Mission:

The mission of Muskingum University is to offer quality academic programs in the liberal arts and sciences in the setting of a residential, coeducational, church-related college and in the context of a caring community where individual fulfillment is encouraged and human dignity is respected. Its primary purpose is to develop—intellectually, spiritually, socially and physically—whole persons, by fostering critical thinking, positive action, ethical sensitivity and spiritual growth, so that they may lead vocationally productive, personally satisfying and socially responsible lives.

History:

Muskingum University is rich in tradition, its proud heritage reaching back to the first half of the nineteenth century when Ohio was an infant state and covered wagons were bringing adventurous settlers westward over the newly completed National Road through New Concord. The University's Indian name, sometimes mispronounced and often misspelled, is a source of pride to those who cherish the history of that colorful part of frontier America “beyond the Alleghenies.”

During its first half-century Muskingum adhered to the educational patterns of the classical college of the period. In 1854 women were admitted on an equal basis with men. After the Civil War a period of steady growth began, accelerating until the frontier classical college of less than a hundred students has evolved into a modern liberal arts and sciences college of some 1,900 with graduate school students, with a 225-acre campus.

When Franklin College, an important educational institution of the Presbyterian Church in the 19th century, closed in 1927, its alumni rolls came to Muskingum.

In January 2000, Dr. Anne C. Steele became Muskingum University's 20th President. Muskingum changed in chartered status from college to university in 2009.