Shawnee State University

Shawnee State University (SSU) was established along the Ohio River in Portsmouth, Ohio in 1986, making it the most recently established public university in southern Ohio.

Despite having only been founded relatively recently the university offers more than 80 bachelor’s degree programs, as well as Master’s degrees in Occupational Therapy, Teacher Education, and Mathematical Sciences. 

Around 1,000 students live on-campus in apartment-style residence halls, which have full kitchens, dining areas, living rooms, and complete furnishings.

Other features on the 52-acre campus are the Clyde W. Clark Planetarium, a 1,139-seat theatre, and a state-of-the-art sports center known as the James A. Rhodes Athletic Center, which features a gym, various courts, and a junior Olympic-size swimming pool.

Students are also able to join and participate in more than 45 student clubs and organisations and there are four Greek clubs on-campus too.

The university sports teams are known as the Shawnee State Bears and compete in the Mid-South Conference as part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). There is a range of men’s and women’s sports on offer and over the years the university teams have been very successful, particularly the men’s cross country team, and the women’s basketball team, who won the national championship in 1999.

There are more than 14,000 SSU alumni and as enrollment gradually expands, this number is rapidly rising.