[5] The university's name is designed to reference a regent, a person who exercises power in a monarchical country during the absence or incapacity of the sovereign; according to the school's catalog, "a regent is one who represents Christ, our Sovereign, in whatever sphere of life he or she may be called to serve Him.

"[7] The first class, consisting of seventy-seven students, began in fall of 1978 when the school leased classroom space in Chesapeake, Virginia.

In 2000, Regent began an undergraduate degree-completion curriculum under the auspices of a new program, the Center for Professional Studies.

[8] Completed in 1990, The Founders Inn and Spa hotel was originally part of the Christian Broadcasting Network before Regent University assumed ownership.

[12] Defunct Newspapers Journals TV channels Websites Other Congressional caucuses Economics Gun rights Identity politics Nativist Religion Watchdog groups Youth/student groups Social media Miscellaneous Other Regent University was ranked in 2015 by U.S. News & World Report as the 11th best online undergraduate program in the nation,[13] and as the second best by OEDb in 2009.

[15] In 2006 and 2007, Regent Law won several national ABA moot court and negotiation competitions succeeding against teams from Harvard and Yale.

[20] In 1995, theologian Harvey Cox wrote that Regent has been called "the Harvard of the Christian Right" but noted that "Regent, it appears, is not so much a boot camp for rightist cadres as a microcosm of the theological and intellectual turbulence within what is often mistakenly seen as a monolithic 'religious right' in America".

[21] In September 2007, Adam Key, a second-year law student at Regent, posted a lifted still from a video to the social networking website Facebook showing the school's chancellor, Pat Robertson, scratching his forehead with his middle finger.

[26][27] However, Key's attorney countered with examples of racist images posted on Facebook by other Regent students about which the school took no action.

[16] An article about a Regent graduate who interviewed for a government position and Regent's low school rankings were cited as an example of the Bush administration hiring applicants with strong conservative credentials but weaker academic qualifications and less civil rights law experience than past candidates in the Civil Rights Division.

[16][34] Though a prominent critic of the school, Barry Lynn of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State advised against "underestimat[ing] the quality of a lot of the people that are there.

Former U.S. Attorney General under the Bush administration, John Ashcroft, was named distinguished professor in 2005 teaching a two-week course each semester in the Robertson School of Government and lecturing on national security law.

[38] Also named distinguished professor was former chief of naval operations Admiral Vern Clark who teaches courses in leadership and government.

[39] In 2006, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak was a visiting faculty member for the school of undergraduate studies.

[40] Herb Titus, founding dean of the law school, was the 1996 vice-presidential candidate of the Constitution Party and a drafter of the Constitutional Restoration Act to permit government officials to acknowledge "God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government".

The Royals compete as a member of the National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association (NCCAA) in the South Region of the Division I level.

[48][49][50] On September 1, 2024, Regent University began its exploratory year in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III.