Salisbury University is a public university in Salisbury, Maryland. According to U.S. News and World Report's 2009 America's Best Colleges index, "In guidebooks and surveys by U.S. News & World Report, The Princeton Review and others, SU consistently ranks in the top 10 percent of public and private institutions nationwide." Currently, Salisbury University offers 42 distinct undergraduate and 14 graduate degree programs. Salisbury University, originally called the Maryland State Normal School, was opened on September 7, 1925 as a two-year institution to train elementary school teachers to help fill the teacher shortage in the state of Maryland. The original class of 105 students were greeted by Salisbury's first president, Dr. William J. Holloway, an experienced educator and the driving force behind the creation of the school. The curriculum was influenced by best practices established at Columbia's Teachers College, alma mater of six of Salisbury Normal School's eight original faculty.