Western Connecticut State University

Western Connecticut State University (also known as Western, Western Connecticut, Western Connecticut State, WestConn, and WCSU) is a public university located in Danbury, Connecticut, United States.

WCSU consists of four schools and one division: the Ancell School of Business (which includes the Justice & Law Administration program), the Macricostas School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Visual and Performing Arts, the School of Professional Studies, and the Division of Graduate Studies.

Founded in 1903, WCSU is part of the Connecticut State University (CSU) system, the primary division of the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities (CSCU) system, which includes Eastern, Southern and CentralConnecticut state universities; CSCU as a whole consists of those universities in addition to a number of community colleges. Between the four state universities, more than 34,000 students are enrolled, with more than 5,700 students enrolled at Western.[4] (As of the Fall 2016 semester.)

Western was founded in 1903 as a teachers' college, training the primary and secondary school educators for Connecticut's Fairfield County and surrounding areas. The school's name has changed over the years as it has focused on additional areas of study. First named the Danbury Normal School (also known as the Danbury State Normal School), starting in 1937 it was called the Danbury State Teachers College, a name it retained until the late 1950s. The college was renamed Danbury State College in 1959, then Western Connecticut State College in 1967, and finally, in 1983, Western Connecticut State University.[5] In 2011, governance of the university was transferred to the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities system.

In 1904, 41 students were enrolled in the first classes on campus, the number of enrollments climbing to 362 students by 1912.

As of November 2014, WCSU has an enrollment of 5,952 undergraduate students, including 4,422 full-time and 1,530 part-time students. Graduate student enrollment in fall 2013 totaled 510, including 57 full-time and 453 part-time students.

5,119 students applied to the university (including 1,294 transfers). 2,191 (including 748 transfers) were accepted. Of those, 1,207 (including 451 transfers) enrolled as new full-time students.

Most of the students at WestConn come from the Tri-State Area comprising Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. Nearly all commuter students come from western Connecticut and Putnam, Dutchess, and Westchester counties in New York.