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About

Rowan University is a public research university in Glassboro, New Jersey, with a medical campus in Stratford, and medical and academic campuses in Camden. It was founded in 1923 as Glassboro Normal School on a 25-acre site donated by 107 residents. The university includes 14 colleges and schools with a total enrollment (undergraduate, graduate, and professional studies) of just over 19,600 students. Rowan offers 85 bachelor's, 46 master's degrees, six doctoral degrees, and two professional degrees. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".In the early part of the 20th century, there was a shortage of adequately trained teachers in the state of New Jersey. It was decided to build a two-year Normal school in the southern part of the state to counter the trend. Among the candidate towns, Glassboro became the location due in no small part to its easy access to passenger rail as well as its offer to donate 25 acres (0.039 square miles) of land to the state to build the Normal school. The 1917 purchase price of the property was raised by the residents of the town ($7,000 at the time) and used to purchase a tract that belonged to the Whitney family, who owned the local glassworks during the 19th century.