Campus History

Learn A Little More About Our Campus ...

In 1954, Kent State University initiated a cadet program to help the community overcome a critical shortage of elementary teachers. Until the Fall of 1965, the University offered an evening program at Warren G. Harding High School, known as the Warren Academic Center.

By 1965, this operation had been expanded to include many courses other than those required by prospective teachers. The Warren Academic Center was granted campus status by the legislature in 1965, and became the Trumbull Campus of Kent State University.

In December of 1966, the Trumbull County Commissioners offered to deed a 134.7-acre site to the University for a branch campus. By June of 1968, preliminary plans for a new campus facility were approved by the State, and completion of the building was targeted for 1970. With almost 800 students enrolled, the campus operated in 1969 and 1970 in four leased facilities in Warren. The Fall of 1970 saw classes begin in the long-awaited facility, with approximately 1025 students, and high hopes for the future.

Seeing a need to meet the growing technical training needs for business and industry, the Trumbull Campus established a Workforce Development and Continuing Studies Center in 1996. As partners in progress, the campus has provided technical training for over 4,000 employees, representing 33 companies since the Center began. The Center for Industrial Training and Education (CITE) was established in 1997 to provide hands-on laboratory experience for customized training programs, apprenticeship coursework, academic engineering courses and Tech Prep programs.  Now administered through the Kent State Tuscarawas Campus, workforce development training programs include employee training and pre-employment training in partnership with the university, business and industry, and local/state governments.

A Weekend College Program began in Spring 1998, leading to a B.S. Degree in Technology. Several Environmental Technology initiatives were in operation from 1999 to 2002: the establishment of the Center for Environmental Technology and Applied Research, a partnership between Kent Trumbull and the 910 Air Wing Aerial Spray Unit, and an environmental training program for the University at Tashkent in Uzbekistan.

The new millennium was brought in with the completion of two new facilities for the Trumbull Campus. The 68,000-square foot Technology Building was designed to support a variety of technology degree programs, including three new associate programs that began in the Fall of 2000, including Laboratory Technology, Plastics Manufacturing Engineering Technology, and the High Technology Manufacturing Degree. The Workforce Development and Continuing Studies Center allowed for the expansion of programs and services available to the surrounding communities. The Center's program offerings include certification for professionals, workshops on business-related issues and personal enrichment classes.

Today, Kent State Trumbull spans 132 acres, with three academic buildings occupying 246,500 square feet of space and a spectacular two-acre natural resource in Lake Anne. Kent State Trumbull is an open-admission campus of nearly 2,148 students, 40 full and part-time faculty, and 40 administrative and support staff. Students can choose from over two dozen associate or bachelor's degree programs, or start coursework toward the more than 370 academic programs offered by Kent State University.

The campus is also home to the Ohio Basic Police Academy and a Corrections Training Facility. Kent State Trumbull is part of the eight-campus network of Kent State University.