Montclair State University

Montclair State University (Montclair) is a public doctoral research university[7] in Montclair, New Jersey, with parts of the campus extending into Clifton and into Little Falls. As of fall 2018, Montclair State was, by enrollment, the second largest public university in New Jersey.[8] As of June 2024, there were 22,570 total enrolled students: 18,062 undergraduate students and 4,508 graduate students.[5] It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".[9] The campus covers approximately 252 acres (1.02 km2). The university offers more than 300 majors, minors, and concentrations.

Plans for the State Normal school were initiated in 1903,[11] and required a year for the State of New Jersey to grant permission to build the school.[11] It was then established as "New Jersey State Normal School at Montclair", a normal school, in 1908[11] approximately 5 years after the initial planning of the school.[11] At the time, Governor John Franklin Fort attended the dedication of the school in 1908,[11] and the school was to have its first principal Charles Sumner Chapin that same year. The first building constructed was College Hall (now known as Cole Hall), and it still stands today. At the time, the campus was around 25 acres (100,000 m2), had 8 faculty members and 187 students.[11] The first graduating class, which numbered at 45 students,[11] contained William O. Trapp, who would then go on to win the Pulitzer Prize for journalism in 1929. The first dormitory was then built five years later, in 1915, and is known as Russ Hall.