Motto | Christo et Regno Ejus |
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Motto in English
|
"For Christ and His Kingdom" |
Type |
Private Nonprofit Coeducational Liberal Arts |
Established | 1860 |
Religious affiliation
|
Christian evangelical Protestant |
Endowment | $405 million |
President | Phil Ryken |
Academic staff
|
198 full time 104 part time |
Students | 3,810 |
Undergraduates | 2,500 |
Postgraduates | 500 |
Location |
Wheaton, Illinois, United States 41°52′13″N 88°05′55″W / 41.87028°N 88.09861°WCoordinates: 41°52′13″N 88°05′55″W / 41.87028°N 88.09861°W |
Campus | Suburban, 80 acres (32.4 ha) |
Colors | Blue and orange |
Athletics | Division III (NCAA) |
Mascot | Thunder |
Affiliations |
Council for Christian Colleges and Universities Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges |
Website | www |
Blanchard Hall, Wheaton College
|
|
Blanchard Hall
|
|
Location | 501 College Ave., Wheaton, Illinois |
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Area | Less than one acre |
Built | 1853 |
Architectural style | Classical Revival, Romanesque |
NRHP Reference # | 79000836 |
Added to NRHP | November 14, 1979 |
Council for Christian Colleges and Universities
Wheaton College is an explicitly Christian, residential liberal arts college and graduate school located in Wheaton, Illinois, a suburb 25 miles (40km) west of Chicago. The Protestant college was founded by evangelical abolitionists in 1860. Wheaton College was a stop on the Underground Railroad and graduated Illinois' first African-American college graduate.
Drawing 2,500 undergraduates from all 50 United States, 50 countries, and over 55 church denominations, Wheaton offers 40 majors in the arts, humanities, literature, foreign languages, social sciences, and natural sciences.
Wheaton is noted for its "twin traditions of quality academics and deep faith," according to Time magazine and is ranked 20th among all national liberal arts colleges in the number of alumni who go on to earn PhDs.
Wheaton is included in Loren Pope's influential book Colleges That Change Lives.
Wheaton College was ranked 8th in "Best Undergraduate Teaching" by the U.S. News & World Report for national liberal arts colleges in 2016. The school was ranked 57th overall among national liberal arts colleges by U.S. News & World Report for 2016.Forbes lists Wheaton among the Top 100 Colleges and Universities in its 2015 rankings.
Wheaton College was founded in 1860. Its predecessor, the Illinois Institute, had been founded in late 1853 by Wesleyan Methodists as a college and preparatory school. Wheaton's first president, Jonathan Blanchard, was a former president of Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois and a staunch abolitionist with ties to Oberlin College. Mired in financial trouble and unable to sustain the institution, the Wesleyans looked to Blanchard for new leadership. He took on the role as president in 1860, having suggested several Congregationalist appointees to the board of trustees the previous year. The Wesleyans, similar in spirit and mission to the Congregationalists, were happy to relinquish control of the Illinois Institute. Blanchard officially separated the college from any denominational support and was responsible for its new name, given in honor of trustee and benefactor Warren L. Wheaton, who founded the town of Wheaton after moving to Illinois from New England.