Nebraska Wesleyan University
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nebraska Wesleyan University, is a private, coeducational university located in Lincoln, Nebraska. It was founded in 1887 by Nebraska Methodists. Currently it has 1500 students and 300 faculty and staff. The school teaches in the tradition of a liberal arts education. Nebraska Wesleyan was ranked the #1 liberal arts college in Nebraska by U.S. News and World Report in 2002. It remains affiliated with the United Methodist Church.
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[edit] History
Chartered on January 20, 1887, Nebraska Wesleyan University had an initial enrollment of 96. The initial teaching and administrative staff at this time totaled eight, including the chancellor.
In September 1887, the cornerstone was laid for Old Main, the defining building of the campus. Still with no stairways, windows, or flooring on some floors, classes began in September 1888. The first graduating class was four women in 1890. The second graduating class, in 1891, was made up of four men. Nebraska Wesleyan received accreditation by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools in 1914.
The school is located in the former town of University Place. Today, it is part of Lincoln, Nebraska; the surrounding neighborhood is a historic residential and shopping area of Lincoln.
Early on, Nebraska Wesleyan was a college of liberal arts; schools of art, business and education; a music conservatory; an academy (high school) also comprising an elementary school and kindergarten. The high school was discontinued in 1931, and the primary schools in 1941 (grade school) and 1942 (kindergarten). Nebraska Wesleyan offered a Master of Arts degree until 1937.
The university recently brought back its graduate programs with a Master of Science in Nursing developed in 2000 and a Master of Forensic Science degree first offered in 2001.
Nebraska Wesleyan has been associated with four emblems in its history, featuring the Sunflower (1894-1907), the Coyote (1907-1933), the Plainsman (1933-2000), and the Prairie Wolf (2000-present). The school colors of brown and gold are a tribute to the first emblem.
A fire on November 17, 2006 at the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity house killed 1 brother and sent 3 others to the hospital in critical condition. The cause of the fire has yet to be determined.[1]
[edit] Notable Alumni
- Shawn Bouwens - professional football player for the New England Patriots, Detroit Lions, and Jacksonville Jaguars NFL franchises
- Carl Curtis - former United States Senator
- John R. Dunning - physicist and key player in the Manhattan Project
- Rick Evans - singer and guitarist, writer of the hit In the Year 2525 as part of the group Zager and Evans
- Matt Geiler - artist/actor/comedian
- Ted Genoways - poet and Virginia Quarterly Review editor
- John M. Gerrard - current Nebraska State Supreme Court Justice
- Dwight Griswold - former United States Senator and Governor of Nebraska
- Kent Haruf - novelist
- Harry Huge - international lawyer
- Lew Hunter - screenwriter and Chair Emeritus of the UCLA Film Department
- Paul D. Knox - Brigadier General, North Dakota Air National Guard
- Lowen Kruse - minister and current Nebraska state senator
- L. Jay Lemons - current president of Susquehanna University
- James Moeller - jurist and former Vice Chief Justice, Arizona State Supreme Court
- John N. Norton - former United States Representative
- Marian Heiss Price - current Nebraska state senator
- Robert Reed - Science fiction writer
- Ed Schrock - current Nebraska state senator
- Coleen Seng - current mayor of Lincoln
- W. Robert Thurber - physicist, National Institute of Standards and Technology
- Edwin R. Williams - physicist, National Institute of Standards and Technology
[edit] Points of interest
[edit] External links
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