7.1 General Description of Kean University Kean University is a public, State-supported coeducational institution of higher education and is an “urban public research university” under New Jersey statute. It is located in Union Township and Hillside Township in the north central part of the State of New Jersey (the “State”), only minutes from the Garden State Parkway and New Jersey Turnpike, and close to public transportation. The main campus, located in Union Township (the “Main Campus”), is situated on a 121-acre tract, which includes a six-acre woodland preserve. The University traces its history to 1855 when it was founded by the Newark Board of Education and located in the City of Newark. In 1913, the University became a State institution, and in 1958 moved to the Main Campus on property which had been part of the Kean family estate. In November 1981, the University acquired the 28-acre Pingry School campus (the “East Campus”) located in Hillside Township and within walking distance of the Main Campus. In March 2007, the University acquired the 26-acre Liberty Hall campus, located in Union Township (the “Liberty Hall Campus”), which includes several historical buildings. It connects the Main Campus and East Campus and includes fourteen (14) acres of developable land. Kean University also purchased nine (9) acres adjacent to the Liberty Hall Campus from Schering-Plough Corporation upon which the New Jersey Center for Science, Technology and Mathematics Education building is currently situated. Kean College of New Jersey officially became Kean University in 1997. In 2014, Kean University leased approximately forty-one (41) acres of property in the New Jersey Highlands from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for the creation of a new learning center to support science and sustainability initiatives for its graduate students (the “Skylands Campus”). The Skylands Campus is located in Jefferson Township, Morris County and Sparta Township, Sussex County. Existing structures on the property include a dormitory with 35 private and semi-private sleeping rooms, a garage, storage barn and a manager’s residence. In 2016, Kean University purchased The Warehouse, the former home of architect Michael Graves, and two other properties of Graves, located at 40, 44 and 48 Patton Avenue, Princeton, New Jersey for the development of an education research center for architecture and design students (the “Princeton Campus” and together with the Main Campus, the East Campus, the Liberty Hall Campus and the Skylands Campus, the “Campuses”). In 2021, Kean University was designated New Jersey’s first urban public research university.
