Muskingum's campus consists of 21 buildings, a football stadium, and a small lake which all sit atop 225 acres (0.91 km2) of rolling hills overlooking New Concord.

On July 9, 1836, the first recorded meeting of the "Friends of Education" in New Concord, led by residents Samuel Willson and Benjamin Waddle, was held.

A year later, the Ohio General Assembly authorized the creation of a college in New Concord after being petitioned by the "Friends of Education" committee.

The university offers 44 academic majors along with a large number of minors, nine pre-professional programs (including pre-law and pre-medicine) and teaching licensure.

The school's main athletic rival is fellow OAC competitor the Marietta College Pioneers (which ironically was originally called the Muskingum Academy when established in 1797).

[6] Six of those championships were won from 1945 to 1966 when the team was led by College Football Hall of Fame member Ed Sherman,[7] a former Muskingum quarterback.

[10][11] He was awarded an honorary degree from Muskingum in 1961, and announced his retirement from the United States Senate in Brown Chapel live on national television in 1997.

Upon his retirement, Glenn donated his archives to the Ohio State University, with special conditions that Muskingum students could benefit from the collection at any time.