Anchored in Excellence - Christopher Newport University
A student talking with a business representative

Who We Are

Anchored in Excellence

At Christopher Newport, the focus is on learning how to think, and our graduates put this into practice in a wide range of fields, from business to computer science to foreign languages.

Regardless of your major, our emphasis on leadership, civic engagement and honor across campus fosters good citizenship and prepares you to succeed. More than 90% of our graduates go on to fulltime jobs or the graduate or professional school of their choice within six months of graduation.

Full outcomes data is available here

Outcomes

Top 10 nationally for internships

Princeton Review

Class of 2023 internship sampling

BAE Systems, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Disney, Ferguson, General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), Jefferson Lab, Riverside, STIHL, and Target

Top 10 nationally for alumni satisfaction

Poets & Quants

Class of 2023 employers sampling

ADP, Amazon, Bloomberg Industry Group, Carahsoft, CACI, CoStar, Deloitte, Dominion Energy, Enterprise, Forvis Mazars, G3 Technologies, Huntington Ingalls Industries – Newport News Shipbuilding, KPMG, Liebherr, Lockheed Martin, National Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren, Newport News Public Schools, Northrop Grumman, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sentara Health, Swisslog


Excellence in Academics

We offer small classes, caring, accomplished professors, technology-advanced buildings, and a distinctive, award-winning arts and sciences learning pathway.

Students sit at tables in the Rosemary Reading Room inside of the Trible Library at Christopher Newport University.


Excellence in Science and Technology

A new state-of-the-art building will be the most technologically advanced in Virginia when it opens in the spring of 2026.

Rendering of the Science and Engineering Research Center building.


Excellence Outside of the Classroom

CNU Cheerleading posing with their national championship trophy

Cheerleading

Arrow facing left icon
2024 NCA National Champions Arrow facing right icon
CNU men's basketball team celebrating their championship victory

Men's Basketball

Arrow facing left icon
2023 NCAA Division III National Champions Arrow facing right icon
CNU's softball team with a 2022 championship banner

Softball

Arrow facing left icon
2022 NCAA Division III National Champions Arrow facing right icon
CNU women's soccer team with a 2021 championship banner

Women's Soccer

Arrow facing left icon

2021 NCAA Division III National Champions

Arrow facing right icon

Excellence in the Arts

The Ferguson Center for the Arts and the Mary M. Torggler Fine Arts Center tout incredible spaces that attract world-renowned artists to Christopher Newport University.


Excellence in National Rankings

U.S. News & World Report

Christopher Newport is ranked first among regional public universities in Virginia, third in the South among regional public universities and sixth among all regional universities, public and private, in the South. A regional university is one that generally does not offer doctoral programs.

The university also appears in the 2025 US News rankings in the following lists:

  • No. 4 Best Regional College (South) for Veterans
  • No. 8 Best Regional College (South) for Undergraduate Teaching
  • Best Value Schools
  • Best Undergraduate Business Programs
  • Best Undergraduate Economics Programs
  • Best Undergraduate Computer Science Programs
  • Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs
  • Best Undergraduate Psychology Programs

The Princeton Review

Christopher Newport is ranked as having the best residence halls of any college in Virginia, according to a student survey. The residence halls also rank 4th nationally.

Christopher Newport also landed on several of Princeton Review’s prestigious lists this year:

  • The Best 390 Colleges
  • Best Mid-Atlantic

Poets and Quants

Poets and Quants ranks the Luter School of Business No. 7 when graduates were asked whether their degree was worth its cost in time and resources, and No. 10 when they were asked about the quality of teaching. Overall, Luter’s undergraduate degree program is ranked No. 63 and among the top four in Virginia.

American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA)

Christopher Newport is one of only five only public institutions in the nation to earn a perfect “A+” rating from ACTA for the strength of its curriculum in What Will They Learn? ACTA’s study of over 1,000 colleges and universities, which reveals what value students actually receive from their college curriculum. A perfect score indicates that an institution requires all seven subjects deemed essential to a quality education: literature, composition, economics, mathematics, foreign language, science and American history/government.

quick edit report a problem