Iowa Wesleyan University Is One of The Oldest Four-Year Higher Education Institution West of the Mississippi River. Iowa Wesleyan University is a fully accredited, coeducational liberal arts university. Founded in 1842, it has a rich history of innovation in education, pioneering in the sciences, educational opportunities for women, and service-learning, to name just a few. Graduates include Dr. James Van Allen, a space scientist who discovered the Earth’s radiation belts that now bear his name, and Dr. Peggy Whitson, NASA astronaut. She has served as station commander for the International Space Station. Seven female Iowa Wesleyan students founded the P.E.O. Sisterhood on campus in 1869. The academic program at Iowa Wesleyan combines a liberal arts foundation with undergraduate programs in Biology, Pre-Medicine, Business Administration, Christian Studies, Criminal Justice, Education, Human Services, Music, Nursing, Psychology, and Digital Media & Design.
Service-learning is integrated into the curriculum, ensuring that all students connect classroom learning with service to others. Internships and other field experience opportunities are part of every major, giving students hands-on professional experience before graduation. Click here to request information about Iowa Wesleyan University Programs. In addition to the on-campus academic program offering degrees in various majors, Iowa Wesleyan offers evening classes at area community colleges in West Burlington and Muscatine. A growing online program gives students additional opportunities to earn a degree.
Located in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, Wesleyan offers various arts and cultural opportunities for southeast Iowa. Art shows, concerts, lectures, and plays occur throughout the year, and most are open to the public at no charge. The Clifford and Maxine Manning Speaker Series brings noted theologians and religious speakers to campus each year while the Haselmayer Endowment for the Arts sponsors events such as performances by the Montana Repertory Theatre the American Shakespeare Center. The Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra is based on campus.
The University is a provisional member of the NCAA Division III. I.W. Tiger athletes compete in baseball, basketball, golf, football, track, cross country, soccer, softball, volleyball. The Tigers participate in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) for all sports except football. The football team is playing in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC). IW is a member of the United States Small College Athletic Association (USCAA). This affiliation provides Tiger teams an opportunity to participate in national championship tournaments for which they qualify.
The Commission on the Future of Wesleyan is a collaborative strategic planning process that encourages us to step out of our day-to-day routines and spend some time discussing and focusing on the future. Iowa Wesleyan University is a transformational learning community whose passion is to educate, empower, and inspire students to lead meaningful lives and careers.
The story of Iowa Wesleyan University is a story of a community it is founding, an act of community its long history, and community affirmation. Its defining vision draws on a community of memory even as it forges a dynamic future. A century and a half ago, Iowa Wesleyan University was born in a frontier settlement imbued with a yearning for culture, a Methodist-led zeal for education, and a bold, impelling vision. The impulse and the forces for action were at work in the founding of the college.
In January of 1842, a bill “to incorporate a Literary Institute at Mount Pleasant” was passed by the Iowa Territorial Legislature. Trustees were authorized to begin arranging finances, appointing professors, and drawing up rules of conduct. On March 11, 1843, nine years after the town was settled, four Mount Pleasant citizens donated twenty acres in four adjoining plots to enable the trustees to “erect a suitable building on some part of the donation, which should be used and forever appropriated as an institution of higher learning.”
Iowa Wesleyan University pioneered daring and unconventional educational policies and practices. Soon after its founding, it admitted and graduated women, its first black student, its first international student. The first female law student who had earlier become the first woman admitted to the bar in the United States. Though Wesleyan’s history records repeated challenges to its stability, resilience, and faith in the future have continued to draw the college through turbulent times. Energized and guided by historical memory, Iowa Wesleyan University respects individuality within the context of a community with a shared moral purpose. This community welcomes persons of diverse backgrounds and worldviews. In recognizing both immediate and global dimensions of civic membership, individual aspirations are tied to the aspirations of all, echoing John Wesley’s declaration, “The world is my parish.” Committed to joining the development of the intellect with the realities of life, the Iowa Wesleyan experience values service to others, preparation for a life of rewarding work, and the acquisition of enduring knowledge to enhance the ability to engage in everyday discourse appreciate varieties of expression. It fosters a love of learning, a desire for civility, and the release of human potential.
Iowa Wesleyan will be the preeminent educational leader and resource for southeast Iowa. Its regional, comprehensive University offers an engaging student experience in relevant undergraduate and graduate programs in the liberal arts and professions.
At Iowa Wesleyan University, you will be spurred by an active, purposeful education, one that will challenge you, excite you – and embolden you. In a uniquely encouraging community, you will explore and discover your unique potential. You will identify your passion and pursue it in a rigorous, relevant curriculum. As all do at I.W., you will give practice and meaning to your learning as you actively work and serve in the community. You will acquire knowledge. You will gain experience. And you will unearth a broader vision for your life. Prepared to succeed, inspired to make a difference, you will set out into the world a better and bolder you.
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