West Chester is recognized for its formal poetry program. Along with its new name- West Chester University of Pennsylvania-the institution acquired a new system of governance and the opportunity to expand its degree programs. With passage of the State System of Higher Education bill, West Chester became one of the 14 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education on July 1, 1983. They include Ruby Jones Hall, Recitation Hall and the Old Library. The buildings, with the exception of Anderson Hall and Philips Memorial Building (named after long-time principal George Morris Philips), were each built with local Chester County serpentine stone. The campus quad located on North Campus appears on the National Register of Historic Places, and is called the West Chester State College Quadrangle Historic District, featuring WCU's historic buildings. In 1960, as the Commonwealth paved the way for liberal arts programs in its college system, West Chester was renamed West Chester State College, and two years later introduced the liberal arts program that turned the one-time academy into a comprehensive college.

West Chester became West Chester State Teachers College in 1927 when Pennsylvania initiated a four-year program of teacher education. In 1913, West Chester became the first of the normal schools to be owned outright by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The normal school admitted its first class, consisting of 160 students, on September 25, 1871. As the state began to take increasing responsibility for public education, the academy was transformed into West Chester Normal School or West Chester State Normal School, still privately owned and state certified. The university traces its roots to the West Chester Academy, a private, state-aided school that existed from 1812 to 1869. Entry to Old Main Building, reconstructed on High Street opening onto the Quadrangle

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