Wilkes College
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Former names
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Bucknell Junior College |
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| Motto | "Unity Amidst Diversity" |
| Type | Private |
| Established | 1933 |
| Endowment | $44.6 million |
| President | Patrick F. Leahy, Ed.D |
| Provost | Dr. Anne Skleder |
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Academic staff
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157 Full Time |
| Undergraduates | 2,245 |
| Postgraduates | 2,254 |
| Address | 84 West South Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA, USA |
| Campus | 35 acres; Urban |
| Colors | Blue and Gold |
| Athletics | NCAA Division III – MAC Freedom Conference |
| Mascot | Colonels |
| Website | www |
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Wilkes University is a private, non-denominational American university located in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, with branch centers in Mesa, Arizona and Bartonsville, Pennsylvania. It has over 2,200 undergraduates and over 2,200 graduate students (both full and part-time). Wilkes was founded in 1933 as a satellite campus of Bucknell University, and became an independent institution in 1947, naming itself Wilkes College, after English radical politician John Wilkes. The school was granted university status in January 1990.
The school mascot, which was suggested by Wilkes student Joe Pringle (class of 1949), is a Colonel and the official colors are blue and yellow. The campus symbol is a letter "W" known as the "flying W" by students and alumni.
Wilkes University was first established in 1933 by Bucknell University under the name Bucknell University Junior College (BUJC) in Wilkes-Barre. BUJC attracted many students who were the first members of their families to benefit from higher education as the need for junior colleges arose in urban areas. The college opened in downtown Wilkes-Barre where the first classes were held on the third floor of the Wilkes-Barre Business College building. By 1934, the business college moved out of the building and BUJC had taken it over and continued to grow over the years acquiring old mansions for student housing, classrooms, and administration offices along the streets of South River and South Franklin. By 1945, the Board of Trustees formally moved to develop the junior college into a four-year institution.
In 1947, Wilkes College was instituted as an independent, nondenominational four-year college, with programs in the arts, sciences, and a number of professional fields as well as numerous extracurricular activities. The college further expanded through the years as it continued to obtain more buildings for classrooms, student residences, dining halls, and offices. Wilkes College became Wilkes University in December 1989 and the school officially received university status a month later in January 1990.
Wilkes University opened the School of Pharmacy in 1996, and in 1999, through a donation from Mrs. Geraldine Nesbitt Orr, the Nesbitt School of Pharmacy was established. The Jay S. Sidhu School of Business & Leadership was created in 2004, and the following year, the Henry Student Center was expanded and the university purchased an 80,000-square-foot (7,400 m2) building in downtown Wilkes-Barre. The University Center on Main (Ucom) building houses the Sidhu School of Business and Leadership, an indoor track and field, and ropes course.
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