Rhode Island College

Location
Providence, RI
Student Size
7,072
College Type
Public University

About Our College

Rhode Island College was first established as the Rhode Island State Normal School by the Rhode Island General Assembly in 1854.[2] Its creation can be attributed to the labors of Henry Barnard, the first state agent for education in Rhode Island who had established the Rhode Island Teachers Institute at Smithville Seminary in 1845, and his successor, Elisha Potter. The Rhode Island State Normal School was one of the nation's first normal schools (teacher preparatory schools), which grew out of the humanitarian groundswell of the mid-19th century spurred by educational missionaries like Horace Mann. The school attracted hard working young people who came chiefly from ordinary backgrounds.

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