History and Development of the University
The institution was founded in 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for
Women in Fredericksburg. The name was changed in 1924 to the State Teachers College
at Fredericksburg, and again in 1938 to Mary Washington College, having transformed
over the years into Virginia’s public liberal arts college for women. Then in 1944, Mary
Washington College became affiliated with the University of Virginia as its women’s
undergraduate arts and sciences division. In 1970 the entire University of Virginia
became coeducational and in 1972, by action of the General Assembly of Virginia,
the Mary Washington College became an independent, state-supported institution for women and men, with its own governing board. In 1999, responding to accelerating
demographic changes that increased the demand for educational services within the
region, the College opened the Center for Graduate and Professional Studies (later called
the James Monroe Center), located at a new campus in nearby Stafford County. On July
1, 2004, the Mary Washington College became the University of Mary Washington with
two colleges, the College of Arts and Sciences in Fredericksburg, and the College of
Graduate and Professional Studies in Stafford.