Company Profile

Company Overview

From its inaugural class of 57 students, Frostburg State University has grown to a present day enrollment of more than 5,600 students.

The campus was once limited to Old Main, a single building that housed classrooms and a library. It has now grown to more than 30 facilities, including residence halls, the Lewis J. Ort Library, the Harold J. Cordts Physical Education Center, the Lane University Center, the Performing Arts Center and classroom buildings that include the Compton Science Center and the Catherine R. Gira Center for Communications and Information Technology, all situated on 260 beautiful acres.

Opened in 1902 as State Normal School No. 2, the University owes its existence to the tenacity of J. Benson Oder, editor of the Frostburg Mining Journal, and the citizens of Frostburg who, in spite of political barriers, raised funds and purchased the site on which Old Main, the University’s first building, is located.

Principal Edmund Dandridge Murdaugh and three faculty instructed the first Normal School class; in addition, the other faculty taught 151 children in the Model School. The Normal School students, who were high school students having to meet no requirements other than age (girls, 16; boys, 17), had but one two-year course of study: elementary education. The curriculum consisted of Latin, mathematics, history, rhetoric and literature, natural and physical sciences, drawing, music, calisthenics, psychology, philosophy of education, philosophy of school management, pedagogy, observation, practice work and primary manual training.

Over the years, the name of the institution has reflected the changes in the scope of its educational mission. In 1935, State Normal School No. 2 became State Teachers College at Frostburg, a four-year college that offered a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education. In 1963, the name became Frostburg State College, and finally in 1987, with the strong support of the local civic and business community, became Frostburg State University, an indication of its growing resources, diversity and excellence in educational opportunities for the region and the state.

In 1988, FSU became a constituent institution of the University System of Maryland, comprised of 12 of the state’s 14 public institutions.

Frostburg State University continues its pursuit of excellence, a tradition that now spans more than a century.