page_title: Western Governors University
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Western Governors University / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Roy Romer, a former governor of Colorado, campaigning for fellow Democrats in Walsenburg in October, 2018.
context_page_description: Western Governors University is a private, nonprofit online university based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The university uses an online competency-based learning model as opposed to the traditional, cohort-based class model present at most universities. The university was founded by 19 U.S. governors in 1997 after the idea was formulated at a 1995 meeting of the Western Governors Association to expand education offerings to the internet. WGU degree programs are accredited by regional and national accreditation bodies such as the NWCCU, ACBSP, CAEP, CAHIIM, CCNE, and the NCATE.
context_section_description: WGU was officially founded in 1997 in the United States by the governors of 19 U.S. states. It was first proposed by then-governor of Utah Mike Leavitt at the annual meeting of the Western Governors Association in June 1995. It was formally proposed the following November, and in June 1996 each signing state governor committed $100,000 toward the launch of the new competency-based university. While the seed money was provided from government sources, the school was to be established as a self-supporting private, nonprofit institution. In January 1997, 13 governors were on hand to sign the articles of incorporation formally beginning the new university.
  In August 1999, WGU launched its first degree programs including an associate in arts in general education, three technology-focused associates in applied arts degrees, and one master of arts degree in learning and technology. In December 2000, Genevieve Kirch became WGU's first graduate. Kirch earned her Master of Arts, Learning and Technology degree.
  In 2001, the United States Department of Education awarded $10 million to found the Teachers College, and the first programs were offered in Information Technology. In 2003, the university became the first school to be accredited in four different regions by the Interregional Accrediting Committee. In 2006, the fourth college, the College of Health Professions, was founded, and the school's Teachers College became the first online teacher-preparation program to receive NCATE accreditation. In 2010, the first state-established offshoot, WGU Indiana, was founded by Mitch Daniels, governor of Indiana, and the school reached 20,000 students for the first time. In 2011, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provided $4.5 million for WGU Indiana and the creation of WGU Texas and WGU Washington.
  On January 8, 2013, Bill Haslam, governor of Tennessee, announced the creation of WGU Tennessee. On January 28, 2013, Governor Jay Nixon of Missouri, in his annual State of the State address, announced the founding of WGU Missouri, creating the fifth state-based subsidiary of WGU. And on June 16, 2015, Governor Brian Sandoval of Nevada launched WGU Nevada, the sixth state-based WGU. The subsidiaries of WGU share the same academic model, faculty, services, accreditation, tuition, and curricula as WGU and were established to give official state endorsement and increased name recognition to WGU in those states, as well as qualifying students of those affiliates for state-based aid. WGU does not maintain physical campuses for these institutions.
  As of December 31, 2019, the university had 119,618 currently enrolled students and more 167,154 people had graduated from the institution. The average age of a WGU student is 35.
caption: Roy Romer Co-Founder and former Governor of Colorado
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