Rowan university was founded in 1923 in the town of Glassboro, New Jersey. Originally called the Glassboro Normal School, it was founded to train teachers. Glassboro was chosen as the site after the town offered 25 acres for the school campus and residents raised the money themselves to purchase the land. The first class consisted entirely of women and began their studies in 1923. The school began offering four year degrees in 1934 and in 1937 the name was changed to The New Jersey State Teachers College at Glassboro with the institution accepting its first male students shortly after. Over the following years the college gained a reputation for its special education teaching and the student body and campus grew. In 1958 the college was renamed Glassboro State College in 1958.  In 1992 the college received a donation of $100 million from the industrialist Henry M. Rowan, Jr. and his wife, enabling the curriculum to expand and a department of engineering to be added. In 1997 the state of New Jersey approved a final name change, to Rowan University.

Today Rowan University is a thriving public university with around 15,000 students studying a range of undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications. The college offers undergraduate bachelor’s degrees, master’s level degrees and doctoral level training in the field of education.

The main campus boasts 12 residential halls scattered among green lawns and wooded areas, streams and ponds. There are also extensive sports fields and a stadium and running track as well as a gym, bookstore and student centre.