Stockton University is a public university in Galloway Township, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. It is named for Richard Stockton, one of the New Jersey signers of the Declaration of Independence. Founded in 1969, Stockton accepted its charter class in 1971. At its opening in 1971, classes were held at the Mayflower Hotel in Atlantic City; the campus in Galloway Township began operating late in 1971. Nearly 10,000 students are enrolled at Stockton and it is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
History
In November 1968, New Jersey approved a $202.5 million (equivalent to $1577.95 million in 2021) capital construction bond issue with an earmarked $15 million (equivalent to $116.89 million in 2021) designated for the construction of a new state college in Southern New Jersey. In 1969, a 1,600-acre (650-hectare) tract was selected for the campus in the heart of the Pine Barrens in Galloway Township. The trustees originally named the school "South Jersey State College", but they later renamed it to "Stockton State College", in order to avoid confusion with Rutgers College of South Jersey.

In 1970, as construction began to run behind schedule, the trustees realized they needed an alternative location for the first class in 1971. They selected the historic Mayflower Hotel in Atlantic City as the temporary campus.

Classes began on schedule with the commencement of the first academic year in September 1971. The college took shape as 1,000 students (50 of whom were Educational Opportunity Fund students), 97 staff, and 60 full-time faculty took over the former resort hotel. By December 1971, occupancy of the first phase of the new campus construction took place, with the transfer of classes and offices to Galloway Township during the winter holiday period.

Accreditation of Stockton State College by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools was first granted in December 1975. In July 1991, the college was re-accredited unconditionally for another 10 years by the Middle States Association Commission on Higher Education, and Middle States accreditation was reaffirmed most recently in 2012.

In 1978 the US Congress passed legislation creating the New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve, the first such designation in the nation, to protect the area's ecology and aquifer, which serves the large metropolitan region. In 1988, the United Nations designated it an International Biosphere Reserve, in recognition of its importance.

Stockton continued to grow rapidly. Housing II opened in November 1981. With the opening of the N-Wing College Center & Housing III in February 1983, Stockton State College achieved a high student-residency rate among New Jersey state colleges.

In 1993, the college's name was changed to the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. Rochelle Hendricks, New Jersey Secretary of Higher Education, approved Stockton's petition to become a university on February 13, 2015. On February 18, 2015, Stockton's Board of Trustees voted to change the former college's seal to reflect the new name, Stockton University. The executive committee of the New Jersey Presidents Council, which represents the presidents of the state's public, private and community colleges and universities that receive state aid, had also voted for the change. In February 2015, the college was awarded University status and was officially renamed Stockton University on February 18, 2015.

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