From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nebraska Wesleyan University (NWU), is a private, coeducational university located in Lincoln,
Nebraska. It was founded in 1887 by Nebraska Methodists. As of 2007, it has
1,600 full-time students and 300 faculty and staff. The school
teaches in the tradition of a liberal arts
college 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.
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,
Nebraska. 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 currently has 48 majors and 39 minors. It
recently brought back its graduate programs with a Master of
Science in Nursing
developed in 2000, a Master of Forensic Science
degree first offered in 2001 and a Master of Arts in Historical Studies degree, whose first
class graduated on May 19, 2007.
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 Lincoln Police later cited 2 men and arrested 1 other on hazing
charges as well as illegal possession of fireworks, although not in
connection with this fire, resulting in suspension of the
fraternity from campus for two to four years. [1]
Notable
alumni
- Shawn
Bouwens - professional football player for the New
England Patriots, Detroit Lions, and Jacksonville Jaguars NFL franchises
- Donald Carlyon - former president Delta College (Michigan)
- Carl Curtis -
former United States Senator
- John R.
Dunning - physicist and key player in the Manhattan
Project
- Mignon Eberhart -- mystery novelist
- Rick Evans -
singer and guitarist, writer of the hit In the Year 2525 as part of the group
Zager and
Evans
- Ted Genoways -
poet and Virginia Quarterly Review
editor
- John M.
Gerrard - current Nebraska State Supreme Court Justice
- Gene V Glass - Regents' Professor, Arizona
State University, author, social scientist
- 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
- Alex Lewandowski - philosopher
- James
Moeller - jurist and former Vice Chief Justice, Arizona State
Supreme Court
- James
Munkres - mathematician
- 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 - mayor of Lincoln 2003-2007
- W. Robert Thurber - physicist, National
Institute of Standards and Technology
- Edwin R. Williams - physicist, National
Institute of Standards and Technology
- Betty Meisinger Dyer - Philanthropist,
- Glenn & Grace Hefner - parents of Hugh Hefner, founder of
Playboy magazine
Points of
interest
External
links
Coordinates: 40°50′21″N 96°39′03″W / 40.83925°N
96.65095°W / 40.83925;
-96.65095
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