Wheaton College (Illinois)

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Wheaton College (nickname: Thunder )
motto Christo et Regno Ejus
"For Christ and his Kingdom"
founding 1860
Sponsorship Private
place Wheaton
state Illinois
country United States
management Philip Graham Ryken
Students 2,900
Professors 300
Foundation assets $ 251 million (2009)
University sports National Collegiate Athletic Association
Website www.wheaton.edu

The Wheaton College is a private evangelical and coeducational " liberal arts college " in Wheaton ( Illinois ), a suburb 40 km west of Chicago.

Wheaton College motto

history

In late 1853, the Wesleyan Methodists named after John Wesley founded the Illinois Institute as a college and preparatory school. Due to financial problems that they could not get themselves under control, the Wesleyans turned to Jonathan Blanchard (1811-1892). Blanchard, as a consultant, had attracted them positively the previous year with his proposal to call congregational Christians to the board of trustees of the Illinois Institute. Blanchard renamed the college in honor of the trustee and patron, Warren L. Wheaton, broke the denomination of the school, and became its first president in 1860. Blanchard was previously the president of Knox College and had good relations with Oberlin College . He was a staunch opponent of slavery . The diehard reformer began his public campaign against slavery in 1836 in the American Anti-Slavery Society at the age of 25. After the Civil War , Blanchard began an ongoing campaign against Freemasonry . This engagement culminated in a national presidential campaign for the anti-Masonic American Party in 1884. Blanchard consistently pursued his lobbying work for the co-educational system and was an advocate of reforms through public education systems. At the time, Wheaton was the only college in Illinois that offered college degrees for women.

In 1882, Charles A. Blanchard (1848–1925) succeeded his father as President of Wheaton College.

In the fall of 1925, Presbyterian J. Oliver Buswell gave a series of lectures at Wheaton College. When Charles A. Blanchard died shortly afterwards, Buswell was appointed third and youngest college president of the United States in April 1926, at the age of 31. Buswell's tenure was mainly characterized by the increase in the number of students. The number rose from around 400 enrollments in 1925 to over 1,100 in 1940. He built more buildings and increased the academic offerings considerably. Wheaton College's reputation today is based, among other things, on these fundamental changes. The college was also known at the time for its scholarship disputes and personal disputes. These tensions led to the dismissal of Buswell in 1940 for, as two historians put it, " he argued too argumentatively and had an overly intellectual approach to Christianity ". In the late 1940s, Wheaton College was considered a "fortress" of the new evangelicalism .

In 1950, 1,600 students registered for the first time. The continued growth of the university in the second half of the twentieth century and a more selective selection of students led to sustained sporting success. The campus was further expanded and the range of courses expanded accordingly. In 1951, Honey Rock College acquired former storage space in northern Wisconsin .

Education

Today, students can choose from more than 40 subjects. The most popular subjects in recent years have been Economics, English, Biology, Biblical Studies, Political Science ( International Relations ), and Psychology.

"If your expectations of a college are the intertwining of faith and learning, then Wheaton College is arguably the best school in the nation based on the Christian worldview."

- Princeton Review's The Best 351 Colleges

Wheaton holds the record in the National Merit Scholarship Program with 37 finalists. In 2005, the US News & World Report magazine called Wheaton the " Harvard of evangelical colleges".

For 2010, the same magazine ranked the college 56th out of 265 best liberal arts colleges in the United States. Wheaton achieved the following individual ratings, among others:

  • 18th place in new student bounce rate (6% quit early);
  • 21st place in graduation rate over a six-year period (86% of students);
  • 25th place in the SAT ratings (1250–1440 points);
  • 54% of new students finished high school in the top 10 of their year, placing the college in 39th place.

In the opinion of the college management, Wheaton could be in 44th place if the overall financial situation was not assessed so strongly, which was also due to the fact that the tuition fees were very low in comparison.

According to a study by Franklin & Marshall that looked at more than 900 private colleges, Wheaton was ranked 9th among graduates seeking a doctorate from 1986 to 1995.

Staff, faculty and students are encouraged to sign the Community Covenant . It regulates the code of conduct on campus. Among other things, it severely restricts the consumption and possession of alcohol and tobacco.

Music Conservatory

The Wheaton College Conservatory of Music is internationally renowned and recognized by the National Association of Schools of Music. It offers two professional degrees: the “Bachelor of Music” with a focus on the Suzuki method , composition, history and literature of music, and the “Bachelor of Music Education”. All professors in the faculties of the Conservatory have PhDs and around 200 students face their lecturers in a ratio of 7: 1. There are a total of six major ensembles at Wheaton College, including a symphony orchestra, a choir and a jazz ensemble.

Well-known artists and orchestras regularly play at the Wheaton as part of the “Artist Series” event. These include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra , the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra , Lorin Maazel with the Symphonic Toscanini, Ladysmith Black Mambazo and the Canadian Brass . Conservatory graduates, such as soprano Sylvia McNair , will accompany these performances.

The Conservatory of Music is located in McAlister Hall and the adjacent Pierce Memorial Chapel.

Graduate school

The graduate school was founded in 1937. The Graduate School's once widely respected communications department has since closed. Approximately 550 students are enrolled at Wheaton College Graduate School.

Outside of college

The college offers the opportunity to spend time abroad in Asia, England, France, Germany, Latin America or Spain. Participants in the Wheaton in England program, one of the most popular annual programs, take 2 to 3 courses in literature in London and at St Anne's College , Oxford.

As part of the “Human Needs and Global Resources Program” (HNGR), students complete a six-month internship in Africa, Asia or Latin America.

1935 Wheaton College Science Station was in the Black Hills ( South Dakota founded) for the teaching of science. In 1951 HoneyRock was founded as the Northwoods campus of Wheaton College at Three Lakes, Wisconsin. The camp provides information to young people about leading schools and a variety of courses for students. Almost 3000 people use HoneyRock every year.

Wheaton College's membership of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) also allows students to study at the University of Oxford , the Los Angeles Film Studies Center, the Wesley Institute in Australia, and the Xi'an Foreign Language University in China . The CCCU also offers scholarships in American studies , Latin American studies, ancient oriental studies, Russian history and journalism, among others .

campus

Blanchard Hall
Billy Graham Center

The main building, Blanchard Hall, is the landmark of Wheaton College and the oldest building on campus. It was built from limestone in 1853. At the time, it was one of only two buildings on campus with the boarding hall. Jonathan Blanchard came up with the idea for the castle-like architecture, which was modeled on the buildings of the University of Oxford, on a trip to England in 1843. After four extensions (1871, 1873, 1890 and 1927), Blanchard Hall was completed in 1927 in the current stage of expansion. To honor the first two Presidents, Jonathan Blanchard and his son Charles Blanchard, the building was opened in 1927 by College President J. Oliver Buswell, Jr. renamed Blanchard Hall.

In 1900 the brick industrial building was built. From 1917 to 1945 it housed the Wheaton Academy, and from 1945 to 1960 the Graduate School. In 1960 it was renamed Buswell Hall and in 1980, in honor of Edward R. Schell, it was renamed Schell Hall.

The scientific departments are located in Breyer- (chemistry) and Armerding-Hall (biology, geology, mathematics and physics). Armerding Hall is also home to Wheaton College Observatory, an institution of the college since the presidency of Charles Blanchard in the late nineteenth century.

Sporting successes

The college is a successful member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin . The men's basketball team won the first NCAA Small College National Championship in 1958 against the Kentucky Wesleyan College team in the final with 89:65. The Wheaton men's soccer team won the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championships in 1984 and 1997. The women's soccer team won the NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship in 2004, 2006 and 2007. Some Wheaton students participated in the 1904 Summer Olympics in basketball competitions. The women's basketball team ended the 1967/68 season undefeated. The 11 games also included a win over the University of Iowa team. Wheaton was a member of the Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference from 1919 to 1937.

Controversy

In 2000 the name " Crusaders " for the school mascot was replaced by the name "Thunder". The reason given was that crusaders were primarily associated with the controversial Christian history. When this change was picked up by the national press, some conservative alumni objected to the name change. However, all other name suggestions were rejected. Including who was intended to be a reference to the "Perry Mastodon" "mastodon", the skeleton of an excavated nearby and now exhibited in the Armerding Hall mastodons .

In 2004 Wheaton got into the press when Joshua Hochschild (professor of philosophy) was fired for converting to the Roman Catholic faith. In 2008, English professor Kent Gramm resigned after refusing to provide details of his impending divorce from his 30-year-old wife.

The college was a 2006 Equality Ride station . According to Equality Ride founder Jake Reitan, he started the event after speaking to a gay student at Wheaton College. Although the group was not formally invited by the college in 2006, Wheaton's administrative offices work closely to plan events on campus and to have a discussion between members of the Equality Ride and students.

The college has been criticized by both conservative and liberal alumni because the theory of evolution is recognized (only) by the scientific fields of Wheaton. In general, the quorum believes that Christian faith and science are not at odds with one another. An example of this is a Christian speech by climatologist Sir John T. Houghton on campus in 2007.

Personalities

Web links

Commons : Wheaton College (Illinois)  - Collection of pictures, videos, and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Wheaton College: President Ryken. 2019, accessed on November 23, 2019 .
  2. ↑ National Association of College and University Business Office: 2009 NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments ( Memento of December 14, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) (English, PDF, 186 KB). Accessed March 28, 2010
  3. ^ Clyde S. Kilby, "A Minority of One," (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959), p. 146.
  4. ^ National Association of Congregational Christian Churches: Homepage (English). Accessed March 28, 2010
  5. ^ PM Bechtel, Wheaton College: A Heritage Remembered, 1860-1984 (Wheaton: Shaw, 1984), pp. 18-19.
  6. ^ Clyde S. Kilby, "A Minority of One," (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959), p. 45.
  7. ↑ a b Honeyrock Camp: About Honeyrock ( Memento from March 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (English). Accessed March 28, 2010
  8. ↑ Colleges That Change Lives: Wheaton College (English). Accessed March 28, 2010
  9. ↑ Original: "If the integration of faith and learning is what you want out of a college, Wheaton is arguably the best school in the nation with a Christ-based worldview"
  10. ↑ National Merit Scholarship (English). Accessed March 28, 2010
  11. ↑ Jay Tolson: "The new school spirit" in US News & World Report of February 6, 2005 (English). Accessed March 28, 2010
  12. ↑ a b Wheaton College: US News & World Report 2009 college rankings ( Memento from June 13, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (English). Accessed March 28, 2010
  13. ^ Wheaton College: Community Covenant ( Memento June 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (English). Accessed March 28, 2010
  14. ^ Wheaton College: Conservatory of Music (English). Accessed March 28, 2010
  15. ^ Wheaton College: Ticket Office - Artist Series (English). Accessed March 28, 2010
  16. ^ Wheaton College: Human Needs and Global Resources Program (HNGR) (English). Accessed March 28, 2010
  17. ^ Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU): About . Accessed March 28, 2010
  18. ^ Wheaton College: Wheaton College Athletics (English). Accessed March 28, 2010
  19. ^ Wheaton College: Men's Basketball History (English). Accessed March 28, 2010
  20. ↑ Wheaton College: Wheaton College Women's Basketball 2007-08 Media Guide (English, PDF, 3.42 MB). Accessed March 28, 2010
  21. ^ Wheaton College: The Perry Mastodon ( memento February 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (English). Accessed March 28, 2010
  22. ↑ a b Catrin Einhorn: At College, a High Standard on Divorce in The New York Times of May 4, 2008 (English). Accessed March 28, 2010
  23. ↑ Ariah Fine: OverflowMag to Cover Soulforce at Wheaton ( Memento of October 14, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), in Trying to Follow of March 30, 2006 (English). Accessed March 28, 2010
  24. ^ Wheaton College: Wheaton College Chapel Archive Spring 2007 ( Memento November 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (English). Accessed March 28, 2010

Coordinates: 41 ° 52 ′ 5.3 "  N , 88 ° 5 ′ 48.8"  W.