History
- 1865 - The Trenton Business College opens October 1 by the Bryant and Stratton chain of business colleges in one room of Temperance Hall in Trenton. Andrew Jackson Rider becomes the first president of the college.
- 1866 - The first women’s class is admitted.
- 1897 - The College is incorporated as The Rider Business College.
- 1901 - Franklin Benjamin Moore becomes the owner and second president of the College.
- 1913 - At the request of the New Jersey Department of Education, a program in teacher education is inaugurated to prepare business teachers for the secondary schools.
- 1916 - Former U.S. President William H. Taft delivers the Commencement Address.
- 1921 - The College is renamed Rider College. The College relocates to the College’s first-owned building at 428 East State Street in Trenton.
- 1922 - The first baccalaureate degree (Bachelor of Commercial Science) is conferred upon Charles Fishberg.
- 1926 - The first honorary degree is conferred upon William H. Compton.
- 1928 - The Alumni Association is organized with Harold L. Conover ’23 as the first president.
- 1929 - Intercollegiate athletics are introduced by Clair F. Bee, the College’s first director of Athletics and first coach of football, basketball, and baseball. Coach Bee named the athletic teams “The Roughriders.”
- 1934 - Franklin Frazee Moore ’27 becomes the College’s second president. The Board of Governors (later known as the Board of Trustees) is established.
- 1937 - The College, a proprietary institution, becomes non-profit.
- 1939 - The first Mayfair Ball is held.
- 1947 - Phi Sigma Nu Fraternity reenacts Washington Crossing the Delaware. The reenactment is featured in the February 17 issue of Life magazine.
- 1951 - Alben W. Barkley, Vice President of the United States, delivers the Commencement Address.
- 1955 - Rider College receives full academic accreditation by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. The College receives its first foundation grant—the Ford Foundation gives $95,000 to support faculty salaries. The athletic teams are named the “Broncs” replacing the “Roughriders.”
- 1956 - The semester system replaces the quarter system of instruction. The Board of Trustees purchases property in Lawrence Township for the location for a new campus.
- 1957 - The groundbreaking ceremony is held for the Lawrenceville campus. Programs in liberal arts and secondary education leading to the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree are inaugurated.
- 1958 - The gymnasium, the first building constructed on the campus, opens.
- 1959 - The School of Education begins Rider’s first graduate program leading to the Master of Arts (M.A.) degree. First classes are held on the Lawrenceville campus. Theater ’59, a program in educational theater, is inaugurated. First basketball game played in Alumni Gym (Rider vs Seton Hall – Seton Hall 80-Rider 59).
- 1960 - Rider Radio Station WWRC begins operation.
- 1961 - First B.A. degree in Liberal Arts is conferred.
- 1962 - The College is reorganized into five schools by adding two new schools, Graduate School, Liberal Arts and Science, to the three existing schools, Business, Education and Evening. (Note: the Graduate School was discontinued the following year).
- 1964 - The College was completely relocated to the Lawrenceville campus in June.
- 1967 - Army ROTC program is established.
- 1968 - Rider joins the Middle Athletic Conference. School of Business Administration inaugurates graduate study leading to the Master of Business Administration (M.B.A) degree.
- 1968 - The National Model United Nations (NMUN) is organized.
- 1969 - Frank N. Elliott becomes Rider’s fourth president.
- 1970 - The Interim Study program (a January independent study program) begins.
- 1971 - Junior Year Abroad program is established.
- 1973 - The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) grants accreditation to the programs in the School of Education.
- 1974 - Rider joins the East Coast Athletic Conference. The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is recognized as the bargaining unit for the faculty.
- 1979 - The Foreign Language Forensic Tournament is established. The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is recognized as the bargaining unit for the clerical staff. The Honor Key Society (the faculty Phi Beta Kappa Club) is established.
- 1980 - Men’s basketball team wins the College’s first athletic tournament in the Governor’s Basketball Classic while competing with Trenton State College and Fairleigh Dickinson University.
- 1981 - The first Rider athletic event (basketball) is televised.
- 1982 - The Baccalaureate Honors Program is inaugurated.
- 1984 - The Holocaust Center is established. (See 1993)
- 1988 - Cranberry and White become the College’s colors.
- 1990 - J. Barton Luedeke becomes Rider’s fifth president. The Rider University Athletics Hall of Fame is established.
- 1992 - The official signing of the Certificate of Merger with Westminster Choir College takes place June 30. Rider joins the Northeast Athletic Conference.
- 1993 - The American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) grants accreditation to the School of Business Administration. The Rider Holocaust Center is renamed “The Julius and Dorothy Koppleman Holocaust Genocide Resource Center.” (See 1984) The Interim Study Program is discontinued.
- 1994 - Rider is granted University Status by the New Jersey Department of Higher Education. The Jesse Harper Endowment Professorship in the School of Business Administration is established.
- 1997 - Rider joins the Metro Athletic Athletic Conference. The 86-year old elm tree next to the F.F. Moore Library develops Dutch Elm Disease, an untreatable condition, and is removed in July. The tree becomes part of the University’s Logo. The School of Business building is named the “Anne Brossman Sweigart Hall” in honor of Anne Brossman Sweigart ’34.
- 2000 - The American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business grants specialized accreditation to the accounting program in the School of Business Administration. The Fine Arts Theater is renovated and named the “Yvonne Theater” in memory of Yvonne Alexander Spitznagel ’64.
- 2001 - The Rider Institute for New Jersey Politics is established.
- 2003 - Mordechai Rozanski becomes Rider’s sixth president. Rider and Sanda University, Shanghai, China, sign agreement for Sanda students to enroll at Rider. Rider’s Capital Campaign, “Preparing for Success,” reaches $55.3 million.
- 2004 - Center for the Development of Leadership Skills is established.
- 2005 - The 55,000 square foot state-of-the art Student Recreation Center is opened. A campus-wide comprehensive strategic plan that charts the University’s future is completed and becomes operative. New Hall, a newly constructed residence hall is opened. The first cohort of 23 Sanda University students enroll at Rider. The first baseball game is played on Sonny Pittaro Field. The University-wide Leadership Program to provide distinctiveness for all academic programs is established.
- 2007 - The first class of Sanda students graduates in Shanghai. Westminster College of the Arts is established consisting of two divisions: Westminster Choir College and the School of Fine & Performing Arts
- 2008 - The Isaac Witkin Sculpture Park is dedicated. Jason Thompson ’08 becomes the first Rider basketball player to be drafted by an NBA team. He was selected 12th overall in the first round by the Sacramento Kings. Daly Dining Hall is renovated to include the Mercer Room when divided provides two rooms -- the Princeton and Lawrenceville Rooms. The New Jersey Institute of Politics is renamed The Rebovich Institute of New Jersey Politics. (See 2001) The Endowment Fund for Rider Athletics is established. The Herb and Joan Young Softball field is dedicated. Phi Kappa Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity is the first fraternity to be chartered on the Westminster campus.
- 2009 - The West Village residential facility is completed and ready for occupancy.
