Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania (Ship or SU) is a

public university A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant funding from a government. Whether a national university is considered public varies from o ...

in the

Shippensburg, Pennsylvania Shippensburg is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Cumberland and Franklin County, Pennsylvania, Franklin counties in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Settled in 1730, Shippensb ...

area. It is part of the

Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) is an American state agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that oversees 10 state-owned universities. Collectively, it is the largest provider of higher education in the commonwea ...

. Founded in 1871, it later became the first teachers' college in Pennsylvania. Shippensburg University is

accredited Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

by the

Middle States Commission on Higher Education The Middle States Commission on Higher Education, abbreviated as MSCHE and legally incorporated as the Mid-Atlantic Region Commission on Higher Education, is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit membership organization that performs peer evalua ...

History

The commonwealth legislated the State Normal School for "the education and training of teachers" in the seventh district (seven counties) to be in Shippensburg, and in 1871 the cornerstone was laid for the building designated the "Cumberland Valley State Normal School". In 1917 the school was purchased by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. On June 4, 1926, the school was authorized to grant the Bachelor of Science in education degree in elementary and junior high education. The school received a charter on October 12, 1926, making it the first normal school in Pennsylvania to become a state teachers college. On June 3, 1927, the State Council of Education authorized the school to change its name to the "State Teachers College at Shippensburg". The business education curriculum was approved on December 3, 1937. On December 8, 1939, Shippensburg State Teachers College became the first teachers college in Pennsylvania and the fourth in the United States to be accredited by the Middle States Association of colleges and (Secondary) Schools. The State Council of Education approved graduate work leading to the Master of Education degree on January 7, 1959. On January 8, 1960, the name change to Shippensburg State College was authorized. The arts and sciences curriculum was authorized by the State Council of Education on April 18, 1962, and the Bachelor of Science in business administration degree program was initiated on September 1, 1967. On November 12, 1982, the governor of the Commonwealth signed Senate Bill 506 establishing the State System of Higher Education. Shippensburg State College was designated "Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania" effective July 1, 1983. Since 1985, many of the original historic buildings of the campus, including Old Main, are listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

Campus

Most of the campus is in Shippensburg Township, including the sections of the

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

. One portion of the campus grounds is in Shippensburg Borough, and another portion is in Southampton Township.

Academics

Shippensburg University offers more than 100 undergraduate programs in the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Education and Human Services, and the John L. Grove College of Business. It also offers more than 50 master's degree programs, two doctoral programs, and three post-bachelor or post-master's certificate programs in 17 fields of study in the School of Graduate Studies.

Rankings

For the 2022–2023 academic year, out of 181 colleges in the Regional Universities North division, '' U.S. News & World Report'' ranked Shippensburg University as tied for 101st overall, tied for 150th in Top Performers on Social Mobility, and tied for 33rd place in Top Public Schools.

Athletics

Shippensburg University is an

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...

school and one of eighteen schools to compete in the

Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. The conference was originally formed in 1951 as the State Teachers C ...

(PSAC). The school maintains intercollegiate programs for

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

(Men & Women), cross country (Men & Women),

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

(Women),

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

(Men & Women),

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

(Men & Women),

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

(Men & Women),

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

(Women),

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

(Women) and

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

. Several club sports, such as

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

(Men & Women),

Ultimate Frisbee Ultimate frisbee (officially simply called ultimate) is a non-contact team sport played with a disc flung by hand. Ultimate was developed in 1968 by Joel Silver, Buzzy Hellring, and Jonny Hines in Maplewood, New Jersey. Although ultimate rese ...

and the

inline hockey Inline hockey or roller hockey is a variant of hockey played on a hard, smooth surface, with players using inline skates to move and ice hockey sticks to shoot a hard, plastic puck into their opponent's goal to score points. The sport is a v ...

team, also participate in independent leagues. The home venue of the university's football and track & field programs is

Seth Grove Stadium Seth Grove Stadium is a stadium on the campus of Shippensburg University in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. The stadium is named for the late J. Seth Grove, former faculty member and coach at Shippensburg. The stadium was built in 1972 and has a c ...

. The team name is the Raiders, and the mascot is "Big Red," a red-tail hawk wearing a pirates hat. The team colors are blue and red.

Notable alumni

Gallery

File:shipoldmain.JPG, Old Main File:Shipluhrs.JPG, H. Ric Luhrs Performing Arts Center file:Rear entrance to Old Main CVSNS (7711506446).jpg, Cumberland Valley State Normal School File:Shippensburg engineering building.jpg, Shippensburg Engineering Building File:Ship Happens Keystone Marker.jpg,

Keystone marker Keystone markers are a now-defunct system of roadside signage developed by Pennsylvania Department of Highways shortly after the First World War, placed outside cities, towns, and boroughs in the state of Pennsylvania. Variations of the marker ...

Demographics

Shippensburg University CDP is a

that is located in Shippensburg Township,

Cumberland County Cumberland County may refer to: Australia * Cumberland County, New South Wales * the former name of Cumberland Land District, Tasmania, Australia Canada *Cumberland County, Nova Scotia United Kingdom * Cumberland, historic county *Cumberl ...

, in the

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Maryland to its south, West ...

. It is situated just north of the borough of

Shippensburg Shippensburg is a borough in Cumberland and Franklin counties in the U.S. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Settled in 1730, Shippensburg lies in the Cumberland Valley, southwest of Harrisburg, and is part of the Harrisburg metropolitan area. The p ...

and covers the campus of Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania. It was first listed as a CDP in 2010. As of the 2010 census the population of the CDP was 2,625.

References

External links

*
Athletics website
{{Authority control Eastern Pennsylvania Rugby Union Educational institutions established in 1871 Universities and colleges in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania Universities and colleges in Franklin County, Pennsylvania School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania 1871 establishments in Pennsylvania Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Franklin County, Pennsylvania Public universities and colleges in Pennsylvania