William Paterson University - History

History

William Paterson University was founded in 1855 as the Paterson City Normal School. For more than a century, training teachers for New Jersey schools was its exclusive mission. In 1951, the University moved to the present campus. Originally known as Ailsa Farms, the site was purchased by the state of New Jersey in 1948 from the family of Garret Hobart, twenty-fourth vice president of the United States. The original manor house, built in 1877, was the weekend retreat and summer residence of the Hobart family. Today the building is known as Hobart Manor and is home of the Office of the President and the Office of Institutional Advancement. Hobart Manor was designated a national and state landmark in 1976.

The University changed its name to Paterson State Teachers College when it relocated from Paterson in 1951. In 1966, the curriculum was expanded to include degree offerings other than those leading to a teaching career. In 1971, it was renamed The William Paterson College of New Jersey. The change of name honored William Paterson, who was the state’s first senator, its second governor, and a United States Supreme Court Justice appointed by President George Washington, and reflected both the institution’s beginnings in the city that also bears his name and the legislative mandate to move from a teachers college to a broad-based liberal arts institution.

In another historic milestone, the Commission on Higher Education in June 1997 awarded William Paterson university status.

Kathleen Waldron, the former president of Baruch College and a former senior executive at Citigroup, has been appointed the seventh president of William Paterson University. She took office August 2, 2010 to replace the retiring Arnold Speert, who had served as the school's president since 1985 and oversaw the further expansion of William Paterson's curriculum and campus.