The 21st Century

In early 2000, Shenandoah added several graduate programs, including the doctor of education in administrative leadership and the doctor of physical therapy program as well as master’s programs in athletic training and physician assistant studies. Shenandoah added its sixth school, the School of Education & Human Development in 2007, and the university earned initial accreditation for its business programs from AACSB International, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.

During this time, Shenandoah University renovated, built and dedicated several new facilities and purchased the Millwood Avenue Fire & Rescue Squad building, which was razed to make way for the construction of a new business school. The university also brought new residential housing online, considerably expanding residential options for students at the University Inn, the Edwards Residential Village, and the Romine Living and Learning Center.

Shenandoah University launched the largest fund-raising effort in its history in 2003, the $65 million Spirit of Shenandoah comprehensive campaign, which served not only to raise funds for much-needed campus facilities – Halpin-Harrison Hall, home of the Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business; the Brandt Student Center; and Davis Hall, home of the History & Tourism Center – but it also raised funds for the endowment. By 2008, the Spirit of Shenandoah campaign reached the $55 million milestone toward its $65 million goal.

Long-range plans for the university include developing into the principal higher education provider in the region, with 20 Division III men’s and women’s sport teams and more than 80 academic programs ranging from bachelor’s to doctoral studies for a student body of more than 3,500 men and women by the year 2010.

In 2008, Shenandoah University saw the retirement of long-term President James A. Davis (1982-2008) and the rise of its first female president, Dr. Tracy Fitzsimmons. The university maintains a beautifully landscaped 80-acre campus with state-of-the-art facilities, several other modern, high-tech facilities in the historic district of Old Town Winchester, a renovated Cork Street medical complex (the former Winchester Hospital) and the Health Professions Building on the campus of the Winchester Medical Center, as well as a Northern Virginia satellite campus in Leesburg, Va.

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