Eastern Michigan University College of Education was one of the first colleges established at the newly named Eastern Michigan University. Even though the college was established in 1959, Eastern Michigan University has had a long history of training future educators since its inception in 1849. Eastern Michigan University was originally established as Michigan State Normal School. Michigan State Normal School was the first in Michigan and the first normal school created outside the original 13 colonies. A normal school was a school created to train high school graduates to be teachers. Its purpose was to establish teaching standards or norms, hence its name. The normal schools were to train teachers for common schools, which were being established rapidly in new towns in the state of Michigan. In 1849, when Michigan State Normal School was established, Michigan had only been a state for 12 years. In 1899, the school became the Michigan State Normal College when it created the first four-year curriculum for a normal college in the nation. Normal began the 20th century as Michigan's premier teacher-preparatory school and became the first teacher-training school in the United States to have a four-year degree program. In 1915, the school was the first program in the nation to train teachers to serve the disabled. In 1923 the Eastern Michigan University's Department of Special Education was established making it one of the oldest in the nation. In 1959, the College of Education was established. At the same time, Eastern became a university gaining the title Eastern Michigan University. The Porter College of Education is named after John W. Porter, former EMU President from 1979 to 1988.
Facility
The Porter College of Education building was built in 1967. The facility was originally built to serve as the university's library. As the university grew in size, a new library was needed. In 1998, Halle Library was built moving the library to its new location. The Porter College of Education then occupied the University Library's old location. The facility is 133,500 square feet. During the renovations in 1998 and 1999, the building was updated to provide state-of-the-art computer networks and an up-to-date multimedia systems.
Departments
The College of Education is divided into 3 departments: Leadership and Counseling, Special Education, and Teacher Education and offers over 85 majors and minors and over 30 graduate degrees.
Programs
The college itself has only been established since 1959 but the school has always been known for its education programs. The special needs program is one of the school's oldest. In 2008, with a joint program with the College of Health and Human Services, the COE began to offer a Ph.D. in Nursing education. The university declares the program as "the first of its kind in the midwest". The program is aimed to prepare nursing faculty to assist in the nursing shortage.
Education
Eastern declares that one of every four teachers in Michigan holds a degree from EMU. In the past the school also declared that at one time 1% of all the teachers in the United States received their degree from EMU. According to U.S. News the program is ranked #140 in the United States and #4 in the state of Michigan.
Special Education
In 1915, the school was one of the first in the nation to train teachers to serve people with disabilities. Today Eastern Michigan University's Department of Special Education is among the oldest and largest special education program in the United States.
Awards & Recognitions
2007 - Eastern Michigan University, the No. 1 producer of educators in the nation, received an "Exemplary" grade from the Michigan Department of Education.
