Danbury State Normal School (1903–1937) Danbury Unit of the Teachers College of Connecticut (1933–1937) Danbury State Teachers College (1937–1959) Danbury State College (1959–1967) Western Connecticut State College (1967–1983)
WCSU consists of four schools: the Ancell School of Business, the Macricostas School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Professional Studies, and the School of Visual and Performing Arts. The university offers 38 Bachelor's and one associate degree programs, 15 Master's degree programs, and two doctoral programs. WCSU is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE).
WCSU is home to the Jane Goodall Center for Excellence in Environmental Studies, which is the result of a partnership between WCSU and the Jane Goodall Institute (a private non-profit organization that promotes research, education and wildlife conservation). The university's Westside campus houses the Ives Concert Park, one of the premier performance venues in the area.
Students from New York and New Jersey residents pay in-state tuition; students from New England pay reduced rates because of WCSU's participation in the New England Board of Higher Education's Regional Student Program.
History
Founding and growth
The entrance gates of WCSU's Midtown campus, located in downtown Danbury.
WCSU 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), the school changed its name twice in the 1930s: it became the Danbury Unit of the Teachers College of Connecticut in 1933 and then the Danbury State Teachers College in 1937.[4] The college was renamed Danbury State College in 1959, Western Connecticut State College in 1967, and, finally, Western Connecticut State University in 1983.[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.
WXCI and music publicization
In 1968, WCSU's radio station, WXCI (91.7 FM), then going by the call sign WCST and broadcasting with AM transmission, was established.
In 1973 WCST was switched from AM to FM transmission, obtained an FCC license, was renamed WXCI, and went on air under that call sign.
In the early 1980s, WXCI became one of the first FM stations to focus on alternative rock. Throughout the 80s the station was instrumental in promoting the work of a number of contemporary bands and musicians. While the station is perhaps best known for popularizing the English band Duran Duran in the United States, it also helped to familiarize the American audience with other projects and musicians from Great Britain, such as Elvis Costello and Culture Club. It popularized among residents of the Northeastern U.S. the West Coast punk group Black Flag and the Georgia-based R.E.M., while also providing greater listenership to New York City's Talking Heads. Thurston Moore, a founding member of Sonic Youth, attended WCSU for a quarter during the fall of 1976, though he left afterward.
In 1995, the Jane Goodall Center for Excellence in Environmental Studies (JGC) was founded on campus. The center is a non-profit501(c)(3) organization dedicated to environmental stewardship and conservation, and wildlife education and research, being the result of a partnership between Western and the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI). Since the center's founding, its namesake, primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall, has visited Western on at least a dozen occasions to give lectures on the issue of ecology.
The center has also hosted a number of seminars and public talks by other environmentalist speakers at the university: Notably, Smithsonian ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin and veteran ecologist Thomas Lovejoy spoke at the university in 1998, and in 2013 ocean conservationist Fabien Cousteau presented a public seminar on campus.
In 2005, Western was established by JGI as a "National Center for University Roots and Shoots"; this event resulted in the institution of the eponymous student environmental club, a chapter of the international Roots & Shoots (also known as Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots), on campus. Roots & Shoots is a subsidiary organization of JGI, and its WCSU chapter is one of only several based in the United States. The club's office, located in the Midtown campus's White Hall, remained the first of its kind between 2005 and 2012; afterwards, the organization's international headquarters was established at JGI's head office in Washington, D.C.
Roots & Shoots serves as, according to the university and the JGC, "a regional and national office of excellence in training university students, faculty and administrators to develop programs for K–12 and college students in local, regional and global conservation."
WCSU has two campuses, midtown and westside, both located in Danbury. The campuses are three miles (5 km) apart and connected by a university shuttle service.
The midtown campus is the original campus, located on White Street near downtown Danbury and the Main Street Historic District. It is home to the Macricostas School of Arts and Sciences, School of Professional Studies, and most of the university's administration. Dormitories on this campus include Fairfield Hall, Litchfield Hall, and Newbury Hall. The Midtown student center is located on this campus. In 2018, the fully renovated Higgins Hall reopened. Higgins Hall features the MSAS Dean's offices, state-of-the-art communication, media, and computer technology.
The westside campus is located on land purchased in 1969 on the outskirts of Danbury. This 439-acre (1.78 km2) lot is home to the Ancell School of Business, the School of Visual and Performing Arts, the Westside Nature Preserve, an amphitheater and three residence halls. Westside also houses athletic facilities, including the William O'Neill Athletic and Convocation Center (completed in 1995), and the Westside Athletic Complex (completed in 2003), as well as an observatory with a 20-inch Ritchy-Chretien telescope and a 20-foot planetarium dome. On January 23, 2007, the Westside Campus Center was officially opened. This new facility serves as a student center, meeting and banquet facility for the Westside campus. In August 2014, the Westside campus saw the opening of the new Visual and Performing Arts Center, a comprehensive arts building with Theatre Arts, Music and Visual Arts wings.
A major improvement program was started in the mid-1990s to beautify the campus. Several parking lots became green space, and improvements were made to the landscaping.
In April 2013, startup of a newly installed fuel cell power unit for the Science Building on the university's Midtown campus began. The PureCell System, provided by ClearEdge Power, supports the university to reap significant energy cost savings and enhanced electricity and heating efficiencies.[6]
The Midtown campus Science Building was the first state-funded building project to seek LEED Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The Visual and Performing Arts Center as well as Centennial Hall also obtained LEED certification. In 2014, WCSU installed four EV (electric vehicle) charging stations, two on each campus. These charging stations are available to both students and the public, free of charge. The university is a participant in EV Connecticut Electric Vehicle Charging Solutions program.
As of Fall 2020, WCSU has an enrollment of 3,849 full-time and 791 part-time undergraduate students and 68 full-time and 538 part-time graduate students.
According to the university, students claiming Connecticut residency come from 99 of the state's 169 municipalities.
Women comprise 51.2% of the entering class, and members of historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups comprise 44.2% of the entering class.
The student-to-faculty ratio as of Fall 2020 is 12 to 1 (Total Student FTE divided by Total Faculty FTE).
Prior to 2008, the Western Marketing Association was known as the Marketing Club. From here, students and advisors Ron Drozdenko and Donna Coelho restructured the organization to be more professional and resume oriented. The Western Marketing Association, a collegiate chapter of the American Marketing Association, has been ranked the top small chapter in 2020, and has maintained this status up to 2023.
The Roger Sherman Debate Society participates in policy debate tournaments sanctioned by the Cross Examination Debate Association. The team competes in the North East Conference as well as the national circuit. WCSU is the only university in Connecticut that offers a policy debate team.[9]
Resources
Academic resources for students include the Academic Advisement Center, Academic Testing Center, Career Success Center, First Year Program, Student Technology Training Center, Libraries and various tutoring centers.
Resources for faculty include the Office of Sponsored Research and Administrative Services, Instructional Technology Services, Academic Planning Calendar and the Faculty Development & Research Funds.
The college's radio station, WXCI, broadcasts at 91.7 FM to Connecticut and New York at 3,000 watts. It also streams its broadcasts on the internet at WXCI.org. WXCI's radio transmitter is located on the westside campus, while its studio is in the main campus (midtown) student center.
Student newspaper
The Echo is the university's student newspaper, founded in 1955, and subsidized by the students' activity fees. It has an editorial board which makes strategic and operational decisions on behalf of the newspaper. The Echo is published weekly in tabloid format, though in the past it has been published in broadsheet format. The Echo launched a new website, echo.wcsu.edu, in 2012.[10]
Athletics
Western Connecticut State University competes at the NCAA Division III level, with the football team also competing in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC), and is a member of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) and the Little East Conference (LEC). The university offers intercollegiate competition in 18 sports: men's baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, lacrosse, soccer, tennis, and swimming and diving; and women's basketball, cross country, field hockey, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis and volleyball.
Through the athletic training staff and university physician, WCSU provides health care to student athletes participating in intercollegiate sports.
WCSU offers competition at the club level in six sports: cheerleading, dance team, ice hockey, men's rugby, ultimate frisbee and powerlifting. The university also offers a variety of intramural activities depending on the semester as well as group exercise classes, a fitness zone and access to the O’Neill Center pool.
Sports venues
Varsity
Field Hockey: Westside Athletic Complex
Baseball: Athletic fields baseball stadium
Basketball: Feldman Arena at the O'Neill Center
Cross-Counrty: Ives Concert Park and Westside Nature Preserve
Football: Westside Athletic Complex (a.k.a. WAC), football stadium
Lacrosse: Westside Athletic Complex
Women's Lacrosse: Westside Athletic Complex
Soccer: Westside Athletic Complex
Softball: Athletic fields softball field
Swimming: O'Neill Center
Tennis: O'Neil Center outdoor tennis courts
Volleyball: Feldman Arena at the O'Neill Center
Golf
Non-varsity
Hockey: Danbury Ice Arena
Rugby: Athletic practice fields
Mascot
The original Western Connecticut State mascot was an Indian. A mascot committee formed to find a less offensive name in 1974 recommended changing the name to Canners, "a name that our teams can carry with respect."[11] From 1975 to 1978, the school adopted the nickname Canners to honor the region's fish canneries, and in conjunction with a sponsorship with the Candlewood Canning Company of Connecticut. But once the sponsorship was deemed illegal by the NCAA, the official mascot became Chuck the Colonial, a man in a blue Tricorne hat. Following the murder of George Floyd and pressure from alumni and students in June 2020, the university announced the formation of a committee to determine the fate of the mascot and the Colonials nickname and decided to no longer use these.[12] On April 19, 2022, the university announced that they would be changing their mascot name to the Wolves.[13]
Notable people
Alumni
Eric Bassriel, American producer, hip-hop artist, and host for IndieFeed, better known by his stage name Dirt E. Dutch
WCSU has the only bachelor's degree program in meteorology in southern New England.[16] It is part of the Department of Physics, Astronomy, and Meteorology. The program prepares students for graduate studies in meteorology and earth sciences and provides the necessary coursework for employment with the National Weather Service. It also contains an option in broadcast meteorology. The Science Building on the Midtown campus houses the Meteorological Studies and Weather Center (MSWC), which provides forecasting services for industrial and media clients, and conducts forensic climatological and meteorological studies. The MSWC also contains a TV studio, forecast center, and research area, supporting the meteorology program.
Astronomical facilities
WCSU houses two observatories, one public and one for undergraduate and graduate students and faculty. The Midtown observatory is located on the top of the Science Building. It is used for both students and on public viewing nights. The telescope has a 6-inch (150 mm) refractor and an 8-inch (200 mm) Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. There is also a planetarium for teaching and public star shows.
The West Side campus houses a large-format thermoelectrically cooled CCD camera and is specifically used for astrophysical studies.[17]
Library archive collections
The Archives and Special Collections Library at WCSU is the archival repository for the historical records of the university and is a significant repository for collections relating to the history of the Danbury and greater western Connecticut area.[18]
The mission of the Archives is to collect and make accessible the WCSU administrative records, faculty papers, university publications, theses, visual materials, and other media created by the university. It also includes non-WCSU affiliated personal papers, local government and organizational records, visual materials, maps, journals and other media that document the history of this region. The WCSU Archives also administers CT's Archives Online which searches archival materials around the state.[19] WCSU's archival holdings amount to approximately 1800 linear feet.[20]
^Janick, Herbert. A people's university : the centennial history of Western Connecticut State University, 1903–2003. Danbury, Conn. : The University, 2002.
