Shenandoah University

Shenandoah University is a comprehensive private university located in Winchester, Virginia in the United States. It has an enrollment of approximately 3,800 students across more than ninety programs in seven schools: College of Arts & Sciences, Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business, Shenandoah Conservatory, Bernard J. Dunn School of Pharmacy, Eleanor Wade Custer School of Nursing, School of Health Professions (Athletic Training, Respiratory Care, Occupational Therapy, Physician Assistant Studies and Physical Therapy) and the School of Education & Human Development. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church.

The U.S. News and World Report's 2012 Best Colleges and Universities listing placed Shenandoah University at 27th (Tier 1) in its Regional Universities (South) category.

History
The university was founded as Shenandoah Seminary in 1875 in Dayton, Virginia, by Dr. Abraham Funkhouser and Professor Jay Fries. Shenandoah Seminary became a junior college in 1924, changing its name to Shenandoah College the following year. Shenandoah Conservatory became a separate corporation in 1937 and began granting four-year degrees. In 1960, Shenandoah College and the Shenandoah Conservatory moved to the current seventy-five-acre (305,000 m²) Winchester campus and began offering four-year degrees in 1974 (at which time the college and conservatory corporations were merged). Having obtained university status on January 1, 1991, today the Shenandoah University student body represents forty-six U.S. states while the student body and faculty combined represents seventy-three countries.

Locations
The university operates on three primary campuses. Two are in Winchester: the main campus located near Interstate 81, and the Health Professions campus located near the Winchester Medical Center. The third, the Northern Virginia Campus, is located in Leesburg, Virginia. There are also a number of satellite offices and facilities located throughout Winchester.

Schools and Programs
The university offers over eighty programs at bachelor's-, master's-, and doctoral-degree levels in seven schools:


 * College of Arts and Sciences
 * Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business
 * Shenandoah Conservatory
 * School of Health Professions
 * Bernard J. Dunn School of Pharmacy
 * Eleanor Wade Custer School of Nursing
 * School of Education & Human Development Programs of Study

Shenandoah University's business school, the Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business, is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.

Athletics
The university's Department of Athletics sponsors twenty intercollegiate sports, ten for men and ten for women. Shenandoah's men's and women's teams are known as the Hornets.

The men's sports are:


 * Baseball
 * Basketball
 * Cross Country
 * Football
 * Golf


 * Lacrosse
 * Tennis
 * Track and Field (indoor)
 * Track and Field (outdoor)
 * Soccer

The women's sports are:


 * Basketball
 * Cross country
 * Field hockey
 * Lacrosse
 * Soccer


 * Softball
 * Tennis
 * Track and field (indoor & outdoor)
 * Volleyball

All teams compete as members of the Division III of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the department holds membership in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC). They formerly competed in the USA South Athletic Conference (USA South).

In the Spring of 2008, the women's softball team captured its first-ever USA South Athletic Conference championship in school history, finishing with a record of 30-12 (15-3 in conference).

In the Spring of 2009, the men's baseball team won the USA South Championship and were ranked 6th in the nation by the end of the year. Their No. 6 national ranking is the highest finish ever for any SU athletic team. In Spring 2010 SU baseball won the NCAA USA South Championships for the second year in a row.

In the Fall of 2011, under the coaching of Hall of Fame Inductee (American University), Elizabeth Pike, the women's soccer team won the USA South Conference Championship for the first time in school history, with a record of 17-2-1. The team also played in the first round of the NCAA tournament for the first time.

Campus expansion
Shenandoah has recently undergone significant expansion, as evidenced by the new facilities such as Halpin-Harrison Hall, the new home of the AACSB Accredited Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business, the Brandt Student Center, the History and Tourism Center, and the forthcoming construction of new administrative offices on the site now housing the Virginia National Guard. More construction is expected to take place in the coming years around the east campus near Shentel Stadium. This growth parallels increasing recognition on the academic front, notably in the aforementioned U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges and Universities edition.

Partnership relations
The university has partner-institution memorandum-of-understanding agreements with thirty-six international colleges and universities. One such partner institution is the Ulyanovsk State University in Ulyanovsk, Russia.

It also participates in the British Council's Business Education Initiative and Irish-American Scholars program in conjunction with universities and colleges in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.

Notable alumni

 * Carter Beauford, drummer of the Dave Matthews Band
 * J. Robert Spencer, Tony Award Nominee for Best Actor in Broadway's Next to Normal, "Nick Massi" in the Original Broadway Cast of Jersey Boys
 * Billy Drummond, acclaimed jazz drummer

Technology

 * A 2005 survey conducted by Intel ranked the university at 56th in its top-100 "Most Unwired Colleges" list, just behind Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and ahead of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The ranking measures accessibility for broadband and wireless internet.

Name
According to the university's official history page, the name Shenandoah is derived from the Native American legend of Zynodoa, a brave whose life of strength and courage and his appreciation of beauty resulted in having a river and a valley named for him. Popular myth further ascribes translation of the word "Shenandoah" to mean "daughter of the stars."