Stevenson University Information

Stevenson University is a private university in Baltimore County, Maryland with two campuses, one in Stevenson and one in Owings Mills. The university enrolls approximately 3,615 undergraduate and graduate students. Formerly known as Villa Julie College, the name was changed to Stevenson University in 2008.

Stevenson University was founded in Maryland as Villa Julie College in 1947 by the Roman Catholic womens religious order Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur as a one-year school training women to become medical secretaries. The college was named for Saint Julie Billiart, foundress of the Sisters of Notre Dame.

Stevensons Greenspring Valley campus in the Green Spring Valley area of suburban Baltimore County. It is located on the 60-acre (240,000 m2) former estate of the George Carroll Jenkins family. The estates name was "Seven Oaks," a reference to huge old oak trees planted on the property. They were thought to mark a traditional Lenni Lenape burial ground. One of these seven oaks still survived on campus until August 2007, when it was deemed potentially hazardous and cut down.

Villa Julie was approved as a two-year college by the Maryland State Department of Education in 1954 and received its first Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation in 1962. In 1967, the college established a Board of Trustees and became independent of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and the Roman Catholic Church. Villa Julie became coeducational in 1972, admitting its first male student that year.

Bachelors degree programs were added in 1984, starting with degrees in Computer Information Systems and Paralegal Studies.

Traditionally a commuter college for local residents, by the early 1990s Villa Julie started attracting students interested in college housing. Without the proper zoning for such an addition to the Stevenson campus, the college leased off-campus apartments in Pikesville and later in the county seat of Towson, where resident students began living in 1993. Villa Julie was granted admission to the National Collegiate Athletic Association and its NCAA Division III in 1994.

It started offering masters degrees in 1995. A major 1997 campus expansion more than doubled the amount of instructional space on campus, including expanded athletic facilities.

On October 28, 2000, Villa Julie College inaugurated its fourth president Kevin J. Manning Ph.D., who succeeded Carolyn Manuszak. Under Manning, enrollment continued to increase and the demand for college-owned student housing intensified. The college broke ground on a second campus in Owings Mills in August 2003, opening it a year later. The Owings Mills campus included several major residence complexes.In 2006 Rockland Center, a new student union and dining hall, was completed. The Caves Sports and Wellness Center also opened that same year.

In late 2007, the schools leaders decided to make changes needed to attain university status. Meetings were held to help determine whether the name should be changed to Villa Julie University, or something different, given its broader reach. Other names considered were Great Oaks University, Tufton University, Greenspring University, Rockland University, Sagamore University, and Billiart University. On June 11, 2008, the universitys Board of Trustees voted to name the school Stevenson University: it referred to the original location of Villa Julie College and Robert Stevenson, a prominent Baltimore grain merchant who married Deborah Owings, the granddaughter of the founder of Owings Mills.

Today, Stevenson University is composed of seven schools. The Howard S. Brown School of Business and Leadership opened for the fall 2008 semester and houses the schools Accounting, Business Administration, Business Information Systems, Computer Information Systems, Marketing, and Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics programs. Formerly housed on the Greenspring campus, the School of Design moved to a new building on a property purchased from Shire Pharmaceuticals in 2013 to create what is now the Owings Mills North location of the Owings Mills campus. In September 2016, the 200,000 sq ft (19,000 m2) Kevin J. Manning Academic Center opened and today houses the Beverly K. Fine School of the Sciences, the Sandra R. Berman School of Nursing and Health Professions, and additional facilities for the School of Design. Facilities in Garrison Hall on the Owings Mills campus serve as the headquarters for Stevenson University Online, the universitys online school for working professionals seeking masters degrees or o complete a bachelors degree. The School of Humanities and Social Sciences remains on the Greenspring campus.

On July 3, 2017, Stevenson Universitys sixth president, Elliot Hirshman, Ph.D., joined the university after serving as president of San Diego State University since 2011 and previously as provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

The university expanded its athletic facilities in 2010 with the opening of a 35,000 sq ft (3,300 m2) gymnasium and the 3,500-seat Mustang Stadium on the Owings Mills Campus. In summer 2017, Stevenson University reached an agreement with the state of Maryland to acquire the former Rosewood Center property in Owings Mills. The 117-acre site is adjacent to Stevensons existing Owings Mills campus and nearly doubles the total acreage of the university. The Rosewood project has included remediation and demolition of 20 buildings on the site in spring 2018. Grading of the site began in summer 2018.

Stevenson offers over 90 majors, minors, tracks, and concentrations. All degree programs have a core curriculum in the liberal arts and a career emphasis. In 2018, the university introduced five professional minors—Applied Management, Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development, Human Resources, Real Estate, and Software Design and Coding—designed to pair with students’ majors to give them additional career options and a competitive edge in the job market. The school reported that 92 percent of graduates were employed or started graduate school within six months of graduation.

Traditional undergraduate students can also complete a masters degree program through the universitys bachelors to masters option, designed to allow completion of both degrees in five years.

Stevenson offers Leadership, Service, and Honors Scholars programs for students who wish to engage in leadership education, extend their civic engagement with the community, or partake in rigorous academic opportunities.

Stevenson University Online, formerly the School of Graduate and Professional Studies, offers online masters, bachelors, and certificate programs for working professionals. Admission is granted on a rolling basis, and courses are offered year-round in 8-week sessions. Areas of study include nursing and healthcare; forensics, cyber forensics, law, and criminal justice; business and technology management and business communications; community-based education and leadership; and STEM-focused teaching.

Stevenson University enrolls approximately 3,615 undergraduate and graduate students in more than 40 bachelors and masters degree programs. Stevensons total enrollment has more than doubled since 2001.

The freshman enrollment and housing enrollments rose dramatically between 2009–2010 and 2010–2011. In the fall semester 2010, there were over 900 freshman students, around 700 of whom were residents. Today, nearly 2,000 students live in 13 residence halls on the Owings Mills campus.

In February 2018, Stevenson opened a Student Activities Commons in Garrison Hall on the Owings Mills campus to serve as a student club and activities center. The Commons include club sports offices, three meeting rooms, a fitness center, and a console video gaming room. It also serves as the home for Stevensons esports team, which has its own esports arena. In fall 2018, a reading room and the universitys fourth fitness center were also opened in Garrison Hall.

From community services and the arts to education and religion, there are more than 80 clubs and extracurricular activities for students. Mustang Activities and Programming (MAP) hosts over 40 student events a year, popular events include: Homecoming, Founders Day Talent Show, Rockland Blowout, and Food Truck Rally.

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