The McCormick Civil War Institute at Shenandoah University was established in 1990 to provide an educational focus for Civil War studies at the University.

The Institute, which is partially funded through private support, highlights the vital role that Winchester and the lower Shenandoah Valley played during the Civil War.

The Institute schedules sessions in which students participate in special classes and field trips, and hear presentations by nationally-recognized historians such as: Ted Alexander, Anne Bailey, Gary Gallagher, Clark Hall, Tom Holbrook, Todd Kern, William Layton, Grady McWhiney, Archie McDonald, William C. Davis, Robert Hodge, Stephen Ritchie, Charles P. Roland, Joseph Whitehorne, and Eric Wittenberg.