Westfield State University (Westfield State) is a

public university A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national universit ...

Westfield, Massachusetts Westfield is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, Hampden County, in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts, United States. Westfield was first settled by Europeans in 1660. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield metrop ...

. It was founded in 1839 by

Horace Mann Horace Mann (May 4, 1796August 2, 1859) was an American educational reformer, slavery abolitionist and Whig politician known for his commitment to promoting public education. In 1848, after public service as Secretary of the Massachusetts Sta ...

as the first public co-educational college in America without barrier to race, gender, or economic class.

Rankings

In 2013, WSU was ranked fourth nationally by

US News ''U.S. News & World Report'' (USNWR) is an American media company that publishes news, consumer advice, rankings, and analysis. It was launched in 1948 as the merger of domestic-focused weekly newspaper ''U.S. News'' and international-focused ...

in their Best Online Programs Honor Roll. WSU was also ranked first in the country for "Faculty Credentials & Training" and eleventh in "Student Services & Technology".

Academics

Full and part-time programs lead to undergraduate bachelor's and advanced degrees, including: the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Bachelor of Science, (B.S.), Bachelor of Social Work (B.S.W.), Bachelor of Special Education (B.S.E.), Master of Education (M.Ed.), Master of Science (M.S.), Master of Arts (M.A.), Master of Public Administration (M.P.A.), Master of Social Work (M.S.W.) and newly Physician Assistant Studies (M.S.). There are 31 undergraduate majors, 34 minors, and 43 different concentrations at Westfield State University. Westfield State University's Division of Graduate and Continuing Education offers a variety of master's degrees and graduate certificates. Classes are offered on-campus and/or online. Graduate study, post-baccalaureate teacher licensure, and community education courses are offered.

Accreditation

Westfield State University is

accredited Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

by the

New England Commission of Higher Education The New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit membership organization that performs peer evaluation and accreditation of public and private universities and colleges in the United States and other ...

. In addition, its teacher licensure programs are accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Educator Preparation and Quality. The Athletic Training program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE); The Health Fitness program by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) and the Social Work program by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) Its music program is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM), while the Computer Science program is accredited by the Computing Accreditation Commission (CAC) of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). WSU has also been designated as a Commonwealth of Massachusetts-accredited Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) training institution.

Campus life

There are nine on-campus housing options and over 75 active student recreational, social and academic clubs and organizations. A number of programs of activities are provided by the honor societies at Westfield, they include:

Alpha Phi Sigma Alpha Phi Sigma () (Phi is pronounced "fi") is the only Criminal Justice Honor Society accredited by the Association of College Honor Societies. Traditionally a national organization serving United States universities, recent expansion into Canad ...

(Criminal Justice),

Kappa Delta Phi Kappa Delta Phi (), also known as KDPhi, is a social fraternity that was founded on April 14, 1900, at the Bridgewater State Normal School, now known as Bridgewater State University. The fraternity currently boasts 14 active chapters. A sorori ...

(Education),

Lambda Iota Tau Lambda Iota Tau () was an American international honor society for literature, whose purpose was to recognize and promote excellence in the study of literature in all languages. It was admitted to the Association of College Honor Societies (ACHS) i ...

(Literature)

Lambda Pi Eta Lambda Pi Eta () is the official Communication Studies honor society of the National Communication Association (NCA). As a member of the Association of College Honor Societies (ACHS), Lambda Pi Eta has more than 500 active chapters at four-year co ...

(Communication Studies),

Lambda Sigma Lambda Sigma () is an American college honor society for second-year students. Originally named the Society of Cwens, the society was established at the University of Pittsburgh in Fall 1922 as a women's honors society, and became a national orga ...

(college service), Phi Alpha Theta (History),

Phi Kappa Phi The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi (or simply Phi Kappa Phi or ) is an honor society established in 1897 to recognize and encourage superior scholarship without restriction as to area of study, and to promote the "unity and democracy of education ...

(superior scholarship in all disciplines),

Pi Delta Phi Pi Delta Phi () is the National French Honor Society—La Société d'Honneur de Français—for undergraduate and graduate students at accredited public and private colleges and universities in the United States. Founded as a departmental honor ...

(French),

Pi Sigma Alpha Pi Sigma Alpha ( or PSA), the National Political Science Honor Society, is the only honor society for college and university students of political and social sciences in the United States. Its purpose is to recognize and promote high academic ...

(Political Science),

Psi Chi Psi Chi () is a college student honor society in psychology with international outreach founded in 1929 at the University of Kansas in the United States. Psi Chi is one of the largest honor societies in the United States, with more than 1,150 cha ...

(Psychology),

Sigma Delta Pi Sigma Delta Pi () is the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society (La Sociedad Nacional Honoraria Hispánica). It was established on November 14, 1919, at the University of California at Berkeley. History Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegi ...

(Spanish and Hispanic Culture), and Sigma Xi (Science and Engineering).

Athletics

Westfield State University received the Howard C. Smith Cup from the Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference in the spring of 2017 in recognition of the best athletics program in the state – the third consecutive time and 13th overall that the program has received in its history. At Westfield State, 21 varsity teams compete in Division III of the NCAA, representing 13% of the student body. The Westfield State Owls, with mascot “Nestor,” meet the competition in the blue and white colors of the university. The varsity intercollegiate teams for fall are field hockey and women's cross country, volleyball, golf and soccer, as well as football and men's cross country, golf and soccer. Winter teams include women's basketball, indoor track, and swimming and diving, as well as men's basketball, ice hockey and indoor track, and coed cheering. The spring teams are softball, women's golf, lacrosse and track and field, as well as baseball, and men's golf and track and field.

Notable alumni

* George B. Cortelyou (1882) - U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary of Commerce, 1903–1904 *

Alice Mary Dowd Alice Mary Dowd ( pen name, Alice M. Dowd; December 16, 1855 – July 2, 1943) was an American educator and author. She was born in West Virginia in 1855 and began teaching at the age of seventeen. Dowd taught for more than three decades before re ...

, American educator, author *

Nettie Stevens Nettie Maria Stevens (July 7, 1861 – May 4, 1912) was an American geneticist who discovered sex chromosomes. In 1905, soon after the rediscovery of Mendel's paper on genetics in 1900, she observed that male mealworms produced two kinds of sper ...

(1883) - discoverer of the X and Y

chromosomes A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

Eduardo C. Robreno Eduardo C. Robreno (born 1945) is a former United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the first Cuban-American to be appointed as a federal judge. Edu ...

(1967) - the first Cuban-American federal court judge *

Marsha Bemko Marsha Bemko is an American television producer. She is the executive producer of the PBS series ''Antiques Roadshow''. In addition to ''Antiques Roadshow'', Bemko is also executive producer for PBS's antiques series ''Market Warriors''. Biog ...

(1977) - Executive Producer, ''

Antiques Roadshow ''Antiques Roadshow'' is a British television programme broadcast by the BBC in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom (and occasionally in other countries) to appraise antiques brought in by local people (g ...

'' (PBS) *

Peter Laviolette Peter Philip Laviolette Jr. (born December 7, 1964) is an American professional ice hockey coach, and former player, currently serving as head coach for the Washington Capitals. He was previously the head coach of the New York Islanders, Caroli ...

(1986) - ice hockey player and coach *

Geraldo Alicea Geraldo Alicea (born September 27, 1963 in Southbridge, Massachusetts) is an American politician who represented the 6th Worcester District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower h ...

- Former representative for the 6th Worcester District in the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...

* Domenic Sarno (1993) - Mayor of Springfield * Todd M. Smola (2004) - Representative from Palmer *

Christopher Donelan Christopher J. Donelan (born December 25, 1964, in Athol, Massachusetts) is an American law enforcement officer and politician who is the current Sheriff of Franklin County, Massachusetts. A Democrat, he served as a member of the Massachusetts Hou ...

(1987) - Sheriff of Franklin County

References

External links

*
Official athletics website
{{authority control Westfield, Massachusetts Educational institutions established in 1838 Public universities and colleges in Massachusetts Universities and colleges in Hampden County, Massachusetts 1838 establishments in Massachusetts