West Chester University of Pennsylvania

West Chester University (also known as West Chester, WCU, or WCUPA, and officially as West Chester University of Pennsylvania) is a public research university in and around West Chester, Pennsylvania. The university is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity". With 17,719 undergraduate and graduate students as of 2019, WCU is the largest of the 10 state-owned universities belonging to the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) and the sixth largest university in Pennsylvania. It also maintains a Center City Philadelphia satellite campus on Market Street. History The university traces its roots to the West Chester Academy, a private, state-aided school that existed from 1812 to 1869. As the state began to take increasing responsibility for public education, the academy was transformed into West Chester Normal School or West Chester State Normal School, still privately owned and state certified. The normal school admitted its first class, consisting of 160 students, on September 25, 1871. In 1913, West Chester became the first of the normal schools to be owned outright by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. West Chester became West Chester State Teachers College in 1927 when Pennsylvania initiated a four-year program of teacher education. In 1960, as the Commonwealth paved the way for liberal arts programs in its college system, West Chester was renamed West Chester State College, and two years later introduced the liberal arts program that turned the one-time academy into a comprehensive college.