Capella University, Minneapolis

Capella University is a for-profit co-educational university with partial residency requirements during the course of study, based in Minneapolis. The school is owned by the publicly traded Capella Education Company. Capella University offers bachelor's, master's (MS and MBA) and doctoral (PhD and PsyD) degrees in business, information technology, education, psychology, public health, public safety and human services.

What is now Capella University was established in 1991 by Dr. Harold Abel and Stephen Shank, former CEO of Tonka, who believed adults were an academically underserved population by traditional universities. As an online university, the majority of learning takes place via the Internet. Capella's online environment is organized into courserooms, with each course utilizing its own individual component. These courserooms are built on the Blackboard Learning System software. There are also residency requirements for certain graduate programs such as a one-year residency for clinical psychology and residencies for other master's and doctoral programs.

2010 Global Language Monitor ranked the school as No. 3 Online University and No. 140 University overall on the TrendTopper Media Buzz list of the nation’s Top 300 Colleges and Universities. According to the 2010 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), Capella exceeds the national average among colleges and universities in the level of academic challenge offered to its students, and in providing a supportive campus environment.