In his Founders Day remarks, President Donald Birx describes a century and a half of service to New Hampshire and its citizens, distinguished by “…a continuity of inspiration and growth, and a transformation of lives for the better.” He also shared his vision of PSU 50 years from now, when the University will mark its two-hundredth anniversary.

Plymouth Normal School opened the doors to its first class on March 15, 1871, 150 years ago. From Plymouth Normal School to Plymouth Teachers College, and Plymouth State College to today’s Plymouth State University, there has been a continuity of inspiration and growth and a transformation of lives for the better. From the beginning, Plymouth has been a place of purpose, learning, and service focused on enhancing society and opening doors of opportunity. It’s an incredible story of commitment that we can all take great pride in. We should not miss, though, that PSU has faced periods of enormous challenge from its very beginning, but these have served to make it stronger. Like a tree in the wind, the roots have grown deeper, the branches stronger, the outreach greater, and its tender shoots spread further.

40 Under Forty is organized by the Union Leader, which noted, “Perhaps one of the reasons that New Hampshire is the special place that we know it to be is because it keeps producing these young men and women who care and who thrive here.”

PSU is developing a Data Analytics Learning Community (DALC) and offered an interdisciplinary course during the Spring 2021 semester that blended data analytics with traditional history coursework.

NCAA All-America recognizes the most accomplished athletes in a range of sports, and Plymouth State is now the proud home to two of the nation’s very best college skiers.

New Hampshire’s legislature took action in 1870 to address a desperate need for trained educators. The “act for the establishment and management of a state normal school for the better training of teachers” appropriated a small amount of money for the new institution but left the details of establishing the school to trustees.

Many towns submitted proposals, but Plymouth’s was community wide. The town purchased and offered the old Holmes Plymouth Academy buildings and pledged $7,000; Plymouth citizens raised $1,100. The railroad promised $4,000 if Plymouth was chosen. The local school district promised $600/year for tuition to teach town students. All told, the town offered some $42,000 in real estate and cash. After reviewing a competitive set of proposals, the trustees chose Plymouth. The town had a history of support for higher education, buildings for the school already existed, Plymouth was a tourist destination and travel to town was increasingly easy, and the school had clear citizen support.

Plymouth State University’s Place in the World Today

Transforming to meet today’s needs
Recognizing that a fundamental redesign was needed to better prepare graduates for today’s marketplace, Plymouth State began a process in 2015 that has since transformed the University and continues to evolve. PSU’s Integrated Clusters learning model is a flexible, efficient, and responsive version of higher education for the twenty-first century. It is based on problem solving, integrative thinking, teamwork, and an entrepreneurial spirit with students engaged in the various challenges of our times, and the cross-disciplinary thinking so important in communicating, actualizing, and synthesizing new ideas in an information rich environment.

Leading up to the automatic sliding doors of Prospect Hall, an archway with facial recognition instantly grants me access. The place is almost empty—about 10 to 15 students in total. It was only 8:30, and most kids do not have a class as early as 9:00, the first morning block. I make my way over to the omelet station, where Robot Chef Moosilauke and Robot Chef Tecumseh cook up the popular breakfast option. I make my way over to the touchscreen kiosk where I select cheddar cheese, tomatoes, and green peppers. I watch as Tecumseh gathers the ingredients and cooks the omelet on the griddle. A few minutes later, the eggs are displayed on a ceramic plate by the pickup window. After grabbing a coffee from the beverage station, I maneuver past Stinson, the cleaning robot wiping down some empty tables, and find a seat by the television wall showing the local news.

Hiking
Plymouth State’s setting in the Lakes and Mountains Region of New Hampshire makes hiking a perfect fit from the school’s founding to today.

In the Normal School years, hiking was listed as a sport along with baseball and basketball, and individual and group hikes were traditional. A student wrote about her experience in the April 1922 Prospect:

Brian Gagnon ’05, ’09G and Ashley (Spalding) Gagnon ’07, ’12G welcomed daughter June Breaker on May 3, 2021.

Leslie A. (Kingsley) Blakney ’07 and Noah Blakney welcomed their son Dylan Todd on August 2, 2020.

Meghan (Plumpton) Cotter ’08 and Kevin Cotter welcomed their second daughter, Rowan, into the world on October 15, 2020.

Phoebe (Brown) Minacapelli ’08 and Adam Minacapelli welcomed daughter Lucy Josephine on January 6, 2021.

Matthew Wallace ’10 and Riley (Lacasse) Wallace ’18 welcomed son Max David on April 11, 2021.

Brett Lucas ’11 and Tori Lucas welcomed daughter Kira Elisabeth on May 9, 2021.

Alyssa K. (Mira) Choudry ’12 and Samir Choudry ’12 welcomed twins! Daughter Addison Katherine and son Chandler Vance were born on January 5, 2021.