Iowa Wesleyan College

Iowa Wesleyan University

"Old Main" on the Iowa Wesleyan campus
Former names	Iowa Wesleyan College Mount Pleasant Collegiate Institute Mount Pleasant Literary Institute
Motto	Learning in Community: An Academic Vision
Established	1842
Affiliation	United Methodist Church
Chairperson	Don Wiley
President	Steven E. Titus
Students	571
Location	Mount Pleasant, Iowa, USA
Colors	Purple and White
Athletics	12
Nickname	Tigers
Mascot	Tiger
Affiliations	NCAA Division III, SLIAC
Website	http://www.iw.edu

Iowa Wesleyan University is a private four-year liberal arts college located in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Founded in 1842, it ranks as Iowa's first co-educational institution of higher learning and the oldest of its type west of the Mississippi River. The college's innovations have included concepts of undergraduate lab science, career experience, and service-learning. The college is affiliated with the United Methodist Church.

Two campus buildings, Old Main and the Harlan-Lincoln House, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The latter, the former summer home of Robert Todd Lincoln, is now a museum featuring various artifacts from the Harlan and Lincoln families.

In 1841 a group of Methodist settlers in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, met and began lobbying the Iowa territorial legislature to establish an institute of higher learning in their burgeoning community. On February 17, 1842, the legislature granted a charter for the Mount Pleasant Literary Institute, soon to be renamed as Mount Pleasant Collegiate Institute. Despite the charter, organization and fund raising were slow going at first. Twenty acres of land were donated for the campus by four Mount Pleasant residents in March 1843. That same month, organizing officials hired Reverend Artistides J. Heustis as the institution's first president.

From February 1855, the school was known as Iowa Wesleyan University, honoring John Wesley, the founder of Methodism The institution's name was modified to Iowa Wesleyan College in 1912, reflecting its contemporary status as a four-year baccalaureate degree institution of higher learning.

On August 10, 2015, Iowa Wesleyan officially adopted its new name: Iowa Wesleyan University, reflecting its broad educational opportunities and its roots as one of the oldest four-year co-educational church-related universities west of the Mississippi River.

The university occupies a 60-acre central campus of historic red brick buildings and modern structures, including some listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Chapel, built in 1896, received a complete renovation and restoration in the early 21st century.