Montclair State is New Jersey's second largest and fastest growing university, offering the advantages of a large university, a broad undergraduate curriculum with a global focus, a wide variety of superior graduate programs, and a diverse faculty and student body, combined with a small college's attention to students.

Montclair State recently revised its mission statement to reflect its expanded role in educating the students of New Jersey, conducting research, and providing service to the community, the region, the state and beyond. Adopted at the same time was a strategic plan that was the culmination of five years of work. The key goals of the strategic plan are:

• to be a recognized center for excellence in teaching and learning;
• to be a source of new knowledge and the application of knowledge;
• to provide expanded opportunities to students within a richly diverse setting;
• to provide the facilities, equipment and funding to support the University's expansion;
• to embrace the pervasive and transforming use of technology;
• to be a center for global study and understanding;
• to foster a vibrant sense of community in which each student will be challenged to attain her or his full potential, and
• to serve as an important resource for the local and regional community.

Currently the University is in the midst of an ambitious expansion program that will enable it to accommodate at least 18,000 students by 2008, the year of its centennial. The program includes the recruitment of outstanding new faculty and approximately $250 million in capital construction. Among the major building additions are:

• The Village at Little Falls, a state-of-the-art housing complex with apartments for 850 students, which opened in Fall 2003. With five buildings named for famous New Jerseyans, MSU's signature Spanish mission architecture, an outdoor swimming pool and a fitness center, it has been featured on MTV, on television's "Inside Edition," and in newspapers all over the country.
• A new women's softball stadium, which opened in Spring 2004.
• The Alexander Kasser Theater, a 500-seat, state-of-the-art performance venue for music, dance and theater events.
• A new New Jersey Transit train station and parking garage that gives University students a one-seat ride into the heart of midtown Manhattan.
• The Children's Center, an innovative setting for two of the University's most highly respected and nationally recognized children's programs, the Psychoeducational Center and the Child Care Center. By uniting typical preschoolers with special-needs students, this facility creates a unique experience for both children and educators.
• The recently opened University Hall is the largest and most sophisticated building in Montclair State University's history. This significant addition has over 60 instructional spaces for use by all of the University's colleges and schools,including one 200-seat and six 100-seat lecture halls, 39 general classrooms, 11 specialized classrooms and laboratories, and a number of student study lounges and gathering spaces, including a mission-style outdoor courtyard.
  • The south wing of University Hall provides a state-of-the-art new home for the University's nationally recognized College of Education and Human Services, including the ADP Center for Teacher Preparation and Learning Technologies, the Center of Pedagogy, the Literacy Enrichment Center, the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children, and offices and conference rooms for the more than 150 faculty and staff in the College of Education and Human Services.
  • Two floors of the north wing of the building are dedicated to the University's Information Technology services and houses the University's Information Commons and Technology Solutions Center for students and faculty. Located on the seventh floor of University Hall is the region's newest and most sophisticated conference center, with meeting, conference and event space for groups up to 500.

With more than 250 majors, minors and concentrations, the nation's only doctorate in pedagogy, and a unique interdisciplinary doctorate in environmental management, MSU provides a comprehensive array of academic programs while remaining accessible and affordable. Through its six schools and colleges--the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the College of Science and Mathematics, the College of Education and Human Services, the College of the Arts, and the School of Business--Montclair State University prepares its students to lead productive and rewarding lives, and to participate responsibly in civic society.

Montclair State's strong commitment to public service is evidenced by its wide variety of noncredit programs offered to varied constituencies. Each year, more than 1,200 academically gifted youngsters take part in advanced instructional programs offered weekends and during the summer on campus, and close to 500 talented children receive instruction through the Preparatory Center for the Arts. The School of Conservation, a 240-acre facility in Stokes State Forest, is one of the largest university-operated environmental education centers in the world, providing two- to five-day programs for about 10,000 elementary and secondary school students annually from around the state as well as graduate education for students from throughout the world. The University's Service Learning Program, in which students work with community groups throughout the area as part of their academic course work, has provided services to several communities in the area, and the New Jersey Network for Educational Renewal, a school-University partnership dedicated to the simultaneous renewal of the schools and teacher education, serves numerous school districts in northern New Jersey.

From its founding in 1908, the history of Montclair State University has been one of change, growth and distinction. Proud of its heritage and prepared to respond to the challenges and opportunities of the twenty-first century, Montclair State continues to be a major contributor to the cultural, economic and educational life of the region.

(Updated 4/06)