Latin: Collegii Wabashensis | |
Former names | The Wabash Teachers Seminary and Manual Labor College (1832–1851) |
---|---|
Motto | Scientiae et Virtuti (Latin) |
Motto in English | For Knowledge and Virtue |
Type | Private liberal arts men's college |
Established | November 21, 1832 |
Academic affiliations | |
Endowment | $391.5 million (2024) [2] |
President | Scott E. Feller |
Academic staff | 96 full-time and 7 part-time [3] |
Undergraduates | 835 [4] |
Location | , U.S. 40°2′17″N86°54′18″W / 40.03806°N 86.90500°W |
Campus | Suburban, 65 acres (26 ha) [5] |
Newspaper | The Bachelor [6] |
Colors | Wabash Scarlet |
Nickname | Little Giants |
Sporting affiliations | NCAA Division III – NCAC |
Mascot | Wally Wabash |
Website | wabash |
Wabash College is a private liberal arts men's college in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Founded in 1832 by several Dartmouth College graduates and Midwestern leaders, it enrolls nearly 900 students. The college offers an undergraduate liberal arts curriculum in three academic divisions with 39 majors. [7] As of 2020, it is one of only three non-religious, all-male, four-year colleges in the United States. [8]
The college was initially named The Wabash Teachers Seminary and Manual Labor College, a name shortened to its current form by 1851. Many of the founders were Presbyterian ministers, yet nevertheless they believed that Wabash should be independent and non-sectarian. Patterning it after the liberal arts colleges of New England, they resolved "that the institution be at first a classical and English high school, rising into a college as soon as the wants of the country demand."
Among these ministers was Caleb Mills, who became Wabash College's first faculty member. He would come to be known as the father of the Indiana public education system.
Elihu W. Baldwin, the first president of the college, served from 1835 until 1840. He came from a church in New York City and accepted the presidency even though he knew that Wabash was at that time threatened with bankruptcy. After his death, he was succeeded by Charles White, a graduate of Dartmouth College and the brother-in-law of Rev. Edmund Otis Hovey (1801–1877), a professor at the college. [9] Joseph F. Tuttle, who became president of Wabash College in 1862 and served for 30 years, worked with his administrators to improve town-gown relations in Crawfordsville. [10] Gronert described him "an eloquent preacher, a sound administrator, and an astute handler of public relations." He was the namesake of the former Tuttle Grade School in Crawfordsville (1906), the former Tuttle Junior High School, and the former Tuttle Middle School (1960). Scott E. Feller, Dean of the college from 2014 to 2020 and chemistry professor at Wabash since 1998, became the 17th President of Wabash College on July 1, 2020.
Name | Date of Inauguration |
---|---|
Elihu Baldwin | July 13, 1836 |
Charles White | July 19, 1841 |
Joseph F. Tuttle | July 24, 1862 |
George S. Burroughs | June 21, 1893 |
William P. Kane | February 22, 1900 |
George L. Mackintosh | June 12, 1907 |
Louis B. Hopkins | December 3, 1926 |
Frank H. Sparks | October 25, 1941 |
Byron K. Trippet | October 13, 1956 |
Paul W. Cook | December 3, 1966 |
Thaddeus Seymour | October 10, 1969 |
Lewis S. Salter | October 10, 1978 |
F. Sheldon Wettack | December 3, 1989 |
Andrew T. Ford | January 29, 1994 |
Patrick E. White | January 27, 2007 |
Gregory D. Hess | October 11, 2013 |
Scott E. Feller | October 8, 2021 |
In the early 1900s, the college closed its "Preparatory School", which prepared incoming students from less-rigorous rural high schools that lacked the courses required for entrance to the college. [11]
During World War II, Wabash College was one of 131 colleges and universities [12] that offered students a path to a Navy commission as part of the V-12 Navy College Training Program. [13]
In 1996, Wabash became the first college in America to stage Tony Kushner's Angels in America . [14]
Academic rankings | |
---|---|
Liberal arts | |
U.S. News & World Report [15] | 59 |
Washington Monthly [16] | 75 |
National | |
Forbes [17] | 47 |
Note: Forbes ranking is for US "Liberal Arts Universities."
Wabash College's curriculum is divided into three: Division I, Division II, and Division III representing the natural sciences, humanities and arts, and social sciences respectively. Wabash offers 27 academic programs as majors and 31 accompanying minors. [18] Its most popular majors, by 2021 graduates, were: [19]
Seniors at Wabash College take a three-day comprehensive exam in their major subject area. There are two days of written exams and one day of oral exams. The two days of written exams differ by major, but the oral exams are relatively uniform. A senior meets with three professors, one from his major, another from his minor, and a third professor who represents an outside perspective, and can be from any discipline. Over the course of an hour a senior answers questions from the professors which can relate to anything during his studies at Wabash. A senior must pass the comprehensive examinations in order to be eligible for a degree.
This section needs additional citations for verification .(May 2023) |
On "Ringing In Saturday", incoming students are addressed by the dean of students, the dean of admissions, the president of the alumni association, and the college president and are "rung in" by the president, using the same bell that Caleb Mills used to call students to class. On Homecoming weekend, students are given the opportunity to show how well they know the college fight song (Old Wabash) during "Chapel Sing".
The student government, referred to collectively as the Student Body of Wabash College, comprises executive, legislative, and judicial branches. [20] [21]
Student organizations at Wabash receive funding and recognition from the Student Senate. This funding in turn comes from a student activities fee, which every attendee of the college must pay each semester. The student paper of Wabash College is The Bachelor and has been published since the early 1900s. [22]
Rather than an explicit student code of conduct, Wabash has a single rule:
The student is expected to conduct himself at all times, both on and off campus, as a gentleman and a responsible citizen. [23]
The college says that this rule is its oldest tradition.
The first fraternity, Beta Theta Pi, appeared at Wabash in 1846 and has been on campus continuously since. It was quickly followed by Phi Delta Theta and others. Many of the traditions of the college were begun and are maintained by the fraternities, both individually and collectively. On average, 50–60% of students belong to one of the campus's ten national fraternities. [24]
As of August 1, 2021, the value of Wabash's endowment was approximately $400 million, which places Wabash among the richest colleges in the nation in per-student endowment. The endowment was created primarily over the past 70 years using major campaigns and estate planning with alumni. Major donors include the pharmaceutical industrialist Eli Lilly, the company his grandfather founded, his heirs, and the Lilly Endowment. The school's library is named after him as are a number of premier scholarships including the Lilly Award, the college's most prestigious scholarship established in 1974 to honor the Eli Lilly family and recognize young men of outstanding character, creativity, and academic accomplishment. During the most recent capital campaign, "Challenge of Excellence", between fall 2010 and 1 October 2012, the college raised $68 million, exceeding the original goal of $60 million. [25]
The school's sports teams are called the Little Giants. They participate in the NCAA's Division III and in the North Coast Athletic Conference for all but one of their 12 varsity sports. The only exception is volleyball, the school's newest varsity sport, which was added in advance of the 2021 season (2020–21 school year). Since the NCAC sponsors volleyball only for women, the Little Giants play that sport in the single-sport Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League. Every year since 1911, Wabash College has played rival DePauw University in a football game called the Monon Bell Classic. The rallying cheer of Wabash College athletics is "Wabash always fights". Wabash College competes in men's intercollegiate baseball, basketball, tennis, cross country, lacrosse, track and field, golf, football, soccer, swimming and diving, volleyball, and wrestling.
Inter-collegiate football at Wabash dates back to 1884, when student-coach Edwin R. Taber assembled a team and defeated Butler University by a score of 4–0 in the first intercollegiate football game in the history of the state of Indiana. [26]
Hiram College is a private liberal arts college in Hiram, Ohio. It was founded in 1850 as the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute by Amos Sutton Hayden and other members of the Disciples of Christ Church. The college is nonsectarian and coeducational. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Among its alumni is James A. Garfield, who also served as a college instructor and principal before he was President of the United States.
Rose–Hulman Institute of Technology (RHIT) is a private university in Terre Haute, Indiana. It was founded in 1874 with only three bachelor's degree programs. It has since grown to twelve academic departments with over thirty undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science, engineering, technology, and engineering management, leading to bachelor's and master's degrees.
Crawfordsville is a city in Montgomery County in west central Indiana, United States, 49 miles (79 km) west by northwest of Indianapolis. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 16,306. The city is the county seat of Montgomery County, the only chartered city and the largest populated place in the county. It is the principal city of the Crawfordsville, IN Micropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Montgomery County. The city is also part of the Indianapolis–Carmel–Muncie, IN Combined Statistical Area.
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Indiana Institute of Technology is a private university in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It was founded in 1930 as Indiana Technical College by John A. Kalbfleisch, who was also the school's first president.
Southwestern University is a private liberal arts college in Georgetown, Texas. Formed in 1873 from a revival of collegiate charters granted in 1840, Southwestern is the oldest college or university in Texas. Southwestern offers 40 bachelor's degrees in the arts, sciences, fine arts, and music as well as interdisciplinary and pre-professional programs. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the National Association of Schools of Music and historically affiliated with the United Methodist Church.
Lubbock Christian University (LCU) is a private Christian university associated with the Churches of Christ and located in Lubbock, Texas. Chartered originally as part of a grade school called Lubbock Christian School in 1954, the institution branched off as a junior college – Lubbock Christian College – in 1957. LCC became a senior college in 1972, then advanced to university status in fall of 1987. LCU has 65 undergraduate degrees. A fall 2015 count showed 1,958 students enrolled at Lubbock Christian University, of which 462 were graduate students.
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Holy Cross College is a private, Catholic, co-educational, residential institution of higher education administered by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross in Notre Dame, Indiana. The college was founded by the Holy Cross Brothers in 1966.
Caleb Mills was an American educator who served as the Superintendent of Public Instruction in Indiana and was the first faculty member at Wabash College. He played a central role in designing the public education system of Indiana.
John Lockwood Wilson was an American lawyer and politician from the U.S. states of Indiana and Washington. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1889–1895) and U.S. Senate (1895–1899)
The Wabash Little Giants are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent Wabash College, a small private school for men in Crawfordsville, Indiana, United States. The college belongs to the National Collegiate Athletic Association and participates in Division III sports. The Little Giants compete as members of the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC). Despite the college's small enrollment and that it is "not a jock school", the Little Giants have had success in several sports. The most popular among Wabash fans are football and swimming. The Little Giants also have a well-respected cross-country team. In football, Wabash has an important rivalry with DePauw University, and each season they meet for the Monon Bell Classic. Wabash and DePauw compete annually to win the trophy, the Monon Bell, and as of 2015 the two teams have played 122 games in the series with Wabash holding a 60-53-9 advantage.
Gregory D. Hess is an American economist, business executive, and former academic administrator. Hess served as Professor of Economics, Dean of the Faculty, and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Claremont McKenna College, prior to his appointment as the 16th President of Wabash College. Hess now serves as President and CEO of IES Abroad.
Richard Elwell Banta (1904–1977) was an Indiana writer, rare book dealer, publisher and humorist. Born in Martinsville, he attended school in Crawfordsville and college at Wabash College. While there, he was involved with several humor publications. He went on to work in various capacities at the college. Banta began selling rare books in 1930, and published his first book in 1932. He wrote The Ohio for the Rivers of America series and compiled an exhaustive listing of early Indiana authors. Richard Banta passed away on Sunday, Dec. 4, 1977.
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