Wesleyan University

private liberal arts college in Middletown, Connecticut, United States

Key facts

Type: Private university
Established: 1831 ; 195 years ago ( 1831 )
Accreditation: NECHE
Academic affiliations: Annapolis Group CLAC COFHE NAICU Oberlin Group Space-grant
Endowment: $1.64 billion (2025)
President: Michael S. Roth
Provost: Nicole Stanton
Academic staff: 430 (fall 2020)
Students: 3,053 (fall 2020)
Undergraduates: 2,852 (fall 2020)
Postgraduates: 201 (fall 2020)
Campus: Small city, 360 acres (150 ha)

Article

Wesleyan University (/ˈwɛsliən/ WESS-lee-ən) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a men's college under the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown. It became a secular, coeducational institution.

Wesleyan is a primarily undergraduate institution with a small graduate program. It offers 47 majors as part of an open curriculum. The college accepted female applicants from 1872 to 1909, but did not become fully coeducational until 1970. Before full coeducation, Wesleyan alumni and other supporters of women's education established Connecticut College in 1912. Wesleyan, along with Amherst and Williams colleges, is part of "The Little Three." Its teams compete athletically as a member of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) in NCAA Division III.