Western Connecticut State University

The entrance gates of WCSU's Midtown campus, located in downtown Danbury.

WCSU was founded in 1903 as a teachers' college, training the primary and secondary school educators for Connecticut's Fairfield County and surrounding areas. The school's name has changed over the years as it has focused on additional areas of study. First named the Danbury Normal School (also known as the Danbury State Normal School), starting in 1937 it was called the Danbury State Teachers College, a name it retained until the late 1950s. The college was renamed Danbury State College in 1959, then Western Connecticut State College in 1967, and finally, in 1983, Western Connecticut State University.[4] In 2011, governance of the university was transferred to the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities system.

In 1904, 41 students were enrolled in the first classes on campus, the number of enrollments climbing to 362 students by 1912.

In 1968, WCSU's radio station, WXCI (91.7 FM), then going by the call sign WCST and broadcasting with AM transmission, was established.

In 1973 WCST was switched from AM to FM transmission, obtained an FCC license, was renamed WXCI, and went on air under that call sign.

In the early 1980s, WXCI became one of the first FM stations to focus on alternative rock. Throughout the 80s the station was instrumental in promoting the work of a number of contemporary bands and musicians. While the station is perhaps best known for popularizing the English band Duran Duran in the United States, it also helped to familiarize the American audience with other projects and musicians from Great Britain, such as Elvis Costello and Culture Club. It popularized among residents of the Northeastern U.S. the West Coast punk group Black Flag and the Georgia-based R.E.M., while also providing greater listenership to New York City's Talking Heads. Thurston Moore, a founding member of Sonic Youth, attended WCSU for a quarter during the fall of 1976, though he left afterward.

In 1995, the Jane Goodall Center for Excellence in Environmental Studies (JGC) was founded on campus. The center is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to environmental stewardship and conservation, and wildlife education and research, being the result of a partnership between Western and the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI). Since the center's founding, its namesake, primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall, has visited Western on at least a dozen occasions to give lectures on the issue of ecology.

The center has also hosted a number of seminars and public talks by other environmentalist speakers at the university: Notably, Smithsonian ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin and veteran ecologist Thomas Lovejoy spoke at the university in 1998, and in 2013 ocean conservationist Fabien Cousteau presented a public seminar on campus.

In 2005, Western was established by JGI as a "National Center for University Roots and Shoots"; this event resulted in the institution of the eponymous student environmental club, a chapter of the international Roots & Shoots (also known as Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots), on campus. Roots & Shoots is a subsidiary organization of JGI, and its WCSU chapter is one of only several based in the United States. The club's office, located in the Midtown campus's White Hall, remained the first of its kind between 2005 and 2012; afterwards, the organization's international headquarters was established at JGI's head office in Washington, D.C.

Roots & Shoots serves as, according to the university and the JGC, "a regional and national office of excellence in training university students, faculty and administrators to develop programs for K–12 and college students in local, regional and global conservation."

The university was visited by former President Bill Clinton in 2005 and by the 14th Dalai Lama in 2012.

WCSU has two campuses, midtown and westside, both located in Danbury. The campuses are three miles (5 km) apart and connected by a university shuttle service.

The midtown campus is the original campus, located on White Street near downtown Danbury and the Main Street Historic District. It is home to the Macricostas School of Arts and Sciences, School of Professional Studies, and most of the university's administration. Dormitories on this campus include Fairfield Hall, Litchfield Hall, and Newbury Hall. The Midtown student center is located on this campus. In 2018, the fully renovated Higgins Hall reopened. Higgins Hall features the MSAS Dean's offices, state-of-the-art communication, media, and computer technology.

The westside campus is located on land purchased in 1969 on the outskirts of Danbury. This 439-acre (1.78 km²) lot is home to the Ancell School of Business, the School of Visual and Performing Arts, the Westside Nature Preserve, an amphitheater and three residence halls. Westside also houses athletic facilities, including the William O'Neill Athletic and Convocation Center (completed in 1995), and the Westside Athletic Complex (completed in 2003), as well as an observatory with a 20-inch Ritchy-Chretien telescope and a 20-foot planetarium dome. On January 23, 2007, the Westside Campus Center was officially opened. This new facility serves as a student center, meeting and banquet facility for the Westside campus. In August 2014, the Westside campus saw the opening of the new Visual and Performing Arts Center, a comprehensive arts building with Theatre Arts, Music and Visual Arts wings.

A major improvement program was started in the mid-1990s to beautify the campus. Several parking lots became green space, and improvements were made to the landscaping.

In April 2013, startup of a newly installed fuel cell power unit for the Science Building on the university's Midtown campus began. The PureCell System, provided by ClearEdge Power, supports the university to reap significant energy cost savings and enhanced electricity and heating efficiencies.[5]

The Midtown campus Science Building was the first state-funded building project to seek LEED Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The Visual and Performing Arts Center as well as Centennial Hall also obtained LEED certification. In 2014, WCSU installed four EV (electric vehicle) charging stations, two on each campus. These charging stations are available to both students and the public, free of charge. The university is a participant in EV Connecticut Electric Vehicle Charging Solutions program.

The "WestConn at Waterbury" program is located on the campus of Naugatuck Valley Community College in Waterbury, Connecticut. The program offers completion courses for a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in management or a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), as well as a Master of Health Administration (M.H.A.).[6]

The college's radio station, WXCI, broadcasts at 91.7 FM to Connecticut and New York at 3,000 watts. It also streams its broadcasts on the internet at WXCI.org. WXCI's radio transmitter is located on the westside campus, while its studio is in the main campus (midtown) student center.

The Echo is the university's student newspaper, founded in 1955, and subsidized by the students' activity fees. It has an editorial board which makes strategic and operational decisions on behalf of the newspaper. The Echo is published weekly in tabloid format, though in the past it has been published in broadsheet format. The Echo launched a new website, echo.wcsu.edu, in 2012.[9]

Varsity

Non-varsity

• Hockey: Danbury Ice Arena
• Rugby: Athletic practice fields

• Eric Bassriel, American producer, hip-hop artist, and host for IndieFeed, better known by his stage name Dirt E. Dutch
• Gorman Bechard, American film director and screenwriter
• Evan R. Bernstein, Community activist
• Mark D. Boughton, mayor of Danbury, Connecticut
• David Cappiello, former Connecticut State Senator and businessman
• Jane K. Cleland, American mystery author
• Christine Cohen, Connecticut State Senator
• James E. Dyer, Connecticut State Representative (d. 2011)
• Fidelma Healy Eames, Irish politician
• Markus Gottschlich, Austrian jazz pianist[13]
• EJ Harrison, professional basketball player
• Paul LaPolice, coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers
• Thurston Moore (attended, but did not graduate), musician, Sonic Youth[14]
• Dan L. Miller, Pennsylvania State Representative
• Merv Mosely, American football player
• Fred Norris, American radio personality and writer for The Howard Stern Show
• Corey P. Paris, Connecticut State Representative
• Paul L. Pasqualoni, defensive line coach for the Chicago Bears
• Shannon Person, American journalist and producer for TMZ Sports
• Alain J. Picard, American portrait, landscape, and figurative painter
• Lawrence Michael "Mike" Porzio, former Major League Baseball pitcher
• Jodi Rell (attended, but did not graduate), Governor of Connecticut (2004–11)
• Chris Rhodes, American trombone player and member of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones
• Dana Sawyer, American professor of religion and philosophy and writer on religious studies and spirituality
• Don Stitt, American actor and playwright
• Scott Wright, American professional wrestler and bodybuilder, better known by his stage names Mr. Scott Wright and Scotty Charisma

• Patricia E. Cladis (d. 2017), Chinese-born Canadian American physicist and researcher, specialist in liquid crystal physics
  • Assistant professor of physics (taught 1963–1964)
• Jimmy Greene, jazz saxophonist, gospel musician, producer
  • Assistant professor of music (teaching 2012–present)
  • Coordinator of jazz studies
• John Hickock, Broadway theatre performer
  • Adjunct instructor of musical theatre
• Mary Ann Lamb, Broadway theatre performer
  • Adjunct instructor of musical theatre
• Elizabeth Parkinson, Broadway theatre performer
  • Adjunct instructor of musical theatre
• Sal Salvador (d. 1999), bebop and jazz guitarist, music educator and instructor
• Deborah Weisz, jazz composer, trombonist, and musician; performer alongside Frank Sinatra from 1987 to 1994 (teaching ? – ?)
  • Adjunct instructor of music
• Scott Wise, Broadway theatre performer, Tony Award winner
  • Adjunct instructor of musical theatre