Texas Wesleyan College

Texas Wesleyan University

Motto	Scientia Pietasque Vitalis (Latin)
Motto in English	Knowledge and Vital Piety
Type	Private
Established	1890
Religious affiliation	United Methodist Church
Endowment	$39,681,959
President	Frederick G. Slabach
Provost	Allen Henderson
Academic staff	279
Students	3,378
Undergraduates	1,604
Postgraduates	1,534
Location	Fort Worth, Texas, United States
Campus	Urban, 75 acres (0.30 km2)
Colors	Blue & Gold
Athletics	NAIA – SAC
Nickname	Rams
Affiliations	NAICU IAMSCU
Mascot	Willie and Wilma the Rams
Website	www.txwes.edu

Texas Wesleyan University is a private, coeducational, liberal arts university founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1890. The main campus is located in the Polytechnic Heights Neighborhood of Fort Worth, Texas, United States. Its mascot is the ram.

Texas Wesleyan University was founded as Polytechnic College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and Nick Thomas in 1890. A committee under the direction of Thomas explored locations for a campus and settled on a site east of Fort Worth donated by area pioneers A.S. Hall, W.D. Hall, and George Tandy. The school held its first classes in September 1891 with a handful of faculty members and 111 students. In 1902, H.A. Boaz assumed the presidency and managed a period of moderate growth. He hoped to develop Polytechnic College into a new university for Southern Methodism.

When Dallas was selected by Methodist Church leaders as the site for Southern Methodist University, the Polytechnic campus was designated the "woman’s college for Southern Methodism," eventually becoming Texas Woman’s College in 1914, attracting young women from around Texas and the Southwest. However, when faced with dwindling resources during the Great Depression, the college's trustees voted to close the school in 1931. A merger with the financially secure Texas Wesleyan Academy in Austin saved the college from failure and resulted in the formation of Texas Wesleyan College in 1934. Men were readmitted the same year, returning the institution to a coeducational status.

The university added graduate programs in education in the 1970s and in nurse anesthesia in the 1980s. After contemplating a relocation of the campus to a west Fort Worth site, Texas Wesleyan renewed its commitment to its historic Polytechnic Heights Neighborhood location by building the Eunice and James L. West Library in October 1988. Recognizing the growth in programs, trustees changed the name of the institution to Texas Wesleyan University in January 1989.