The university was founded as Shenandoah Seminary in 1875 in Dayton, Virginia, by Rev. Abram Paul Funkhouser and Rev. John Paul 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 126-acre Winchester campus and began offering four-year degrees in 1974. Shenandoah obtained university status on Jan. 1, 1991, and today the student body represents 44 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. 272 full-time and 196 part-time distinguished faculty come from outside the U.S. The student body represents 59 foreign countries. Seventy-seven percent of full-time faculty have an earned doctorate in their fields or other terminal degree.
Name
According to the university's official history page, the name Shenandoah is derived from the Native American legend of Zynodoa, a brave warrior 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."
Locations
The university operates in six locations: The main campus is located in Winchester near Interstate 81, and the Health Professions Building is located near the Winchester Medical Center. The Scholar Plaza, Loudoun, site in Ashburn, Virginia, is home to graduate programs in business, education, leadership studies, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and physician assistant studies, as well as the accelerated-second-degree Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. Shenandoah's educational site at the Inova Center for Personalized Health in Fairfax, Virginia, is the location for doctoral-level programs in pharmacy. ICPH, Fairfax, is also where the university offers graduate programs and postgraduate certificates in nursing and supports an online master's in public health. There are also a number of satellite offices and facilities located throughout Winchester. In 2013, Shenandoah University accepted stewardship of 195 acres of land along the Shenandoah River, now known as the Shenandoah River Campus at Cool Spring Battlefield. Purchased by the Civil War Trust in 2012, stewardship of the property transferred to the university in spring 2013 to protect and preserve the former battlefield site. The property now serves as an outdoor classroom and living laboratory for the university community and the general public.
Academics
Shenandoah offers more than 200 areas of study at the bachelor's-, master's-, and doctoral-degree levels, as well as through undergraduate and graduate certificates, across seven schools. Its programming includes Virginia's first bachelor's degrees in virtual reality design and esports management, as well as the state's oldest music therapy program.
College of Arts & Sciences
School of Business
Shenandoah Conservatory
Bernard J. Dunn School of Pharmacy
Eleanor Wade Custer School of Nursing
School of Health Professions
School of Education & Leadership
Shenandoah University no longer offers a tenure track for new faculty members. Instead, new faculty members undergo a 5-year probationary period, after which they are eligible for 3-year, renewable "career faculty contracts."
