Founded in 1960 as Christopher Newport College, a two-year branch of the College of William & Mary, we are in Coastal Virginia, in the city of Newport News. Christopher Newport gained independence in 1977 and became a university in 1992. Christopher Newport is named for the 17th-century mariner who helped establish the Jamestown colony, the first permanent English-speaking settlement in the New World, just a few miles from our campus. Today, Christopher Newport is a four-year public university that enrolls 5,000 students in rigorous and rewarding academic programs in the liberal arts and sciences through the College of Arts and Humanities, the College of Natural and Behavioral Sciences, the College of Social Sciences, and the Luter School of Business. CNU offers great teaching and small class sizes with an emphasis on leadership, civic engagement and honor.