Troy University

Decision Points

Troy University is a public university located in Troy, Alabama, United States and founded in 1887 as Troy Normal School.

Founded as a normal school in 1887, Troy University's mission was to educate and train new teachers. TROY has since evolved into a comprehensive state university. The main campus enrollment as of the fall of 2010 is 7,194 students. The campus itself consists of 36 major buildings on 650 acres (1.9 km²) plus the adjacent Troy University Arboretum. The Troy University system consists of 60 sites in 17 U.S. states and 11 other countries. The Troy University System includes three other campuses in the state of Alabama in Dothan, Montgomery, and Phenix City. The university also has a large off-campus/distance learning program and offers many courses in conjunction with the United States Armed Forces.

On April 16, 2004, the Board of Trustees voted to change the name of the institution from Troy State University to Troy University. The transition to the new name was completed in August 2005 concurrent with the merger of all the associated satellite campuses into a single, unified system and administration. Trustees said they believe the name change allows the university system to reflect its quality, funding sources and global mission better. The name change was the fifth in the school's history. When created by the Alabama Legislature on February 26, 1887, it was officially named the Troy State Normal School. The school was located in downtown Troy until moving to the present location in 1930. In 1929, the name was changed to Troy State Teachers College and it subsequently conferred its first baccalaureate degree in 1931. In 1957, the legislature voted both to change the name to Troy State College and to allow it to begin a master's degree program. The name was changed once again in 1967 to Troy State University.

In May 2008, the university began the silent phase of a comprehensive capital campaign called "Building Beyond Boundaries" that will target massive fund raising efforts encompassing all areas of the university.

In 2010, Forbes Magazine ranked Troy University 16th nationally as a “best buy” in higher education on a list that includes in its top 16 the nation’s five military service academies and three private colleges that effectively are tuition-free, meaning that among the nation’s universities and colleges that charge tuition for which full scholarships are not available for all students, TROY ranks eighth. Forbes also designated TROY as the top-ranked university in the state of Alabama. Forbes’ overall ranking centers on the value of the degree obtained by a university’s students and measures, in part, the marketplace success of a school’s graduate.

For the sixth year in a row, The Princeton Review named TROY to its “Best in the Southeast” list that includes 133 colleges and university in the Southeast. Only 623 colleges and universities nationwide made the cut for inclusion.

U.S. News and World Report’s annual “Best Colleges” named Troy University one of the 65 best universities in the South in its “Regional Guide.” Some 527 universities are included in the guide nationally, and 118 in the 12-state region. In 2008, Troy University was ranked as the 25th best university in the United States for international students by the Institute of International Education. Troy University's main campus offers several degrees that are unique or are offered by a select few colleges and universities, including a master's level degree in Health Care Administration, Human Resource Management, and a bachelor of science degree program in interpreting for the deaf, while TROY's teaching site in Atlanta, Georgia, offers one of the few certification programs in polygraph science in the country and the only program of its kind affiliated with a public, four-year institution of higher learning in the United States. In 2009, Troy University began its first doctoral program, the Doctorate in Nursing Practice. The Troy University Montgomery campus located in downtown Montgomery is home to the award-winning Rosa Parks Library and Museum. TROY's broadcast journalism program has a sterling reputation and the university's student-led television news broadcast has received multiple awards from the Southeast Journalism Conference.

source:wikipedia