Marshall University was founded in 1837 as a private subscription school by residents of Guyandotte and the surrounding area. The landmark Old Main, which now serves as the primary administrative building for the university, was built on land known as Maple Grove, at the time the home of the Mount Hebron Church in what was then the state of Virginia.<ref name="OM_1837">Brown, Lisle, ed."Marshall Academy, 1837."Template:Webarchive Marshall University Special Collections. September 1, 2004, Dec 20. 2006.</ref> John Laidley, a local attorney, hosted the meeting which led to the founding of Marshall Academy, which was named after Laidley's friend, the eminent John Marshall<ref name="OM_1837"/> who had served as the fourth chief justice of the United States from January 1801 until his death in July 1835.
On June 20, 1863, Cabell County, Virginia, was one of the 50 counties separated from Virginia at the height of the American Civil War to form the state of West Virginia, and the college fell within the new state. In 1867, the West Virginia Legislature re-established the institution as a teacher training facility and renamed it State Normal School of Marshall College.<ref name="Tour_EarlyYears"/><ref name="OM_1856">Brown, Lisle, ed. "Marshall Academy, 1856."Template:Webarchive Marshall University Special Collections. September 1, 2004, Dec 20. 2006</ref>
With the exception of the Old Main building, expansion of the facilities and the college itself did not begin until 1907, when the West Virginia Board of Regents allowed the creation of new college-level departments.<ref name=real/> At that time, enrollment surpassed 1,000 students.<ref name="Tour_EarlyYears"/> The school began offering four-year degrees for the first time in 1920.
In 1937, the college suffered the effects of a devastating flooding by the Ohio River.<ref name="Tour_100years_a">"100 years and growing."Template:Webarchive Marshall University. 1997. December 20, 2006</ref> Numerous structures were extensively flooded. Much of Huntington was also heavily damaged.Template:Citation needed
The West Virginia Board of Education authorized Marshall College in 1938 to offer the master's degree in six programs: chemistry, education, history, political science, psychology, and sociology, as the institution underwent another expansion. In that year the school was accredited as a "university level institution"; however, elevation to university status would remain a contentious political issue for decades to come. Further expansion accelerated after World War II.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1969, the university's athletic program faced a number of scandals regarding recruiting violations and giving cash to athletes. Both the football and basketball coaches were fired; the teams were suspended from the Mid-American Conference.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Open access</ref>
The following season a new head coach, Jack Lengyel, was hired. The leaders of the "Young Thundering Herd" (to which the team officially changed its name for the 1971 season) were the few players who did not make the trip due to injury or disciplinary action. Fifteen sophomores from the previous year's freshman team were included, as well as a group of freshmen who were allowed to play at the varsity level after the NCAA granted a waiver to its rule barring them from doing so. Three years later, the NCAA would waive the rule for all schools. Completing the squad were players from other Marshall sports programs. They won only two of their ten games in 1971: a 15–13 victory against the Xavier Musketeers in the season's first home game, and a 12–10 homecoming game victory against the Bowling Green Falcons.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
A fountain and plaza at the center of the school campus is dedicated to the victims of the crash. The water does not flow from November 14 until the first day of spring football practice the following year. The tragedy and its aftermath were the subject of several documentaries, including the award-winning Marshall University: Ashes to Glory.Template:Citation needed
On February 22, 2023, West Virginia governor Jim Justice signed House Bill 2412 into law, making November 14 an official Memorial Day in remembrance of the Marshall football plane crash across the state.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1977 the university founded its School of Medicine, the first professional school and the first doctoral program. Over the next 20 years the school would add doctoral programs in many fields. Twenty years later, in 1997, the West Virginia Graduate College became the graduate college of Marshall University. Its campus is in South Charleston, West Virginia. In 1998, the John Deaver Drinko Library opened on campus. In 1997, Marshall merged with the West Virginia University College of Graduate Studies (COGS),<ref>Moving Forward: 1990–1999</ref> with the latter being renamed Marshall University Graduate College.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2010 the university was authorized to begin offering undergraduate classes in South Charleston and renamed the facility Marshall University - South Charleston Campus.
In August 2021, Marshall opened the Bill Noe Flight School at Yeager Airport in Charleston, West Virginia. The Bill Noe Flight School features a 12,000 sq ft. academic building, a hangar, and an aircraft parking apron. The school of aviation offers two undergraduate programs: commercial pilot: fixed wing and aviation maintenance. These programs began accepting students starting in Fall 2021, with additional programs being added in the future.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Other new programs offered by the university include a physician assistant program offered through the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, which accepted students in its inaugural class in January 2021.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
On October 28, 2021, Brad D. Smith was appointed the university's 38th president, succeeding the retiring President Jerome Gilbert. Smith, retired CEO of financial software company Intuit, was already a major benefactor of the university.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In early 2022, after the first attacks during the Russo-Ukrainian War, Marshall University professors and staff Victor Fet, Anara Tabyshalievaand, Stefan Schoeberlein, and Kateryna Schray start the weekly podcast MUkraine, has been hosted every week since March 2, 2022 within a panelist Q&A format.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The podcast has hosted over 120 guests that include university professors, philanthropists, charity organizations and Ukrainian refugees, volunteers and soldiers.<ref name=WCHSMU>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In May 2024 Marshall broke ground on a new 80,000 sq ft. Institute for Cyber Security building. The new facility will be a four-story building that will house cybersecurity technology and is scheduled to open by Fall 2026.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Old Main is a collection of five buildings joined at the center of the university's campus and has been seen as a symbol of the university.<ref>"Old Main." Marshall University. December 20, 2006 [1].</ref> The original structure was completed in 1868, with four other additions that were completed at various intervals until 1907.Template:Citation needed Old Main is also home to the college's autism program first founded in 2002.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Robert C. Byrd Biotechnology Science Center is named after longtime U.S. SenatorRobert C. Byrd, who was a proponent of the project and helped receive funding for its construction. The first floor contains two auditoriums, six teaching laboratories, numerous lecture rooms, and other research appendages.<ref name="HD_010107">"New schools, businesses expected in Tri-State." Herald-Dispatch [Huntington] January 1, 2007. January 2, 2007 [2]Template:Dead link.</ref>
Academics
Undergraduate admissions
In 2024, Marshall University accepted 96.9% of undergraduate applicants, with those admitted having an average 3.68 high school GPA. The university does not require submission of standardized test scores, Marshall being a test optional school. Those accepted that submitted test scores had an average 930-1150 SAT score or an average 19-25 ACT score.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The school's general engineering program was closed in 1970 but was re-established with a graduate program in 1993, and a general engineering undergraduate program in 2006.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Marshall has granted master's degrees since 1938. The university began granting doctoral degrees in 1994. Marshall now offers a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences, an EdD in Educational Leadership or Curriculum and Instruction, and professional doctorates in Nurse Anesthesia, Pharmacy, Psychology, and Physical Therapy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Society of Yeager Scholars is the highest academic scholarship offered at Marshall University, named in honor of Chuck Yeager, the first recorded pilot to break the sound barrier.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Members of the society are selected through a competitive application and interview process from high school seniors. The core curriculum is designed to assist each Yeager Scholar in developing skills in analysis, synthesis, and critical thinking. Each scholar will be expected to demonstrate superior skills in written and oral communication. To remain in the program, each student must maintain a cumulative 3.5 grade point average. Those who complete all academic requirements are awarded a Yeager medallion containing flecks of the same metal as the Bell X-1.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The John Marshall Scholars Program is an academic scholarship program that covers a majority of the cost of education for member students at Marshall. The program affords a rigorous academic program and provides a full tuition/fee waiver and stipend to students with a composite ACT score of 30 or higher who have been accepted to the university. Students must maintain a 3.5 grade point average to retain their scholarship.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Marshall's athletic teams are known as the Thundering Herd. The school colors are kelly green and white. Marshall participates in NCAADivision I (FBS for football) as a member of the Sun Belt Conference. The name Thundering Herd came from a Zane Grey novel released in 1925, and a silent movie of the same name two years later. It was originally used by The Herald-Dispatch sports editor Carl "Duke" Ridgley, but many other nicknames were suggested over the next thirty years including Boogercats, Big Green, Green Gobblers, Rams, and Judges. In 1965, students, alums and faculty settled on Thundering Herd in a vote, and Big Green was given to the athletic department's fund-raising wing.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Marshall began playing football in 1895<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and has a long tradition as a football school. The plane crash on November 14, 1970, whose 75 victims included most of the 1970 Thundering Herd football team, continues to have a lasting impact on the university and Huntington community.
Marshall is home to over more than 200 student organizations and clubs.
Student media includes an on-campus radio station WMUL-FM 88.1, and The Parthenon, the student newspaper.
There are 15 chapters of fraternities and sororities on campus. Disciplinary problems became national news in 2014 when The Atlantic published an article about drug and alcohol abuse in Greek chapters on campus.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2021, the university closed all of them temporarily after allegations of violations of COVID-19 measures.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Campus Activities Board
The student-run Campus Activities Board organizes free campus-wide events. Also available to students is the Marshall Artists Series, which brings Broadway, dance, music, comedy, and opera to the university, and two international film festivals. Students can obtain free tickets to athletics, Marshall Artists Series productions and to theater productions at the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center.Template:Citation needed
Nicknamed The Rec, the Template:Cvt recreation center opened in 2009. The facility features an aquatic center with a spa, 3 lap lanes, a vortex whirlpool, and a leisure area. There are ten residence halls on the main campus, with additional housing on the Health Science campus.
Robert C. Byrd, longest serving United States Senator in history, former U.S. representative for West Virginia<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Billy Crystal, 6x Emmy winner, 1x Tony winner 9x host of the Oscars, played as Jodie Dallas in Soap<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Hal Greer, member of NBA's 50th and 75th anniversary teams, Basketball Hall of Famer<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Randy Moss, NFL record holder for most receiving touchdowns in a season, Pro Football Hall of Famer<ref name="98draftprofile">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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