College of Wooster

The College of Wooster is a private liberal arts college in Wooster, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1866 by the Presbyterian Church as the University of Wooster, it has been officially non-sectarian since 1969. From its creation, the college has been a co-educational institution. It enrolls about 1,900 students and is a member of the Five Colleges of Ohio, Great Lakes Colleges Association, and Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities.

Founded as the University of Wooster in 1866 by the Presbyterian Synod of Ohio, the institution opened its doors in 1870 with a faculty of five and a student body of thirty men and four women. Ephraim Quinby, a Wooster citizen, donated the first 20 acres (8.1 ha), a large oak grove situated on a hilltop overlooking the town. After being founded with the intent to make Wooster open to everyone, the university's first Ph.D. was granted to a woman, Annie B. Irish, in 1882. The first black student, Clarence Allen, began his studies later in the same decade.

The university gradually began to define itself as a liberal arts institution. In 1915, after a bitter dispute between the faculty and the trustees, the institution was renamed The College of Wooster reflecting a dedication to the education of undergraduate students in the liberal arts. The college developed under the presidency of Charles F. Wishart, 1919-1944. During the Fundamentalist–Modernist Controversy in the 1920s, prominent Presbyterian layman and former United States Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan attacked the college for its teaching of evolution. The subject had been taught at the college for several decades and defended by president Wishart. Bryan called for the general assembly of the church to cut off funding to the college. In 1923, Wishart defeated Bryan for the position of Moderator of the General Assembly, largely on the evolution issue, and the college continued to teach evolution. Wishart was followed by Howard F. Lowry, who served from 1944 until his death in 1967. He was followed by J. Garber Drushal, who served until 1977.

On November 10, 2015, the college named Sarah Bolton as its twelfth president and first female president. Bolton left the college at the end of the 2021–2022 academic year to assume the presidency of Whitman College. Anne E. McCall was inaugurated on October 28, 2023.

Wooster's school colors are black and old gold and its mascot is the 'Fighting Scot'. Early Wooster teams were known as the Presbyterians or unofficially as the 'Presbyterian Steamroller.' In 1939, a large donation from alumnus Birt Babcock funded the purchase of kilts for the marching band, in the yellow-and-black MacLeod tartan (MacLeod of Lewis), which had no particular significance, except that it matched the school colors. Scottish culture became an important part of the school's heritage; today, the football games feature a Scottish pipe band with Highland dancers in addition to a traditional marching band, with all three groups clad in the MacLeod tartan. The college offers the "Scottish Arts Scholarship" for students who perform as pipers, drummers, or Scottish dancers.

Wooster has had fifteen presidents from 1870 to 2024, including interim presidents.

The College of Wooster Board of Trustees named Anne E. McCall to be the 13th president of the College of Wooster on December 8, 2022.

Wooster's most popular majors, by 2024 graduates, were: