Western Michigan University


Western Michigan University is a public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the training of teachers. It was renamed Western Michigan University in 1957.
Western is one of the eight research universities in the state of Michigan and is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity". The university has seven degree-granting colleges, offering 147 undergraduate degree programs, 73 master's degree programs, 30 doctoral programs, and 1 specialist degree program. It is governed by an eight-member board of regents whose members are appointed by the governor of Michigan and confirmed by the Michigan Senate for eight-year terms.
The university's athletic teams compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and are known as the Western Michigan Broncos. They compete in the Mid-American Conference for most sports.

History

On May 27, 1903, Michigan governor Aaron T. Bliss signed a bill authorizing the creation of a teacher-training facility. Kalamazoo was chosen as the new school's location on August 28, 1903. Other locations considered included Allegan, Muskegon, Grand Rapids, Decatur, Three Oaks, and Hastings. The first building, then known as the Administration Building, and now known as Heritage Hall, was constructed in 1904.
The university was first officially known as Western State Normal School and offered a two-year training program. The first principal was Dwight B. Waldo, who served from 1904 until 1936. The school was renamed several times throughout its early history, beginning with Western State Teachers College in 1927, Western Michigan College of Education in 1941, and Western Michigan College in 1955. It was renamed Western Michigan University in 1957.
Most of the oldest and original WMU buildings are collectively known as East Campus. Because of the steep grade elevating the campus above the city, the Western State Normal Railroad was established in 1907 to carry students and staff up and down the hill with a funicular. It operated until 1949.
Western Michigan University had a partnership with Cooley Law School for over a decade, that on August 13, 2014, culminated in the adoption of a new name and partnership, the Western Michigan University Cooley Law School. In 2020, the university's Board of Trustees voted to end its affiliation with the Cooley Law School.
Western Michigan University was negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. President Edward B. Montgomery stated "the crisis has already cost WMU well over $45 million, and we expect the tally to rise through the remainder of this fiscal year." To soften the economic toll of the pandemic, WMU instituted a number of cost-cutting measures.

Presidents

  • Dwight B. Waldo
  • Paul V. Sangren
  • James W. Miller
  • John T. Bernhard
  • Diether H. Haenicke
  • Elson S. Floyd
  • Judith I. Bailey
  • John M. Dunn
  • Edward B. Montgomery
  • Russ Kavalhuna

    Campus

WMU's campuses encompass more than and roughly 150 buildings. Western Michigan University is divided into five campuses in and near Kalamazoo, Michigan:
West Campus is the primary and largest WMU campus in Kalamazoo, and is usually referred to as "Main Campus." Most of the university academic and administrative buildings are on West Campus, including the College of Arts and Sciences, Haworth College of Business, College of Education and Human Development, College of Fine Arts, the Lee Honors College and Waldo Library. Many of the residence halls are found scattered throughout West Campus, while other dormitories are adjacent to West Campus in Goldsworth Valley.
Waldo Library is the main branch of the University Libraries, which is the fourth largest university library system in Michigan. The library offers books, a cafe, student commons, study rooms, a flight simulator lab, and a virtual reality lab.
The WMU Student Center opened in 2023 and contains a dining center, restaurants, a bank, the campus bookstore, student organization center and other student services.
West Campus is also the site of Miller Auditorium, a large entertainment venue seating nearly 3500 people. It is Michigan's fourth largest auditorium. Miller Auditorium hosts events ranging from popular musicals and concerts to graduation commencements and film screenings. The Gilmore Theater Complex, featuring three performance stages and faculty offices, is directly next to Miller Auditorium. The Dalton Center houses the Irving S. Gilmore School of Music and the Department of Dance. The Richmond Center for Visual Arts was added to the Fine Arts Complex in 2007, followed by South Kohrman Hall being renovated into faculty offices and upgraded studio spaces in 2008. Both buildings house the Gwen Frostic School of Art.

East Campus

East Campus is the original development dating from the university's founding in 1903. It contained many of the university's historical buildings including, East Hall, West Hall, North Hall, Walwood Hall, Spindler Hall, Vandercook Hall, and The Little Theater. Many of these buildings were on a hill overlooking the city of Kalamazoo.
In December 2012, WMU announced plans to renovate its birthplace, historic East Hall, for use as an alumni center, and to demolish several of the university's original historic buildings and utilize the hilltop as green space.
In August 2013 West Hall and the Speech and Hearing building on WMU's East Campus were demolished. The original portion of East Hall was retained, but North Hall and the two side wings of East Hall came down. East Hall reopened in 2015 as Heritage Hall, home to the WMU Alumni Center. In addition to the renovation of East Hall, the portico of North Hall was preserved and positioned just north of East Hall.

Oakland Drive Campus

The Oakland Drive campus is home to the university's College of Health and Human Services and the WMU Army ROTC program. It is also home to the Western Michigan University Archives and Regional History Collections, located in the Charles C. and Lynn L. Zhang Legacy Collections Center. In 2021, the University Libraries announced that Special Collections would be moving from Waldo Library to the Zhang Center.

Parkview Campus

The Parkview Campus is home to the university's College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and is within the Business Technology and Research Park. Erected in 2003, the $72.5 million building Floyd Hall is and features two three-story wings connected by a middle glass enclosure. The campus is about southwest of the main campus.
The campus contains the paper coating plant. The school offers 17 undergraduate engineering, technology and applied sciences programs, while the graduate level, the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences offers 9 master programs, and 6 doctoral programs.

College of Aviation

The College of Aviation offers three undergraduate aviation majors in Battle Creek, Michigan.
The College of Aviation runs a Cirrus SR-20 fleet, turbine engine testing sites, and aviation maintenance training facilities. Additionally the College of Aviation has a fleet of Piper PA-44 Seminole, one Piper PA-18 Super Cub, and one American Champion Super Decathlon used for flight training. The facility is in Battle Creek, Michigan at W. K. Kellogg Airport.
Because the demand for training was high, the city of Battle Creek and the Air National Guard, in conjunction with the College of Aviation, constructed a new runway just to the west of the original runway 23 and parallel to it. This caused Battle Creek's main runway to be renamed runway 23R and the new runway 23L. The project's cost was around $7 million, 95% of the money coming from the government. The runway is now fully "operational".
From August 2017 to August 2019, Western Michigan University operated a satellite campus in Punta Gorda, Florida near the Punta Gorda Airport with additional facilities being located on the airfield. WMU planned to build a new building on the north side of the airport to consolidate the aviation classes at the airport. Western Michigan University offered aviation and music therapy programs in Punta Gorda and used Florida SouthWestern State College's campus. It was announced in February 2019 that WMU Punta Gorda would close due to low enrollment numbers.

Regional sites

Western Michigan University also has several regional sites that offer education to more than 6,000 students each year. These regional sites are in cities throughout Michigan:

Undergraduate admissions

WMU is considered "selective" by U.S. News & World Report. For the Class of 2025, WMU received 18,853 applications and accepted 15,612. Of those accepted, 2,112 enrolled, a yield rate of 13.5%. WMU's freshman retention rate is 77.2%, with 56.3% going on to graduate within six years.
The enrolled first-year class of 2025 had the following standardized test scores: the middle 50% range of SAT scores was 1000–1200, while the middle 50% range of ACT scores was 21–27.

Academic divisions

WMU is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity". It has 147 undergraduate degree programs, 73 master's degree programs, 30 doctoral programs, and 1 specialist degree program.
WMU has ten academic divisions:
  • College of Arts and Sciences
  • College of Aviation
  • Haworth College of Business
  • College of Education and Human Development
  • College of Engineering and Applied Sciences
  • College of Fine Arts
  • College of Health and Human Services
  • Merze Tate College
  • Lee Honors College
  • Graduate College
The university has seven degree-granting colleges: the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Aviation, the Haworth College of Business, the College of Education and Human Development, the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the College of Fine Arts and the College of Health and Human Services. In addition to the Graduate College and the Lee Honors College., the University restructured the University College, the academic home for exploratory majors, and renamed it for WMU alumnae Merze Tate in 2021.
Its most popular undergraduate majors, by 2021 graduates, were:
The Haworth College of Business is the university's business school. One of the largest business schools in the United States, it has some 4,000 undergraduate students and 500 Master of Business Administration and Master of Accountancy students. The college is in Schneider Hall on the main campus. The College of Business was renamed in honor of alumnus G. W. Haworth after Haworth gave a large donation in the 1980s.