Type | Private liberal arts college |
---|---|
Established | 1848 |
Religious affiliation
|
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America |
Endowment | $247 million (2016) |
President | John I. Williams, Jr. |
Academic staff
|
171 FT 123 PT |
Students | 2,225 |
Undergraduates | 2,225 students (43% men, 57% women) |
Location |
Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States 40°35′51″N 75°30′36″W / 40.5976°N 75.5101°WCoordinates: 40°35′51″N 75°30′36″W / 40.5976°N 75.5101°W |
Campus | Suburban |
Colors | Cardinal Red and Gray |
Athletics |
NCAA Division III Centennial Conference, ECAC |
Nickname | Mules |
Affiliations |
Annapolis Group CLAC |
Mascot | The Mule |
Website | muhlenberg.edu |
University rankings | |
---|---|
National | |
Forbes | 63 |
Liberal arts colleges | |
U.S. News & World Report | 65 |
Washington Monthly | 111 |
Muhlenberg College is a private liberal arts college located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1848, Muhlenberg is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is named for Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, the German patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America.
Muhlenberg College was initially established in 1848 as the Allentown Seminary by Reverend Samuel K. Brobst, a Reformed Lutheran minister. Reverend Christian Rudolph Kessler was the school's first teacher and administrator. Between 1848 and 1867, the entity that is today Muhlenberg College operated as the Allentown Seminary, the Allentown Collegiate and Military Institute and the Allentown Collegiate Institute. In 1867, the college moved into Trout Hall, the former mansion of William Allen's son, James Allen, and was renamed after Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, the patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America. Muhlenberg's great-grandson, Reverend Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, served as president of the college from 1867 to 1876. In 1905, the college purchased and relocated to a 51-acre (21 ha) tract located in Allentown's West End, the site of today's campus. In 1910, seeing a need for evening study in the community, Muhlenberg College opened The Wescoe School and began offering adult education classes.
Muhlenberg's current 81-acre (33 ha) campus is located in a residential neighborhood in Allentown's West End. The campus includes numerous buildings with distinctive red doors in traditional European/Protestant style. The Library Building, now the Haas College Center, was built between 1926 and 1929. The Miller Tower, the distinctive dome and tower which sits on top of the Haas College Center, was inspired by Oxford University's Christopher Wren-designed Tom Tower. It is named for David A. Miller (Class of 1894), founder of Allentown's The Morning Call newspaper. Muhlenberg's Polling Institute teams with the Allentown Morning Call to publish surveys of preferences and trends among Pennsylvanians, especially in the Lehigh Valley.