Worcester State University

Founded in 1874 as Massachusetts's fifth normal school, Worcester State University has changed significantly while evolving from a teacher training school to a highly regarded public university in New England's second-largest city. Normal schools prepared teachers to enter classrooms through a curriculum of traditional coursework and innovative apprentice teaching. By 1932, when the normal school moved from its downtown location to the city's western edge, its name was changed to Worcester State Teachers College, and although it still stressed teacher preparation, the school began expanding its academic program and growing its campus. By 1963, it became Worcester State College, denoting the shift from a strictly teacher training school to a liberal arts and sciences college. New and unique programs proliferated, and graduate education increased student options. By 2010, Worcester State, like all Massachusetts state colleges, became a university, again signifying how much it had evolved in less than a half century. As Worcester State University approaches its 150th anniversary, this book illustrates some of the major changes in the institution's history.

Thomas E. Conroy is chair and associate professor of urban studies at Worcester State University and a native of Worcester. He is an urban historian, and his scholarly work focuses on various forms of urban exclusion, historically and contemporarily.