[5] E. Everett Cortright, Alfred Fones, and former Raybestos President Sumner Simpson opened the Junior College of Connecticut, the first of its kind in the Northeastern United States.

The school purchased the former P. T. Barnum estate and neighboring property adjacent to Seaside Park and became a four-year institution in 1947, when it was renamed the University of Bridgeport.

Founders E. Everett Cortright, Alfred Fones, and Sumner Simpson saw a need in Bridgeport, then one of only six American cities of more than 100,000 residents lacking a college or university.

The school purchased the former P. T. Barnum estate and neighboring property adjacent to Seaside Park and became a four-year institution in 1947, when it was renamed the University of Bridgeport.

The legislature of Connecticut acknowledged the school's growth by renaming the institution "University of Bridgeport" in 1947.

The university's merger with the Weylister Secretarial Junior College of Milford, Connecticut, afforded additional expansion.

A two-year faculty strike, started in the midst of the university's financial troubles, intensified when the trustees gave control to the PWPA.

Eventually, sixty-six professors and librarians agreed to a "divorce" with the university in return for compensation of up to a year's salary.

He was succeeded by distinguished Holocaust scholar, professor emeritus at Florida State, and former PWPA president Richard L. Rubenstein, who served from 1995 to 1999.

She announced, in an email to faculty, staff, and students on May 24, 2019, that "During the May 17 meeting of the UB Board of Trustees, the body unanimously voted to amend the university's bylaws to remove any references to and governance rights of the Professors World Peace Academy, an affiliate of the Unification Church...This amendment finalizes a termination process, which was long under way.

Provost Stephen Healey was appointed interim president, and Tarek Sobh, vice president for research & economic development and dean of the College of Business, Education, and Engineering, was appointed interim provost.

[28] The stately old Victorian homes on campus date from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, some owned by leading area industrialists and some by family and friends of showman P. T.

The school also offers master's and doctoral programs in areas such as business, counseling, engineering, and education.

[42] Recognized fraternities and sororities at the university include:[44] Around 2000, to address safety concerns both on and off-campus, the university instituted a program where students are issued a portable alarm unit (PAL) that pinpoints their position and enables campus security to get to them in under two minutes.

This tree is notable for growing so far north from it common cultivation range., which ends at about Virginias eastern shore.

This tree suffered die-back over the harsh 2017-2018 winter and its height was reduced from about 8 feet using the tip of the tallest frond.

It is in a favorable microclimate, very close to a south-facing masonry wall, and is about 500 ft from Long Island Sound with it getting protection each winter.

In the upper left quadrant, the lamp of learning, which has been an element of the official Bridgeport's seal since 1931, is shown.

In the upper right quadrant of the seal, the tree of life is shown, symbolizing personal and institutional growth.

The lower left shows Bridgeport's seascape, illustrating the university's campus on Long Island Sound.

The lower right quadrant shows the Perry Arch, representing tradition, solid foundations, and performance.