Salem State University
Salem State University began in 1854 as Salem Normal School, then Salem State College a teaching college for women. It changed to university status in 2011.
The land at the corner of Lafayette Street and Loring Avenue that the new college buildings were built on was the former Osgood farm, purchased in 1893.
In 1990, the Bates complex opened. In 1997, the former Sylvania plant was acquired by the school to become Central Campus.
Salem State enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students representing 27 states and 57 foreign countries, and is one of the largest state universities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Salem State occupies 115 acres on five campuses less than a mile from downtown Salem.
The university is home to: Approximately 2,000 undergraduate resident students in three residence halls and two residential complexes.
Approximately 5,725 undergraduate commuter students.
A new library is under construction and is expected to be completed in 2012.
Top Ten Most Popular majors are:
Business Administration
Nursing
Education
Criminal Justice
Biology
Psychology
Communications
Sport and Movement Science
English
History
The Salem State University Speaker Series was founded in 1982 as one of the first high-profile speaker series in the country. Former President Gerald Ford was its first speaker.
In Sept. of 2021, Salem State's Central Campus was officially renamed the "Nancy D. Harrington Campus" in honor of the former president, who died in December of 2020 at age 81.
See Also
- Salem State University website
- History of Salem State University SSU website
