At Western, you can seek a deeper understanding of who you are and who you’re meant to become. Beyond book smarts, your potential lies in your pursuit of purpose and your ability to thrive in all areas of life while also reaching your highest professional goals.
At Western, we’re redefining success as we expand what it means to be smart in an ever-changing world. Beyond preparing you for your career, perhaps the most special thing about Western is our approach to helping you find a deeper meaning and a better way of thinking. We believe a great education is about more than getting an A on an assignment.
It’s about also having purpose and creating a life well lived. It’s about knowing that failure is success in progress. It’s about preparing you for a meaningful life by helping you to pursue your purpose, thrive and prosper while making a meaningful impact on society.
Land acknowledgment is a process by which individuals are prompted to consider the history of the space they currently inhabit.
We would like to recognize that Western Michigan University is located on lands historically occupied by the Ojibwe, Odawa and Bodewadmi nations. Please take a moment to acknowledge and honor this ancestral land of the Three Fires Confederacy, the sacred lands of all Indigenous peoples and their continued presence.
Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the training of teachers.[3] In 1957, G. Mennen Williams signed a bill into law that made Western a university and gave the school its current name of Western Michigan University.
Western is one of the eight research universities in the State of Michigan and is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity". The university has seven degree-granting colleges, offering 147 undergraduate degree programs, 73 master's degree programs, 30 doctoral programs, and one specialist degree program. It is governed by an eight-member board of regents whose members are appointed by the governor of Michigan and confirmed by the Michigan Senate for eight-year terms.
The university's athletic teams compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and are known as the Western Michigan Broncos. They compete in the Mid-American Conference for most sports.
We’ve rounded up a few impressive points that support why Western Michigan University is a smart choice to fulfill your potential.
Research
$36.6M
in research grants
2021-22
1 of 133
public institutions classified as a high research university
Carnegie Foundation
Top 100
in the nation for 6 grad programs
U.S. News & World Report
No. 2
ranked aviation college
FLYING Flight School Guide
Best for Vets
ranking each survey year since 2010
Military Times
1 of only 2
aerospace engineering programs in Michigan
The 2020 edition of the U.S. News & World Report ranking of the top graduate programs in the country shows Western Michigan University with a number of highly ranked programs. The rankings, released September 8, 2019, show five programs from the College of Health and Human Services are among the top 100 in their disciplines. WMU’s Rehabilitation Counseling is at number 37, the Speech Language Pathology program ranks at number 46, while the Audiology program ranks similarly at number 48. Other WMU programs in the top 100 are Occupational Therapy at number 58 and Social Work at number 77.
Also noteworthy is that WMU ranked number 78 as a Top Performer on Social Mobility, which is an indicator that WMU enrolls and graduates a large proportion of disadvantaged students awarded with Pell Grants. Since these students typically coming from households whose family incomes are less than $50,000 a year, WMU is making a difference in students’ ability to obtain an education that elevates their socio-economic standing.
Online programs also were ranked, as more students are interested in distance education programs. U. S. News & World Report assessed 1,545 online degree program for the 2019 edition, and WMU ranked 97 for Best Online Graduate Nursing Program and 100 for Best Online Graduate Education Programs.
Other significant graduate program rankings for WMU include:
Physician Assistant - No. 108.
Earth Sciences - No. 114.
English - No. 116.
History - No. 125.
Part-time MBA - No. 127.
Best Education Schools - No. 127.
Best Fine Arts Programs - No. 131.
Clinical Psychology - No. 135.
Best Public Affairs Programs - No. 139.
Computer Science - No. 181.
“The rankings are further evidence of the high quality of our graduate programs, especially when you consider that this report examined over 800 institutions” says Dr. Christine Byrd-Jacobs, interim dean of the WMU Graduate College. “Our College of Health and Human Services, in particular, has programs that have been considered among the nation’s best for a number of years.” Every year, Western Michigan University is one of more than 800 institutions with graduate schools surveyed by U.S. News & World Report.
