Salisbury University

Salisbury University) is a public university located in the city of Salisbury in Wicomico County, Maryland, roughly 30 miles west of Ocean City, Maryland, and approximately 115 miles southeast of Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, DC. Founded in 1925, Salisbury is a member of the University System of Maryland, with a Fall 2016 enrollment of 8,748.

Salisbury University offers 42 distinct undergraduate and 14 graduate degree programs across five academic schools: the Fulton School of Liberal Arts, Perdue School of Business, Henson School of Science and Technology, Seidel School of Education & Professional Studies, and the College of Health and Human Services. The Salisbury Sea Gulls compete in Division III athletics in the Capital Athletic Conference, while the football team competes in the New Jersey Athletic Conference.

Salisbury University, originally called the Maryland State Normal School, opened on September 7, 1925, as a two-year institution to train elementary school teachers to help fill the teacher shortage in the state of Maryland. The original class of 105 students was greeted by Salisbury's first president, Dr. William J. Holloway, an experienced educator and the driving force behind the creation of the school. The curriculum was influenced by those established at Columbia's Teachers College, alma mater of six of Salisbury Normal School's eight original faculty. During the Great Depression, Maryland extended the required course of study at normal schools from two years to three years, and to four years in 1934, paving the way for the institution to become Maryland State Teachers College one year later.