree. It offers doctoral degrees in applied mathematics; audiology; chemistry; communicative disorders and sciences; nursing practice; physical therapy; psychology (programs in human factors, community and APA-accredited clinical psychology); educational administration; aerospace, industrial and mechanical engineering; and electrical engineering and computer science.
Wichita State University also hosts classes at four satellite locations. WSU West is located in Maize. This 9-acre (3.6 ha) campus hosts 80–100 university classes each academic semester. WSU South began offering Wichita State University coursework at a new facility in Derby in January 2008. The WSU Downtown Center houses the university's Center for Community Support & Research and the Department of Physical Therapy. A quarter-mile northeast of campus, the Advanced Education in General Dentistry building, built in 2011, houses classrooms and a dental clinic. It is adjacent to the university's 75,000-square-foot (7,000 m2) Eugene M. Hughes Metropolitan Complex, where many of WSU noncredit courses are taught.
Wichita State University began in 1886 as a private Congregational preparatory school, founded by Rev. Joseph Homer Parker. Initially it was referred to as "Young Ladies College", "Wichita Ladies College", and "Congregational Female College". It was part of a boom in college and university creation and was envisioned to admit women twelve years and older who were "able to read, write, spell and recite the parts of speech." In early 1887, the project's leaders received a land from the developers of the adjacent Fairmount Neighborhood and in response, renamed their school Fairmount College. Envisioned to be the "Vassar of the West," the streets of the neighboring neighborhoods were named after prominent women's colleges including Vassar and Holyoke. Support came mainly from the Plymouth Congregational Church to build it, but the school never opened its doors. In 1892, a corporation bought the property and named the preparatory school Fairmount Institute. It opened in September to men and women, with an emphasis on training in preaching or teaching. It closed because of financial difficulties.