Millersville University of Pennsylvania

History

Millersville University was established in 1855 as the Lancaster County Normal School, the first state normal school in Pennsylvania. It subsequently changed its name to the Millersville State Normal School in 1859 and Millersville later became a state teachers college in 1927. It was renamed Millersville State College in 1959 and officially became Millersville University of Pennsylvania in 1983.

In November 1852, the Lancaster County Educational Association met in Strasburg resolving to form an institute for teacher training. The first institute, which led to the Lancaster County Normal School and received major support from Thomas H. Burrowes, was held in January 1853. While the Association was working to organize, Lewis M. Hobbs, a popular teacher of the Manor district, lobbied heavily in Manor township for a more permanent training facility for teachers. Jacob Shenk, a local farmer, donated a tract of five acres (present-day site of Ganser Library, Biemesderfer Executive Center, and Dutcher Hall) with Hobbs collecting investments from local residents. On April 17, 1855, Lancaster County Normal School opened with James P. Wickersham as Principal and a peak of 147 teachers in attendance. President of the school was Thomas H. Burrowes and Vice President was Lewis M. Hobbs. November 5, 1855 marked the start of the first full session, with a new expansion off of the original Academy building that made 96 rooms available for nearly 200 students and their teachers.

Completed in 1894, the Biemesderfer Executive Center, also known as the Old Library, is the centerpiece of Millersville University's campus. The Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees designated $27,500 for the construction of the library in 1891 with the contract awarded to Lancastrian D.H. Rapp, who submitted the lowest bid in a blind auction.

The Millersville University Library is housed in Ganser Hall. In September 2011, the University closed Ganser Hall for two years in order to complete renovations. On August 26, 2013, the Ganser Library reopened as the McNairy Library and Learning Forum at Ganser Hall.

Location

Housing

Student Services, Inc. is in the process of building the final phase of a three phase project comprising eight new residence halls at Millersville University.[8] Once the new halls are complete, the University will maintain Bard and Gilbert Halls as overflow housing with Gaige Hall planned for demolition in the spring of 2016. Other housing options include Shenks Hall, Reighard Hall (formerly the Inn at Millersville), Brookwood Court and Healthy Living apartments.

Lombardo Welcome Center

On August 29, 2015, local community members Samuel and Dena Lombardo announced a gift to Millersville University of $1.2M for the creation of the University's new Welcome Center and first state-of-the-art Net-Zero energy building on campus. This building, named the Lombardo Welcome Center, will produce as much energy as it consumes and represents the University's largest single-donation to date. On the grounds of former Hull Hall, once complete the Lombardo Welcome Center will house the offices of Admissions, Housing & Residential Life, Marketing and the Office of the Vice President for Enrollment Management.

Francine G. McNairy Library & Learning Forum

Originally built from 1965-1967 on the grounds of Old Main, the Helen Ganser Library closed its doors in 2011 for an extensive 2-year renovation project and re-opened in 2013 as the Francine G. McNairy Library & Learning Forum. The entire complex is named after Millersville's 13th President, Dr. Francine McNairy, who began her career at Millersville first as Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs before becoming President in 2003. Ganser Hall, named for Helen A. Ganser (1911-1952), librarian and head of the Library Science Department, is the 9-story building that houses the University's academic collection. Serving as the academic heart of campus for over 40 years, Ganser Hall's beginning with the two famous "Bookwalks" of 1967.

During the renovation, Library Services was temporarily relocated to Gerhart Hall (22 East Frederick Street). A network of conveyor belts wound around the 9-story stairwell at the beginning of the project so the general collection could be boxed and shipped for temporary storage. Renovation of the building not only brings the academic heart of campus up to ADA Compliance, but also includes redesigned smart classrooms, natural lighting and a café serving Starbucks. On Monday August 26, 2013 the new library finally opened its doors to the Millersville University community as a new, dynamic home for over 500,000 books, 100,000 periodicals, and dozens of other resources, including a brand new reading room as well as a room with garden views of campus.

Currently, the Library offers a laptop borrowing service for students, has rooms available for reservation, is home to a 24-hour study room and is a part of the EZ-Borrow network, where students, faculty and staff can request a book from another library and arrives in as little as four days to the circulation desk. The Library also hosts several student-worker positions each semester.

Winter Visual & Performing Arts Center

Built as an expansion of Lyte Auditorium in Alumni Hall, the new Charles R. and Anita B Winter Visual and Performing Arts Center has a new entrance off Cottage Avenue in Millersville. The grand opening occurred on Friday, October 12, 2012 after two years of renovations to the original structure, Lyte Auditorium. Named for local philanthropist Charles Winter, whose daughters are both Millersville graduates, The new Visual and Performing Arts Center, a $26 million construction and renovation project, enhances the original 29,041-square-foot building of 700 seats with a 59,452-square-foot addition. Part of the University’s master plan to effectively use and reuse existing land, facilities, and infrastructure, the new Winter Visual & Performing Arts Center houses features a concert hall, recital hall, performance hall, classrooms, a recording studio, piano lab, a music library, faculty offices and more. Known by students as the VPAC (for Visual and Performing Arts Building), other features of the state-of-the-art building are a scenery shop, soundproof classrooms, several sitting areas, a music library and approximately 20 Soundlok rooms, which are modular sound-isolation rooms for practicing.

The Ware Center

The Ware Center is a performing arts center on North Prince Street in Lancaster, PA and the Lancaster city campus of Millersville University, part of the Millersville University’s Department of Visual & Performing Arts.

With over 20 classrooms, The Ware Center hosts classes for nearly 1,000 Millersville University students during Fall and Spring semesters. The building plays host to various musical, theatrical, dance, poetry, lecture, and other artistic events throughout the year, including on Lancaster city’s First Fridays. It is also rented out as a private event venue and banquet hall for meetings, conferences, and weddings.

Originally designed by architect Philip Johnson, the $32 million building opened in 2008 as the home of the now defunct Pennsylvania Academy of Music. The building became available due to the bankruptcy of the PA Academy of Music at the same time Millersville University was planning an extensive renovation of its main campus arts center. Millersville University began leasing the building in June 2010, shortly after the PA Academy of Music left the building. The Pennsylvania Department of General Services then bought the building from Union Community Bank on Millersville's behalf for $10.9 million in March 2011. $14.5 million was originally allocated by the state of Pennsylvania for purchasing the 63,000-square-foot building on Millersville's behalf, as well as equipping, furnishing and renovating it.

At that point, the building was known as “Millersville University-Lancaster”, as it wasn’t until September 12, 2011 that it was renamed “The Ware Center” in honor of philanthropists Paul W. and Judy S. Ware at a dedication ceremony in the building’s main theater, Steinman Hall.

In 2012, The Ware Center underwent a $2.4 million renovation to better adapt it to Millersville University's needs; among the renovations was the creation of larger classroom space and lighting and acoustic improvements to Steinman Hall.

Lancaster’s local newspaper LNP has referred to The Ware Center as “the busiest exhibit, performance, classroom and event space in Lancaster County”. In 2014, The Ware Center received the Building the Community Award from Central Penn Business Journal.

Academics

Millersville University has 8,725 students with a student-faculty ratio of 19.6:1 and an average class size of 27.

Degree programs and certifications

According to the 2011-2012 undergraduate course catalog Millersville University offers:

According to the Graduate and Professional Studies catalog, Millersville University offers 62 graduate programs:

Colleges

Athletics

Millersville University sponsors 19 intercollegiate varsity sports which compete in NCAA Division II.

Plus a diverse range of intramural and club programs, including:

Greek life

Honor societies

Notable alumni