Concord University is a comprehensive, public, liberal arts institution located in Athens, West Virginia founded on February 28, 1872, when the West Virginia Legislature passed "an Act to locate a Branch State Normal School, in Concord Church, in the County of Mercer."

Founded by veterans of both the Union and the Confederacy, Concord is named for the ideal of “harmony and sweet fellowship.”

History

May 10, 1875, classes begin with 70 students. Captain James Harvey French was the first principal, and he served until his death in 1891.

1887 State appropriations for a new brick building were secured; the building was completed on the site of the present Athens Middle School, on State Street.

1896 Due to confusion with another West Virginia post office in Hampshire County called "Concord," the name of the town was changed to "Athens," an obvious choice of the old Greek city for a community that was a center of learning. But the school kept "Concord" as its name.

November, 1910. A tragic fire destroyed the handsome school building on State Street.

1912 The campus was moved to its present site, on Vermillion Street and a new building was completed that currently is known as Marsh Hall.

1931 The institution achieves full national accreditation and is renamed Concord State Teachers College.

1932 President’s House completed.

1943 Name changed to Concord College.

1943 Concord housed the U.S. Army Air Corps 15th College Training Detachment. The program, which lasted throughout the war, brought classes of young soldiers in to train them as Army Pilots

1973 The West Virginia Board of Regents forces an administrative merger between Concord College and neighboring Bluefield State College.

1976 The highly unsuccessful administrative merger is discontinued.

2003 Concord begins to offer its first masters degree program in Education.

October 4, 2003 Concord named the 13th best public institution for pre-professional studies by the Wall Street Journal.

July 1, 2004 Concord granted university status by the state of West Virginia and renames itself Concord University

September, 2004 Concord opens a state of the art Recombinant DNA Lab. Concord is named a Top Tier university in the U.S. south by U.S. News and World Report.

Leading Programs

Education

Business

Pre-Law

Pre-Medicine

Psychology

Graphic Design

Computer Science / Information Systems

Social Work

Future

The Nick J. Rahall Technology Center This $14 million project, to be finished in 2006, will be a central location for McDowell, Wyoming, Raleigh, Fayette, Greenbrier, Summers, Mercer and Monroe Counties of West Virginia where existing business may obtain training/orientation to technologies which will make them more productive, competitive and profitable. The Center will serve as a central location where promising new businesses may use modern, attractive housing, clerical support, low-cost part-time employees, first-rate consulting, and cutting edge technologies without a full range of startup capital. The Center will also house the Concord University Entrepreneurial Studies Program, supported by a grant from the Hugh I. Shott Foundation . Incubator businesses, gifted Concord students, and professional Concord consulting faculty are brought together in the Rahall Center to use the area's "brain trust" to create entrepreneurial advantages for Southern West Virginia.

Interfaith Chapel at University Pointe The Concord Interfaith Chapel Foundation is working to convert the dream of a tolerant and open worship space for all faiths into reality, as plans are refined and gifts are received. Building and endowing the interfaith chapel has become a major goal of the new Campaign for Concord University.

External Links

• Concord University Web Site