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Rider University welcomes students from throughout the region, across the nation, and around the world who seek to be challenged and supported as active members of our inclusive and vibrant living and learning community. Committed to student growth, transformation, and leadership, we connect rigorous academic, artistic, and professional programs of study with a rich array of learning experiences that engage students inside and outside the classroom. We prepare graduates to thrive professionally and be lifelong independent learners and responsible citizens who embrace diversity, support the common good, and contribute meaningfully to the changing world in which they live and work. The Rider PROMISE is offered as a representation of the mission. It is inspired by our recent 150th anniversary, which embraced the tagline, Fulfilling the Promise. This tagline was, in turn, inspired by Andrew J. Rider himself, as discussed in the history books written by Dr. Walter A. Brower '48, former Dean of the School of Education. Andrew J. Rider declared in 1883 that Rider's future was full of promise. The Rider PROMISE is offered as part of the mission in response to student feedback this past spring that we try to visually or graphically represent the mission. Rider University will be a premier; forward-looking University is known for its Engaged Learning Program that, together with dynamic academic programs, enriching co-curricular experiences, and a vibrant living and learning community, challenges students, excites their imaginations, and instills in them excellence in thought and action, preparing them for highly engaged and fulfilling professional and personal lives. Do not just take our word for it. The Princeton Review ranks Rider University among the top 380 of all colleges nationwide, and U.S. News and World Report put us in the top tier of northern universities. In music circles, Rider's Westminster Choir College is considered one of the best of its kind in the world. Choose from nearly 70 undergraduate programs and 35 graduate programs—everything from Marine Sciences and Accounting to Advertising and Global Studies. Our rigorous, hands-on learning prepares you to think critically and communicate clearly to become a socially responsible leader. A proper education depends on rich, hands-on experiences that expand your horizons. You will be encouraged to experience what you learn through our impressive professional internships, student/faculty research, honors and study-abroad programs, and volunteer experiences. Through the achievements, credentials, and contacts you build, you will discover what you love to do most — and you will stand out from the competition when you graduate. Rider offers personal attention and a friendly campus community, plus all the resources of a leading American university. The Rider is unique—the time you spend here is unlike any other time in your life. It gleams with excitement and pulses with energy. It is about becoming the person you dreamed you could be. It is about gathering skills that will serve you long after you leave. It is your life waiting to be lived. From its beginnings as a private business college nearly a century and a half ago, Rider University has consistently thrived as a home for students seeking a timely, relevant, and thorough curriculum and an environment to satisfy their intellectual curiosity. Founded in 1865 as Trenton Business College, the institution was established to train leaders in the booming, industrialized post-Civil War economy. While Rider still produces some of today's leading business executives, it has evolved into a diverse, comprehensive university with vibrant undergraduate and graduate programs in the arts, sciences, music, fine and performing arts, education, counseling, and leadership. In summer 2017, the University offered its first doctoral program, the Ed.D. in Educational Leadership. Gradually growing in size and scope through the first half of the 20th century, Rider began its move to a more spacious, suburban campus in 1959, when the first offices and classes moved to a 280-acre tract of land Route 206 in Lawrence Township, N.J. Rider merged with Westminster Choir College in 1992, establishing a campus in Princeton, N.J., and achieved university status in 1994. The University is home to five academic units that include the College of Business Administration, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, College of Education and Human Services, Westminster College of the Arts, and the College of Continuing Studies. View full university