Wesleyan University

         

      Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college in Middletown, Connecticut, United States, founded in 1831. Wesleyan is a Baccalaureate College that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and sciences, provides graduate research in many academic disciplines, and grants PhD degrees primarily in the sciences and mathematics.[citation needed] Wesleyan is the second most productive liberal arts college in the United States with respect to the number of undergraduates who go on to earn PhDs in all fields of study.

Founded under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the now secular university was the first institution of higher education to be named after John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. About 20 unrelated colleges and universities were subsequently named after Wesley. Wesleyan, along with Amherst College and Williams College, is a member of the Little Three colleges.

Two histories of Wesleyan have been published, Wesleyan's First Century by Carl F. Price in 1932 and another in 1999, Wesleyan University, 1831–1910: Collegiate Enterprise in New England, by David B. Potts. Wesleyan was founded as an all-male Methodist college in 1831. The University, established as an independent institution under the auspices of the Methodist conference, was led by Willbur Fisk, its first President. Despite its name, Wesleyan was never a denominational seminary. It remained a leader in educational progress throughout its history and erected one of the earliest comprehensive science buildings devoted exclusively to undergraduate science instruction on any American college or university campus, Judd Hall (named after alumnus Orange Judd). It also has maintained a larger library collection than institutions comparable in size.The Wesleyan student body numbered about 300 in 1991 and had grown to 800 in 1960, the latter being a figure that Time described as "small". Although Wesleyan developed into a peer of Amherst and Williams, Wesleyan was always decidedly the smallest of the Little Three institutions until the 1970s, when it grew significantly to become larger than the other two.

In 1872, the University became one of the first U.S. colleges to attempt coeducation by allowing a small number of female students to attend, a venture then known as the "Wesleyan Experiment". "In 1909, the board of trustees voted to stop admitting women as undergraduates, fearing that the school was losing its masculine image and that women would not be able to contribute to the college financially after graduation the way men could."Given that concern, Wesleyan ceased to admit women, and from 1912 to 1970 Wesleyan operated again as an all-male college.

Wesleyan became independent of the Methodist church in 1937, although in 2000, the university was designated as an historic Methodist site.