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At Denison University, the life of the mind merges with a life of action. In small classes, students learn directly from—and collaborate with—a dynamic and involved faculty. Their daily pursuits put that knowledge into motion, applying the foundation of their liberal art locally and globally in service, commerce, and innovation. Thus, as prepared and energized graduates, they become thought and action leaders in all walks of life. At the core of this experience is a set of rock-solid ideals: integrity, reason, scholarship, community, diversity, intellect, dignity, respect. Our purpose is to inspire and educate our students to become autonomous thinkers, discerning moral agents, and active citizens of a democratic society. By emphasizing active learning, we engage students in the liberal arts, which fosters self-determination and demonstrates the transformative power of education. We envision our students' lives as based upon rational choice, a firm belief in human dignity and compassion unlimited by cultural, racial, sexual, religious, or economic barriers, and directed toward an engagement with our time's central issues. Our curriculum balances breadth with depth, building academic specialization upon a liberal arts foundation in the arts, the sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities. Responsive to new ways of learning, we continue to develop interdisciplinary integration of the many forms of knowledge. While our students pursue specialized learning in their chosen majors, they also develop the framework for an integrated intellectual life, spiritually and morally informed. Our faculty is committed to undergraduate education. As teacher-scholar-advisors, their principal responsibility is useful in teaching informed by the best scholarship. Faculty members prioritize close interaction with students, interactive learning, and partnerships with students in original research. Our low student/faculty ratio allows for close supervision of independent research and collaborative work in small groups and classes. We seek to ensure an ever-broader range of racial, ethnic, international, and socioeconomic backgrounds in a student body of about 2,000 students. We offer different kinds of financial aid to meet the different needs of our students. The focus of student life at Denison is a concern for the whole person. The University provides a living-learning environment sensitive to individual needs yet grounded in a concern for community, in which the principles of human dignity and ethical integrity are paramount. Students engage in a wide range of co-curricular activities that address their intellectual and personal journey's multidimensional character. Denison is a community in which individuals respect one another and their environment. Each member of the community possesses a full range of rights and responsibilities. Foremost among these is a commitment to treat each other and the environment with mutual respect, tolerance, and civility. As one of the nation's leading liberal arts colleges, Denison University boasts generations of students who can attest to its effect on their lives. Each would cite a different reason. Moreover, they'd all be right, because Denison's liberal arts tradition and residential community create a college of endless personal possibilities. Denison aims to inspire and educate its students to become autonomous thinkers, discerning moral agents, and active citizens of a democratic society. A Denison University education is not just for a living, but for life. Our purpose is to inspire and educate our students to become autonomous thinkers, discerning moral agents, and active citizens of a democratic society. Through an emphasis on active learning, we engage students in the liberal arts. Denison graduates are educated to be curious, resourceful, and reflective. They are well prepared for the rapidly changing world of the 21st century. Academics and athletics complement each other, giving our student-athletes and those who pursue wellness activities a sense of perseverance, accomplishment, and drive. Athletic teams at Denison are consistently competitive on the conference and national levels. Off-campus study opportunities act as a catalyst in a Denison education. They have situated learning that amplifies campus-based classroom learning by extending it into socio-cultural contexts that help foster integration of the habits of consideration, engagement, and intentionality. This, in turn, engenders the practice of informed and empathetic judgment that is the hallmark of a liberally educated person. Founded in 1831 and focused then, as now, on preparing influential leaders and active citizens, Denison University holds a storied place on the landscape of American higher education. Among the earliest colleges to be established in the old "Northwest Territory," beyond the Allegheny Mountains and north of the Ohio River, Denison University held its first classes during the presidency of Andrew Jackson. Denison's founders were ambitious frontier people, determined to nurture leadership for education, commerce, religion, and government. For their initial guidance, they turned to graduates of Brown University in Rhode Island, which had a history of preparing clergy in the Baptist tradition for service in the West. First called the Granville Literary and Theological Institution, it soon took the name Granville College, and, in the mid-1850s, it was renamed Denison University, in honor of a key benefactor. View full university