Shippensburg University
public university in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, United States
Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, commonly known as Shippensburg University (Ship or SU), is a public university in the Shippensburg, Pennsylvania area. It is part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.
Founded in 1871, it later became the first teachers' college in Pennsylvania. Shippensburg University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
History
The commonwealth legislated the State Normal School for "the education and training of teachers" in the seventh district (seven counties) to be in Shippensburg, and in 1871 the cornerstone was laid for the 212 ft (65 m) building designated the "Cumberland Valley State Normal School". In 1917 the school was purchased by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
On June 4, 1926, the school was authorized to grant the Bachelor of Science in education degree in elementary and junior high education. The school received a charter on October 12, 1926, making it the first normal school in Pennsylvania to become a state teachers college. On June 3, 1927, the State Council of Education authorized the school to change its name to the "State Teachers College at Shippensburg".
The business education curriculum was approved on December 3, 1937.
The public source identifies “Shippensburg University” as public university in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Shippensburg, University and public.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7498066. VIAF identifies the subject as 137264692. The Library of Congress control number is n85021395. Authority coordinates are 40.062, -77.522. 5 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1871, 1917, 1926 and 1927.
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This entry incorporates text from “Shippensburg University” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.