Illinois Wesleyan University

The institution was founded in 1850 as a private four-year college in Bloomington, Illinois . [ 4 ] The university's first international students, Y. Osawa and K. Tanaka, arrived from Japan in 1889. [ 5 ] Illinois Wesleyan's College of Liberal Arts was formally organized in 1906, and the College of Fine Arts – combining schools of art, music, and theatre arts – was established in 1948. Illinois Wesleyan offered nursing study in conjunction with the Brokaw School of Nursing beginning in 1923, and in 1959 established the IWU School of Nursing with a four-year baccalaureate program. IWU operated a School of Law from 1873 to 1928. The institution's board of trustees took formal action to invite black students to enroll at Illinois Wesleyan in 1867 and women in 1870. The first female graduate, Hannah I. Shur, received her diploma in 1872. Gus A. Hill was the first African-American graduate, earning a law degree in 1880. In November 2021, the American Association of University Professors sanctioned Illinois Wesleyan for violating standards of academic governance when it discontinued the anthropology, French, Italian, and religious studies programs and announced plans to fire six tenured faculty members. [ 6 ] [ 7 ]

Illinois Wesleyan is an independent, residential university with an approximate enrollment of 1,527. [ 8 ] It offers over 42 majors, minors and programs. [ 9 ] Its most popular majors, based on number out of 381 graduates in 2022, were: [ 10 ] Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse (53) Business (36) Psychology (31) Finance (28) Biology/Biological Sciences (26) The university maintains a student/faculty ratio of 11 to 1, with an average class size of 16 [ 11 ] More than 9 in 10 IWU students receive a scholarship or need-based assistance. [ 12 ] Illinois Wesleyan is also a member of the Annapolis Group and has chapters in the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies. The university consists of the College of Liberal Arts, which includes the School of Business and Economics; the College of Fine Arts that includes three professional schools—the Ames School of Art & Design, School of Music and the School of Theatre Arts; and the School of Nursing & Health Sciences. Illinois Wesleyan's campus occupies approximately 82 acres (330,000 m 2 ) a short walk north from downtown Bloomington in central Illinois. Bachelor's degree programs are offered in three colleges: [ 13 ] College of Liberal Arts: organized in 1906 College of Fine Arts: Schools of art, music, and theatre arts organized in 1929, 1946, 1947 respectively School of Nursing & Health Sciences: Established in 1959 Ames Library The Ames Library Illinois Wesleyan's Ames Library was completed in 2002. It contains over 368,000 volumes spread over five floors. The Ames Library also houses eight sets of stained glass panels originally from Pembroke College at Oxford University . Among the special collections are the papers of former U.S. Representative Leslie C. Arends ; the Gernon collection of first editions of detective fiction and mysteries; and the Schultz collection of 18th- and 19th-century British drama, including The Beggar's Opera .

Construction cost $25.7 million; Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbot were the principal architects. [ 14 ]

Illinois Wesleyan offers a May Term course option. The university refers to it as a 4–4–1 system. This allows any student who has completed a full course-load in either the spring or fall semesters of that academic year to enroll in a May Term class. May Term classes last approximately three weeks during the month of May. Students take several hours of instruction in the same course each day for five days each week. This allows the students to immerse themselves in that one topic. At the end of the May Term a student completes the equivalent of a single course during one semester. May Term emphasizes curricular experimentation, and also offers an opportunity for service projects, study abroad, and internships. [ 15 ]