Arcadia University Online

About Arcadia University Online

Business, Education and Other Programs and Courses are Now Available Online!

Your personal and career goals have never been closer. From your home or office computer, you can earn credits at one of the finest universities in the region: Arcadia University Online.

Whether you're interested in taking undergraduate, graduate or certificate courses, the range of options and the flexibility to learn on your schedule, without traveling to campus, make Arcadia Online an attractive option. Be educated by Arcadia's distinguished faculty in an interactive, virtual classroom setting.

Arcadia University History

Two centuries ago, little else traveled through the wilderness of westernmost Pennsylvania except for the Ohio and the Beaver Rivers. At their confluence, the French established a trading post. Here members of the Delaware, the Shawnee and the Iroquois tribes would gather to barter and exchange goods with the European traders.

The rivers were essential for travel, for sustenance and for military defense. During the American Revolutionary War, General McIntosh of Washington's Colonial Army built a fort at this place where the Beaver River flowed into the Ohio.

But as the war ended, time passed, and the population expanded, McIntosh's fort became a town: Beaver, Pa. The land was bountiful, but the citizens still hungered for knowledge. In 1853, an intellectual outpost was born - a school to teach such liberal arts as ancient history, rhetoric, logic, analogy.

This school on the Beaver and Ohio Rivers attained collegiate status in 1872 and was named Beaver College. Nonetheless, times change, towns change, even colleges change. In 1925 Beaver College moved east to Jenkintown, Pa., where it attracted more students.

This location afforded larger facilities, a more adequate campus and greater opportunities for development. The change resulted in such an increase in enrollment that the Board of Trustees found it desirable to impose limitations on the annual enrollment in order to maintain the advantages of a small college.

It soon became apparent that additional property would be needed to provide for the expansion of the College. In the autumn of 1928, the Trustees were fortunate in securing a nearby estate located in Glenside, Pa., and known as Grey Towers. With its spacious grounds and stone buildings, it provides a campus of great dignity and beauty. The College operated both the Jenkintown and Glenside campuses into the mid-1960s, when it consolidated all activities onto the Grey Towers property, in Glenside, a suburb of metropolitan Philadelphia.

Originally under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Arcadia University now maintains an historic relationship with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), but is independently controlled and ecumenical in spirit.

In the summer of the year 2000, the Board of Trustees approved a historic decision to change the name and status of the school to Arcadia University.

In the past 30 years, Arcadia University has grown significantly from a small undergraduate, liberal arts college serving a traditional-age student body, to a comprehensive university serving more than 3,700 men and women, ages 17 to 77, through part-time and full-time, daytime, and evening, undergraduate and graduate programs. The University also operates one of the largest study abroad programs in the U.S., serving another 3,000 students each year.

Student Body: 3,900 undergraduate and graduate students, both full-time and part-time, including 2,000 full-time undergraduates.

Degrees Offered: B.A., B.F.A., and B.S. in more than 45 fields of study; M.A., M.B.A., M.Ed., M.S., M.P.H. and doctoral graduate degrees.

Student/Faculty Ratio: 13:1

Average Undergraduate Class Size: 16

Faculty: 380 faculty members; 89 percent hold doctorate or terminal degrees in their fields. Courses are taught by faculty members, not teaching assistants.

Accreditation

Arcadia University is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. The University is approved for teacher education by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, New Jersey, New York and other states (through reciprocity agreements). The American Medical Association approves Arcadia University for pre-professional education in medicine and allied health fields. The Department of Chemistry is approved by the American Chemical Society. The Doctorate in Physical Therapy (D.P.T.) is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education. The Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs has accredited the master’s degree Physician Assistant program. The M.S. in Genetic Counseling is accredited by the American Board of Genetic Counseling. The M.A. in Counseling Psychology has been accepted for membership in the Council of Applied Masters Programs in Psychology and qualifies students to sit for the National Counselor’s Examination (NCE) and/or licensure in Pennsylvania, and the American Psychological Association has authorized the University to award continuing education credits. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court accepts Arcadia University degrees to register law students. The Forensic Science program has been granted full accreditation from the Forensic Science Education Programs Accreditation Commission. The University’s undergraduate business program is accredited by the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP). Arcadia is a member of the AACSB International—The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the Middle Atlantic Association of Colleges of Business Administration (MAACBA), the American Institute of Graphic Design and the Service Members Opportunity Colleges. Students who complete the Master of Science in Public Health are eligible to sit for the National Certifying Exam for Health Education Specialists (CHES). Documents of accreditation may be reviewed in the President’s Office by appointment.