CMU Today

Central Michigan University serves nearly 19,500 students on its Mount Pleasant campus, in more than 20 satellite locations around the state and nation, and through flexible online programs anywhere in the world.

Many of our approximately 300 undergraduate, master’s, specialist, and doctoral programs including the arts, media, business, education, human services, health professions, liberal arts, social sciences, science, and engineering are nationally ranked for excellence. CMU’s College of Medicine graduated its first class of medical doctors in 2017.

With accomplished professors, there are countless opportunities for students to engage in applied research in world-class facilities. CMU is committed to providing students with a superior learning environment and global perspective to compete in an increasingly complex world.

CMU is nationally recognized for its Sarah R. Opperman Leadership Institute and academic minor in leadership, the first offered by a Michigan university.
The award-winning Honors Program administers the prestigious Centralis Scholarship Program and oversees approximately 200 faculty-mentored honors undergraduate capstone projects annually.
Thousands of students work through the Mary Ellen Brandell Volunteer Center to help others locally, nationally and around the world. Nearly 70% of CMU students volunteer each year.
CMU ranks first in Michigan and fourth in the nation for number of Alternative Break trips taken, according to Break Away’s 2018-19 survey.
Leadership Safari, a five-day leadership experience for new students, celebrated its 25th year in 2020. More than 2,000 students participate each year, led by nearly 300 student staff volunteers.
CMU’s economic impact on Michigan was $1.2 billion in fiscal year 2016, and CMU accounted for the creation of nearly 12,000 jobs throughout the state, according to an Anderson Economic Group study.
CMU is a state and national leader in the charter school movement, with 26 years of experience launching, supporting, and overseeing charter public schools. CMU authorizes 56 schools educating more than 28,000 students in grades K-12.
In fiscal year 2019, CMU awarded approximately 9,800 students nearly $72 million in university-funded financial aid.
CMU’s academic residence hall communities enhance learning and support in business, education and human services, health professions, science and engineering, music, honors, leadership, and public service.
Fourteen new academic, athletic, and residential buildings have been built on CMU’s campus in the past 17 years, including the Biosciences Building, which opened for classes in 2017, and the Center for Integrated Health Sciences, which opened in January 2020.
CMU is classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a Carnegie R2 research institution. R2 indicates a high level of research activity in a smaller university setting, and
Central currently provides approximately 100 graduate programs at the master’s, specialist, and doctoral levels. CMU has accelerated admissions for 17 master’s degree programs, which allow undergraduate students at CMU to reduce the total number of credits required to complete their undergraduate and graduate degrees by applying no more than 50% of the graduate program (500 and 600 level courses), at the discretion of the department, toward graduation requirements on both degree programs.

Cutting-edge Student Research

Students conduct cutting-edge research in Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, help create biofuels and longer-lasting batteries, develop improved methods of water purification and more. In addition, with the university’s second $10 million Environmental Protection Agency grant in six years, CMU researchers lead the way in efforts to protect and restore coastal wetlands vital to the overall health of the Great Lakes through CMU’s Institute for Great Lakes Research. CMU also was the first public university in the Midwest with a MakerBot Innovation Center, a large-scale 3D printing installation. CMU’s Biosciences Building is home to an electron microscope facility used for research in a variety of areas throughout the university.

Culture, Community, Resources

CMU’s main campus is in Mount Pleasant, a community that blends small-town living and big-city amenities. It’s part of Michigan’s culturally varied and vibrant Great Lakes Bay Region that also includes Saginaw; Bay City; Midland; and the state’s largest Native American community, centered on the Saginaw Chippewa Isabella Reservation in Mount Pleasant.

Other major Michigan destinations and attractions — Lansing, Grand Rapids, Detroit, Traverse City, wineries, beaches, golf, and ski resorts, and many more — are within easy reach of the city’s central location in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.

Mount Pleasant is the seat of Isabella County and home to 25,000 of the growing county’s nearly 70,000 people. The community offers natural beauty, family attractions and small-town life complemented by university culture. Friends and family are always welcome to explore CMU’s park-like campus and attend plays, concerts, speeches, athletic events, library exhibits, summer camps and much more. Features include:

Culture and Entertainment. University Theatre, University Events, the School of Music, and the student-run Program Board offer year-round world-class plays, entertainment, and other exciting activities. With more than 94,000 square feet of space, the John G. Kulhavi Events Center serves the cultural and entertainment needs of the campus and community, hosting a wide variety of events, from commencements to concerts to speaking engagements to business expos.

Athletics. CMU has won almost 100 Mid-American Conference championships in 15 different sports, and the football program has participated in a postseason bowl game in 10 of the past 15 years. CMU won the league’s top award, the Cartwright Award for overall excellence, in 2009 and 2015, and the department also earned three consecutive MAC Institutional Sportsmanship awards from 2015-17. CMU’s student-athletes have averaged a GPA of 3.0 or higher for 44 straight semesters.

Charles V. Park Library. Central Michigan University’s Park Library houses more than 250 computers for student use and provides access to 1,000,000 print books, 850,000 electronic books, 250 electronic databases, the full text of 100,000 journals, and 125,000 streaming media titles. Electronic collections are accessible around the clock, from both on and off campus. The library’s 1 North Study Room is open 24 hours a day, seven nights a week for extended hours study. The Clarke Historical Library, located along the main corridor of the library, regularly displays items from its extensive holdings of materials about local and Michigan history, Native American history, books for children and young adults, the life and writings of Ernest Hemingway, as well as CMU history.

Tours of campus are available weekdays and many Saturdays and are arranged through the Admissions Office. Call 989-774-3076.