History of Otterbein College

Towers Hall, the first building on campus, at its dedication.

Otterbein College was founded (as the Otterbein University of Ohio) in 1847 by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ and named after a co-founder of the Church, Philip William Otterbein, who was a German Reformed pastor and itinerant evangelist. In later years, the Church went through a merger with the Evangelical Association and became the Evangelical United Brethren Church (EUB) and then, through a second merger with the Methodist Church, became the current United Methodist Church. Otterbein was chartered by the State of Ohio in 1849, and granted its first degrees in 1857. It is currently approved by the University Senate of the United Methodist Church. From eight students in 1847, we have grown to a current enrollment of about 3,000.

The College has historically seen its mission centered in a program of liberal arts education in the Christian tradition. While Otterbein has evolved into a comprehensive college, combining traditional liberal arts disciplines and professional programs, the liberal arts remain a foundation for our educational programs.

In addition to its Church-related heritage and its commitment to liberal arts and professional education, three other features of Otterbein's history deserve special attention.

First, from its founding, and as a reflection of Church practices and policies, Otterbein was intentionally and uncommonly inclusive with respect to women and people of color. Otterbein was among the first coeducational colleges in America, and probably the first college in the United States to be founded as coeducational and to admit women to the same programs of study as male students. Its first two graduates were females. From its opening, Otterbein employed female faculty members, and it was probably the first college to do so. Otterbein was also one of the first three colleges in the United States to be open to students of color, and College historians have argued that it deserves to be considered the first to be founded with that philosophy.

Second, Otterbein has been unique in the development of a governance system that includes many campus constituencies in college decision-making. During the 1850's and 1860's, a number of faculty served as members of the Executive Committee. Since 1946, faculty and students have served in an advisory role on most trustee committees. In September, 1970, the College implemented a new governance system that is an extension of this inclusive heritage and that received much national attention. The new system provided for a single College Senate, composed of faculty, students, administrators, alumni, and trustees; it also added three elected student trustees and three elected faculty trustees as full voting members of the Board.

Third, in more recent history, Otterbein created in 1968 an innovative general education initiative, the Integrative Studies Program. Originally known as the "Common Courses" in the early history of the institution, the Integrative Studies Program was also established, in keeping with the College's spirit of inclusiveness and community, to provide sufficiently broad study of world culture to enable students to understand the continuum of ideas, movements, and patterns which has produced the civilization of the twentieth century. Like our governance system, this program has also received national recognition by the Association of American Colleges (now, the Association of American Colleges and Universities). Recent revisions of the program underscore the themes of coherence, breadth of understanding, and intellectual community.