Ohio Wesleyan University

Ohio Wesleyan University

Motto	In lumine tuo videbimus lumen (Latin)
Motto in English	In Your Light We Shall See the Light
Type	Private coeducational liberal arts college
Established	September 1842
Religious affiliation	United Methodist Church
Endowment	$226 million (as of June 2015)
President	Rock F. Jones
Administrative staff	200
Undergraduates	1,734
Postgraduates	0
Location	Delaware, OH, USA
Campus	Suburban, 200 acres (0.8 km²)
Colors	Red and Black
Athletics	NCAA Division III – NCAC
Sports	21 varsity teams
Nickname	Battling Bishops
Mascot	The Battling Bishop
Affiliations	Annapolis Group GLCA Ohio Five IAMSCU NAICU
Website	http://www.owu.edu

Ohio Wesleyan University (also known as Wesleyan or OWU) is a private liberal arts college in Delaware, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1842 by Methodist leaders and Central Ohio residents as a nonsectarian institution, and is a member of the Ohio Five — a consortium of Ohio liberal arts colleges. Ohio Wesleyan has always admitted students irrespective of religion or race and maintained that the university "is forever to be conducted on the most liberal principles."

The 200-acre (81 ha) site is 27 miles (44 km) north of Columbus, Ohio. It includes the main academic and residential campus, the Perkins Observatory, and the Kraus Wilderness Preserve.

In 2010, Ohio Wesleyan had the eleventh highest percentage of international students among liberal arts colleges for the seventeenth straight year. In its 2015 edition of U.S. college rankings, Niche (company) ranked Ohio Wesleyan the 56th (out of 880 colleges) most politically liberal college in the U.S.U.S. News & World Report ranked Ohio Wesleyan 95th among U.S. liberal arts colleges in its 2017 edition.

In 1841, Ohio residents Adam Poe and Charles Elliott decided to establish a university "of the highest order" in central Ohio. To that end, they purchased the Mansion House Hotel, a former health resort with its Sulfur Spring, using funds raised from local residents. Poe and Elliott wrote a charter emphasizing "the democratic spirit of teaching", which was approved by the Ohio State Legislature. Early in the following year they opened the college preparatory Academy and formed a Board of Trustees. Ohio Wesleyan University, named (like several other U.S. colleges and universities) after John Wesley, founder of Methodism, opened on November 13, 1844 as a Methodist-related but nonsectarian institution, with a College of Liberal Arts for male students.