The Story

The history of Fairmont State University and Pierpont Community & Technical College is part and parcel of the history of public education in West Virginia. Founded in 1865, two years after the state was admitted into the Union, the university was established as the West Virginia Normal School at Fairmont-a private institution dedicated to educating teachers.

The West Virginia Normal School at Fairmont was eventually purchased by the state to become the Fairmont State Normal School, which made this training more readily available to the public. In early 1917, the school moved from its location on Fairmont Avenue to its grand new hilltop location on Locust Avenue, the building we now call Hardway Hall.

The institution is known for a number of firsts. We established two theatre honoraries, Alpha Psi Omega and Delta Psi Omega, and founded the International Thespian Society. And we have long been a leader in the field of education and the study of folklore; ours was the third folklore center in the United States.

In the 1930s, the West Virginia Legislature changed the institution's name once again to Fairmont State Teachers College, a title that would change once more in 1943-1944 to Fairmont State College.

Fairmont State Community & Technical College was founded in 1974 and received independent accreditation in 2003.

Gov. Bob Wise signed a historic bill on April 7, 2004, that created two big changes. Fairmont State College's name changed to Fairmont State University. And Blair Montgomery became FSC&TC's first president.

The West Virginia Legislature approved a bill during the 2006 Regular Session to allow FSU and FSC&TC to once again share one accreditation. This merger meant that more financial resources could be focused on service to students instead of incremental duplication of administrative overhead.

On July 1, 2006, FSC&TC became a Division of FSU and was renamed Pierpont Community & Technical College. The name "Pierpont" is historically and symbolically significant. Francis H. Pierpont, a Fairmont native, served as Governor of the Restored State of Virginia during the Civil War and played a key role in the birth of West Virginia. He also serves as an example of a successful "non-traditional" student, working his way through school as a tanner and brick layer. Interestingly, he also served on the Board of the institution that would one day become Fairmont State University.

On July 1, 2007, the state Legislature again required separate accreditation for FSU and Pierpont C&TC. Although FSU and Pierpont C&TC are now separate institutions with separate governing boards and separate missions, they continue to share a main campus and services.

Partnership allows Fairmont State University and Pierpont Community & Technical College to better serve our 7,450 students. Partnership provides students with the opportunity to find their future from more than 145 skill sets, certificates, associate degrees, bachelor's degrees and graduate degrees. Partnership gives students the flexibility to take classes on our shared main campus in Fairmont or throughout Pierpont's 13-county service region. Partnership means we retain shared core values of scholarship, opportunity, achievement and responsibility. Partnership results in two strong institutions moving together toward a bright future.