Christopher Newport University

About
Christopher Newport University is a four-year university in Newport News, VA based on the principles of liberal learning. It was originally founded as Christopher Newport College, a two-year college of the College of William and Mary, in 1960 and became a full-fledged university in 1992. In addition to being a liberal arts college, it includes a Physics, Computer Science, and Engineering (PCSE) deparment and offers 5-year Master's programs in Applied Physics and Computer Science as well as Environmental Science.

Major science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) Employers located near CNU include Jefferson Lab, Huntington Ingalls Industries (Newport News Shipbuilding), Swisslog (a company that specializes in automation-based delivery) and NASA Langley in Hampton, VA.

CNU is located near The Mariner's Museum, a collection of over 35,000 maritime items and home to the largest maritime library in the Western Hemisphere.

Christopher Newport University has been recognized by U.S. News and the Princeton Review in their college rankings. In 2012, it was recognized as the No. 3 "up-and-coming" university in the South by U.S. News, and the Princeton Review included it in its publication The 367 Best Colleges in 2011 and 2012.

The current president of CNU is former US Senator Paul Trible, who has held this position since 1996.

CNU's mascot, Captain Chris, is also named for Christopher Newport, an English sailor and privateer who commanded the largest of the first three ships to land in and settle the Virginia colony.

Purposes
The main purposes of the PCSE department are: ''Paraphrased from "Welcome to PCSE". (''[http:// http://cnu.edu/pcs/])
 * To promote the richness of science and engineering as human careers and to emphasize their importance and usefulness in daily life.
 * To improve awareness of the connections between science and other academic fields.
 * To prepare graduates for careers as knowledgable scientists, engineers, and educators.
 * To provide students with lifelong learning and leadership skills that allow them to advance in their professional careers.
 * To earn wide recognition as a group of individuals involved in and supporting their communities.

Majors
The PCSE department offers majors in Applied Physics, Computer Science, Information Systems, and Information Science (Bachelor of Science only).

Research
Some of the research projects CNU PCSE professors have done or are doing include modeling and simulation of nano-circuits and architectures, creating a robot vehicle from scratch, and creating a DTMF (dual tone multiple frequency) recorder.

Academic Setup
Every CNU undergraduate is assigned to a core advisor before beginning his/her freshman year (or the first year they transfer from another college or university if he/she is a transfer student). Unless he/she transffered after his/her sophomore year, he/she is assigned a new core advisor after declaring a major second semester of sophomore year.

CNU students are considered full-time if they are taking 12 or more academic credit hours during an academic semester. Students must pay extra tuition if they are taking more than 18 academic credit hours.

Students are required to earn a "C-" or higher to earn credit for a course required for their major. For courses not required for their major, they must earn a "D-" or higher.

CNU offers two Honors programs for students: the Honors Program and the President's Leadership Program (PLP). Honors students are required to take four Honors courses (specified by HONR in their course number) before graduating. PLP students are required to attend speeches by specified PLP speakers, take leadership courses (specified by LDSP in their course number), and perform a certain number of hours of community service.

Students in the Honors Program are required to maintain a 3.3 grade point average per semester in order to keep their Honors Housing/Study Abroad scholarship. Failure to maintain a 3.3 GPA for more than three consecutive or nonconsecutive semesters will result in their Honors scholarship being withdrawn.

Links
CNU Main Page: http://cnu.edu

CNU PCSE: http://cnu.edu/pcs

CNU PCSE Academics: http://cnu.edu/pcs/academics