Engaged Students

A major part of the SU mission is to prepare global citizens. SU students are engaged internationally...

• SU’s 8,600 students are active citizens locally, nationally and internationally. Through the Institute for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement (PACE), students promote the political process and assist local governments.

• Many PACE students are involved in intensive, multi-faceted year-long civic experiences through the Presidential Citizen Scholars Program. Past speakers in the Paul S. Sarbanes Lecture Series include Senator Richard Lugar, Congressman and civil rights activist John Lewis, and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

• A major part of the SU mission is to prepare global citizens. Education majors have taught elementary students  in New Zealand, and studied children's literature in Ireland and Wales.  Nursing students have provided aid and education to villagers in Africa, while business students have studied economics in France and Germany. Some students have spent spring break helping with service projects in Costa Rica and Mexico.  One philosophy professor took a group to Japan to explore humanity's spiritual relationship with nature while hiking and maintaining pilgrimage trails.

• Study abroad is possible during summer and winter sessions or for a year.  New semester-long Salisbury Abroad programs make it possible to study in Ecuador, Estonia, China and Spain at the same cost as tuition at SU.  Through SU's Center for Conflict Resolution, students have researched, taught and helped mediate disputes in contentious areas including Israel, Kosovo, Bosnia and Northern Ireland. World leaders are campus visitors:  Speakers have included Nobel Peace Prize winners and former presidents Lech Walesa of Poland and F.W. de Klerk of South Africa.

Great Teaching

With its award-winning faculty, a beautiful campus with national arboretum status, exceptional academic and exemplary athletic programs, and a dynamic administration, Salisbury is earning recognition as A Maryland University of National Distinction...

• Enjoying both public and private support, all four of SU's academic schools are endowed, a rarity among public institutions. With its award-winning faculty, beautiful campus with national arboretum status, exceptional academic and exemplary athletic programs, and a dynamic administration, Salisbury is earning recognition as A Maryland University of National Distinction.

• Nationally lauded for its dedication to undergraduate research, SU offers students opportunities to assist professors and perform their own independent studies. Findings are presented on campus during the annual Student Research Conference, and many student scholars also speak at national and international conferences. SU has twice hosted the National Conference on Undergraduate Research.

• Much of the learning at Salisbury takes place outside the classroom.  Students have assisted with field work in local old-growth forests and in Amazon rainforests. Inside Henson Science Hall labs, they also have helped research cures for tuberculosis and prepared payloads for NASA rockets to test the effects of cancer metastasis in zero gravity.

• Students across disciplines apply their studies through internships and field placements, which are strongly encouraged. In the Perdue School of Business, all majors must have an applied business learning experience. Other programs also provide unique benefits. The Bellavance Honors Center, for example, offers thriving seminars and small discussion-oriented classes. Student entrepreneurs may compete for the annual Bernstein Achievement Award's $5,000 prize to put toward startup costs.

• Faculty include many Fulbright scholars, and winners of state and national teaching honors, and arts awards, including a Pushcart Prize.  The most popular majors at SU are biology, education, communications and nursing. The student-to-faculty ratio is 17:1, and the average class size is 25.  
  
  

Vibrant Community

In creating a stimulating campus climate, SU not only involves its students, faculty and staff, but reaches out to the community at large...

• In creating a stimulating campus climate, SU not only involves its students, faculty and staff, but reaches out to the community at large.  When ABC's Emmy award-winning Extreme Makeover: Home Edition came to Wicomico County, thousands from campus turned out for a kick-off pep rally and volunteered at the build site.  Student organizations also are heavily involved with the Sea Gull Century, SU's annual 100-mile or 100-killometer bike ride, which attracts some 8,000 cyclists from across the U.S. and has an estimated annual economic impact of $2.5 million on the Lower Eastern Shore.

• Hundreds of SU students give back to the area annually through I Love Salisbury and The Big Event community cleanup initiatives.. SU's Relay For Life is consistently named one of the top collegiate Relays, raising more than $750,000 for the American Cancer Society since 2002. SU also is home to ShoreCorps/PALS, an AmeriCorps chapter allowing young adults to mentor students in local schools.

• In addition, Salisbury's Division III athletics teams are engaged in the community, from offering sports clinics to sponsoring toy and food drives for needy families. The field hockey team has volunteered for Habitat for Humanity and breast cancer awareness fundraisers, along with women's soccer and volleyball teams.  Baseball and football players have mentored area students to help with reading and making healthy choices. SU's student-athletes also excel on the field. The Sea Gulls have earned 15 NCAA Division III national championships.

• Culturally, SU offers a wide array of activities each semester through its University Galleries and Cultural Affairs programs. Past speakers have included environmentalist Jane Goodall, author and Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, Grammy winner Mary Youngblood, feminist pioneer Gloria Steinem and journalist Robert MacNeil. Monks from the Deprung Loseling Monastery in Tibet repeatedly have visited the campus for week-long residencies.

• SU is home to two National Public Radio affiliates, a student radio station and community access television. Students participate in a multitude of musical ensembles, including the Chorale and Chamber Choir-which has performed at Carnegie Hall-and the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra. Students also perform in several productions annually through the Bobbi Biron Theatre Program.

• Students and visitors are always welcome at the Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture-a treasure trove of regional history and information-and SU's Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art, named one of the "10 Great Places to See American Folk Art" by USA Today.

Successful Outcomes

With more than 38,000 alumni throughout the United States, SU has made its mark as A Maryland University of National Distinction...

• Strong programs at SU have yielded a number of successful alumni. Among them: Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti, Perdue Farms Inc. CEO Jim Perdue, Weather Channel meteorologist Mike Seidel, and Broadway actress Jennifer Hope Wills (Phantom of the Opera, Beauty and the Beast, Wonderful Town). SU graduates also have created a mobile app, documentary film and lung cancer foundation, and have won Emmys for their involvement in the ESPN show SportsCenter.  In 2011, nine of 24 Maryland Teachers of the Year were SU graduates, and two others are winners of the prestigious Milken Educator Award.

• With more than 38,000 alumni throughout the United States, SU has made its mark as A Maryland University of National Distinction.