Rider University

Temperance Hall, 1865, the original home of the Trenton Business College The school was founded as Trenton Business College on October 1, 1865, by Henry Beadman Bryant and Henry D. Stratton, operators of the Bryant and Stratton chain of private business schools. The school was located in Temperance Hall at the corner of South Broad and Front Streets in Trenton, New Jersey . Andrew J Rider was appointed as its first president. [ 7 ] President Rider owned 500 acres of cranberry bogs near Hammonton, New Jersey . This is why the school colors are cranberry and white. [ 8 ] The school grew and periodically moved to larger quarters. In 1896 women were admitted. In 1896 the school was renamed Rider Business College . President Rider stepped down the following year. [ 7 ] In 1920 the institution moved to East State Street in Trenton and officially became known as Rider College . In 1922 the New Jersey Board of Education granted Rider College permission to confer the degrees of Bachelor of Accounts and Bachelor of Commercial Science. In 1957 Rider Business College introduced liberal studies leading to a Bachelor of Arts degree. [ 7 ] In 1959 Rider College moved its campus to a 283-acre (115 ha) suburban tract on Route 206 in Lawrence Township, N.J. On November 15, 1961, President Franklin F. Moore (a 1927 alumnus of the college) announced the gradual reorganization of the college into five separate schools, each headed by a dean who would report to the provost. The changes took effect with the 1962–63 academic year. The five schools included a new School of Liberal Arts and Sciences. [ 9 ] Williamson Hall at Westminster Choir College Rider College merged with nearby Westminster Choir College (WCC), located in Princeton, New Jersey , in 1991–92. On April 13, 1994, the college became Rider University.

[ 10 ] In 2005 Rider completed its 63,000-square-foot (5,900 m 2 ) Student Recreation Center (SRC), a 186-bed residence hall, and three-story additions to Ziegler and Hill Residence Halls. The SRC contains locker rooms, a 3,600-square-foot (330 m 2 ) fitness room and various athletic facilities. [ 11 ] Rider University's bonds have been rated as junk since 2020. [ 12 ] As of 2023, the school has experienced financial difficulties and a loss of a fifth of its student body due to declining enrollment. [ 13 ] In November 2025, the school announced layoffs of faculty members, salary cuts and other measures to deal with financial problems. [ 14 ] Presidents Rider has had eight presidents: Andrew Jackson Rider (1866–1898) Franklin Benjamin Moore (1898–1934) Franklin Frazee Moore (1934–1969) Frank Nelson Elliott (1969–1990) J. Barton Luedeke (1990–2003) Mordechai Rozanski (2003–2015) Gregory Dell'Omo (2015–2025) John R. Loyack (2025–present)

Centennial Lake The 280-acre (1.1 km 2 ) Lawrenceville campus is in a suburban area three miles (5 km) north of Trenton and five miles (8 km) south of Princeton . Academic buildings Classes are held in Birenbaum Fisher Hall, The Mike and Patti Hennessy Science and Technology Center, the Fine Arts Center, Anne Brossman Sweigart Hall and Lynch Adler Hall. Built in 2011, Lynch Adler Hall is a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design silver certified, 21,250-square-foot (1,974 m 2 ) building. [ 15 ] [ 16 ]

The Franklin Moore Library The Franklin F. Moore Library supports the academic programs with a collection of more than 481,000 volumes, 2,000 periodical titles, 650,000 microforms, 134 online databases, electronic access to 42,000 journals, and an audiovisual collection. Westminster Choir College's Talbott Library has specialized music resources including 75,000 books, music scores and periodicals, a choral music reference collection of more than 80,000 titles and more than 31,000 sound and video recordings. Rider Libraries are the official depository for records created by the New Jersey Business Teachers Association and the Eastern Business Teachers Association. In special collections, there is a microfilm collection of Civil War Era diplomatic correspondence between the United States, France and Great Britain. It also holds a major collection of Delaware Valley newspapers reaching back to the 18th century. [ 17 ]