Drew University

19th century Mead Hall was purchased by Daniel Drew in 1867, who donated it to start a Methodist theological seminary. In 1866, railroad " robber baron " Daniel Drew approached church leaders during the Methodist Centenary Celebration with an offer to build, equip, and endow a theological seminary near New York City . [ 8 ] Drew asked that his pastor, John McClintock , be appointed the seminary's first president. [ 8 ] Instruction began under McClintock's direction as both president and professor of practical theology after the first students were admitted in 1867. [ 8 ] Drew is the third-oldest of 13 Methodist seminaries affiliated with the United Methodist Church . [ 9 ] Drew offered professional training for candidates to the ministry augmented by "an opportunity for a broad culture through the study of the humanities". [ 10 ] The seminary attracted a faculty that made influential contributions to Methodist theology and biblical scholarship, including James Strong , a professor of exegetical theology , who collaborated with McClintock on the ten-volume Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature (1867–1881), and researched, compiled, and published Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890) during his tenure at the seminary. [ 11 ] Writings on early church theology and Christian practice were translated into Chinese for use by foreign missions. [ 12 ]

The faculty of Drew Theological Seminary, c. 1880–1890 The courtyard of Brothers College, built in 1928 Samuel W. Bowne Hall Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, Drew Theological Seminary educated and trained hundreds of Methodist ministers. It began to expand its role with the addition of a course of study for women in 1920 when it established a "College of Missions". [ 13 ] This course was renamed the "College of Religious Education and Missions" in 1929 but was short-lived. [ 13 ] In 1928, Drew Theological Seminary accepted a gift of $1.5 million from brothers Arthur J. Baldwin and Leonard D. Baldwin to establish an undergraduate liberal arts college. The Baldwins were successful attorneys who were raised on a farm in Cortland, New York . Both attended Cornell University . [ 14 ] [ 15 ] [ 16 ] They established a law firm with former New Jersey governor John Griggs spanning "varied interests in lumbering, manufacturing, transportation, and other enterprises that ranged from owning the Grosvenor Hotel in New York City to Arthur's legal counseling for the rising McGraw-Hill publishing empire." [ 14 ] [ 16 ] The Baldwins became acquainted with the seminary's president, Ezra Squier Tipple , who "welcomed the brothers to his prominent New York City Methodist Church when they came to Manhattan." [ 14 ] Leonard Baldwin became a trustee of the seminary in 1919. [ 14 ] The donation originally consisted of $500,000 to build a college building, and $1,000,000 in the form of Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P) stock. The Baldwins exchanged the stock for a cash gift in 1928. [ 14 ] In their modesty and in recognition of their sibling affection, the Baldwins asked that it be named "Brothers College." [ 14 ] The theological seminary then changed its name to "Drew University" to reflect its expanded role. [ 17 ] Brothers College, later renamed the "College of Liberal Arts", opened in 1928 with its first class of 12 students.

[ 14 ] Brothers College incorporated the women's program and became coeducational in 1942, when school officials recognized that the military draft and war effort would reduce the all-male student body. [ 13 ] Drew offered admission to United States Navy personnel through the V-12 Navy College Training Program . It was one of 131 U.S. colleges and universities to take part in the program, which offered students a path to a naval officer's commission. [ 18 ] In 1912, Drew began offering graduate-level education. It expanded its graduate education programs, focusing on religious studies and establishing the Graduate School, a third of Drew's degree-granting entities, in 1955, under the leadership of the university's seventh president, Fred Holloway . Holloway also delivered on goals set during previous administrations, overseeing the renovation and rebuilding of the campus, including the Baldwin Gymnasium and several dormitories. Four years later, it expanded the curriculum into other areas of the humanities. The Graduate School was renamed the "Caspersen School of Graduate Studies" after a pledge of $5,000,000 in 1999 by financier Finn M. W. Caspersen and his wife (and Drew alumna) Barbara Morris Caspersen. [ 13 ] [ 19 ] With financial assistance from the Mellon Foundation , during the 1970s the college established a freshman seminar program that allows first-year students to participate, with faculty who also serve as their academic advisers, in intensive study of a topic of hopefully mutual interest. [ 20 ] Interdisciplinary study became a focus of the curriculum, with the creation of majors in neuroscience and minors in such fields as American studies and museology , dance, and writing. [ 21 ] In 1984, psychology professors Philip Jensen and Richard Detweiler led an effort to provide a personal computer and application software to all incoming freshman, a program called the Computer Initiative. Drew was the first liberal arts college to have such a requirement.

[ 22 ] The Computer Initiative differentiated Drew from other liberal arts colleges, and continued until 2012, by which time most entering students had their own computers or wished to select their own model. [ 23 ] A Drew University class session held outdoors After serving two terms as New Jersey's 48th governor , Thomas Kean was appointed Drew's tenth president in 1990. He served for 15 years before retiring in 2005. [ 24 ] As president, Kean raised Drew's profile, oversaw fundraising efforts that tripled its endowment, added new faculty in African , Asian , Russian , and Middle Eastern studies , significantly increased opportunities for students to study abroad, increased applications from prospective students, and committed more than $60 million to construction of new buildings and renovation of older buildings—principally residence halls. [ 25 ] [ 26 ]