The University will be closed December 19, 2024 to January 5, 2025. If you need assistance during that time, please call 1-855-OWU-1842 and leave a detailed voicemail along with your contact information. One of our colleagues will respond to your call as soon as possible.
If you would like to make a 2024 gift, please make your gift before midnight on December 31.
We think you will find Ohio Wesleyan a great place to invest your time and talent as we work to provide an outstanding educational experience for students and a fulfilling work environment for our faculty, staff, and administrators.
Ohio Wesleyan is an equal opportunity employer, strongly and actively committed to diversity within its community.
OWU (pronounced "Oh-Wooo") is a selective, nationally ranked, residential liberal arts college of nearly 1,500 students founded in 1842 and located on 200 beautiful acres in Delaware, Ohio.
Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 70 undergraduate majors, 24 NCAA Division III varsity sports, and a vibrant fraternity and sorority life.
Through Ohio Wesleyan's signature OWU Connection program, students integrate knowledge across disciplines, build a diverse and global perspective, and apply their knowledge in real-world settings.
Programs of note include The Arneson Institute for Practical Politics and Public Affairs; The Delaware Entrepreneurial Center at Ohio Wesleyan; The Palmer Global Scholars Program; The Woltemade Center for Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship.
Ohio Wesleyan is featured in the latest edition of the book "Colleges That Change Lives" and included in the U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review "best colleges" lists.
Learn more about OWU's History and Traditions and its latest Ratings and Rankings
Ohio Wesleyan defines itself as a community of teachers and students devoted to the free pursuit of truth.
The OWU community is active and engaged, and its faculty, staff, and students share informed opinions and ideas in rich campus conversations. Ohio Wesleyan's historic commitment to "practical idealism" affirms that an OWU education blends theory and practice, thought and action, inquiry and engagement, and the campus and the world.
The University seeks to equip students with the knowledge, competence, and character for leadership, service, and continued learning in a complex and increasingly global society.
Learn more about our Mission and Aims
OWU students are academically gifted and highly motivated, with more than a quarter of our first-year students having ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school classes.
The current student body is 45 percent male and 55 percent female. Our students hail from 44 states and U.S. territories and from 28 countries. Sixty percent come to OWU from within Ohio, and international and multicultural students represent 27 percent of the student body.
Our Faculty
Ohio Wesleyan professors consistently earn high marks from their students for the quality of their teaching, excitement about their academic disciplines, mentoring, commitment, and accessibility.
At OWU, 100 percent of full-time, tenure-track faculty hold a Ph.D. or the equivalent terminal degree in their discipline.
Ohio Wesleyan students can choose from more than 70 majors or work with faculty to create their own. Our student-faculty ratio is 10:1 and the average class size is 15.
Ohio Wesleyan offers both the Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts, and Bachelor of Science degree, a robust Honors Program, and has a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's oldest academic honor society.
Learn more Fast Facts about our students, faculty, and academics
"For the most part, we have a very collegial faculty, and there's a fun tradition of a weekly faculty happy hour. In addition, I, like many colleagues, live in Columbus, which is a great place to live."
"The best part of working at OWU is our incredible students, guided by bright faculty and dedicated staff, who are so interested in getting involved on campus and learning how to become difference-makers in the world."
"The benefits of being part of the OWU Community are built upon the University's dedication to building, encouraging, and fostering growth and success."
"OWU students continue to impress me every day! They are eager and emerging leaders ready to contribute to a vibrant, ever-changing world. I am energized by their creativity, enthusiasm, and desire to make an impact."
"On the one hand, OWU's reputation is earned. And then on the other hand, this is a place that is about doing the work of helping people live lives of purpose, more than it is a place about reputation."
"Since joining OWU, I've been continually impressed by the dedication of our faculty to our students' professional development. Every day, our faculty members provide strong support to students in many aspects of their academic journey."
"There is something truly special about this place and the people who are part of it. People here approach their jobs always with our students at the center of what they do. They provide transformational experiences for our students every day."
"One of the things that I appreciate the most about being a member of the OWU community is the ability to be at a school where we are focused on teaching and the undergraduate experience, while still doing the highest levels of academic research."
"Since the founding of Ohio Wesleyan, we have benefited from an engaged and brilliant faculty who care deeply about our students."
"I consider myself blessed because of OWU. I not only have the opportunity to grow professionally, but I get to witness the development of young men and women whose contributions to society will make the world we live in a better place for all."
"In my eight years of service, I have learned that OWU is so much more than a beautiful campus and an excellent reputation. The true heart of the OWU community is rooted in the rich diversity, service, scholarship, and talent of our students, alumni, faculty, and staff."
"The people are the best part of Ohio Wesleyan and the Delaware community. I've lived in this area for more than 25 years, and it's been a wonderful place to live, work, and raise a family."
"What brought me to OWU and why I have stayed for almost two decades can be summarized in three words – support, openness, and welcoming – for faculty of color and students. These are nurtured through the University's course offerings and also in its co-curricular programming with diverse minority student organizations."
"Everyone at OWU has a passion for educating students and helping them grow into the best versions of themselves. Whatever differences we may have in our roles, scholarly field, or, sometimes, opinion, no matter what, you can be sure that the motives of your fellow OWU Bishops are student-centered."