Hiram College

On June 12, 1849, representatives of the Disciples of Christ voted to establish an academic institution, which would later become Hiram College.[5] On November 7 that year, they chose the village of Hiram as the site for the school because the founders considered this area of the Western Reserve to be "healthful and free of distractions".[6] The following month, on December 20, the founders accepted the suggestion of Isaac Errett and named the school the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute.[5]

Western Reserve Eclectic Institute, Hiram, 1858

The institute's original charter was authorized by the state legislature on March 1, 1850, and the school opened several months later, on November 27. Many of the students came from the surrounding farms and villages of the Western Reserve, but Hiram soon gained a national reputation and students began arriving from other states. On February 20, 1867, the Institute incorporated as a college and changed its name to Hiram College.[5][6]

During the years before it was renamed Hiram College, 1850–1867, the school had seven principals, the equivalent of today's college presidents. The two that did the most in establishing and defining the nature of the institution were Disciple minister Amos Sutton Hayden, who led the school through its first six years, and James A. Garfield, who had been a student at the institute from 1851 to 1853 and then returned in 1856 as a teacher. As principal, Garfield expanded the institute's curriculum. He left the Institute in 1861 and in 1880 was elected the 20th President of the United States.[6]

In 1870, one of Garfield's best friends and former students, Burke A. Hinsdale, was appointed Hiram's president. Although there were two before him, Hinsdale is considered the college's first permanent president because the others served only briefly. The next president to have a major impact on the college was Ely V. Zollars, who increased enrollment significantly, established a substantial endowment and created a program for the construction of campus buildings. Later presidents who served for at least 10 years were Miner Lee Bates, Kenneth I. Brown, Paul H. Fall, Elmer Jagow, and G. Benjamin Oliver.[6]

In 1931, shortly before Hiram celebrated the 100th anniversary of Garfield's birth, there was a debate in the community about changing the name of the school to Garfield College. There were strong advocates on both sides of the issue. Among the 2,000 guests at the centennial celebration were three generations of Garfield's family, including two of his sons. The idea of changing the college's name was not mentioned at the event and the idea was abandoned.[7]

Principals and presidents

James A. Garfield (left), his wife Lucretia Rudolph Garfield (right) and other faculty, 1858.

The following is a list of the school's leaders since its founding in 1850.[6]

Koritansky Hall, home of the Garfield Institute for Public Leadership.

As of the 2019–20 academic year, Hiram's student body consists of 1,116 undergraduates from 27 states and 11 foreign countries.[8] Of the 81 full–time faculty, 95% hold a Ph.D. or other terminal degree in their field.

Hiram specializes in the education of undergraduate students, though the college does have a small graduate program. Hiram confers the BA, BSN, and MA degrees. The college offers 33 majors and 40 minors for traditional undergraduates, in addition to pre-professional programs for specific fields.[9] Interdisciplinary studies have also been a part of Hiram's curriculum for decades.[10]

Hiram's curriculum requires all students to complete one course in each of nine academic areas: creative methods, interpretive methods, modeling methods, experimental scientific methods, social and cultural analysis, experiencing the world, understanding diversity at home, interdisciplinary, and ethics and social responsibility.[11] Its education plan also includes international study and independent study opportunities, and faculty–guided research projects. Currently, almost all majors require some form of extensive independent project or apprenticeship experience.

Hiram's academic program consists of five schools: Arts, Humantities & Culture; Business & Communication; Education, Civil Leadership & Social Change; Health & Medical Humanities; and Science & Technology.[12]

The college's curriculum is currently marketed under the name Hiram Connect, which involves four steps: First Year Colloquium/Foundations of the Liberal Arts, Declaration of Major, Experiential Learning, and a Capstone Project.[13]

Hiram has five "Centers of Distinction" for interdisciplinary studies: Center for Integrated Entrepreneurship, Center for Scientific Engagement, Center for Literature and Medicine, Garfield Institute for Public Leadership, and Lindsay-Crane Center for Writing and Literature.[14]

Hiram was ranked #167 among National Liberal Arts Colleges by U.S. News & World Report in 2012.[15] At the same time, Hiram is currently ranked #67 among Liberal Arts Colleges by Washington Monthly.[16] Also, in 2018, Forbes ranked Hiram at #644 among all colleges and universities in the U.S, and #29 in Ohio.[17] Hiram has regularly been included in The Princeton Review Best Colleges guide,[18] and is one of 40 schools included in Loren Pope's book Colleges That Change Lives.[19]

Hiram is a member of the Annapolis Group, which has been critical of the college rankings process. Hiram is among the signatories of the Presidents Letter.

James A. Garfield, statue on campus

• Jean Ankeney – politician, nurse
• Edna Allyn – first librarian of the Hawaii State Library
• Miner Searle Bates – historian, and college professor and administrator
• Laura Bell – author
• Robert Biscup – orthopaedic surgeon
• Howard Junior Brown – physician, gay rights advocate
• Henry Lawrence Burnett – lawyer
• Allen R. Bushnell – U.S. Representative
• Russell L. Caldwell – historian and college professor
• James Anson Campbell – industrialist
• Sharon Creech – author
• Martha Derthick – academic
• Fritz Dreisbach – artist
• Virginia Fraser – elder rights activist
• James A. Garfield – 20th President of the United States
• Lucretia Rudolph Garfield – First Lady of the United States
• Franklin L. Gilson – jurist and politician
• Osee M. Hall – U.S. Representative
• Pamela Helming - New York State Senator
• Ammon Hennacy – Christian pacifist, anarchist, and member of the Catholic Worker Movement
• David Brendan Hopes – author, playwright, and poet
• Jan Hopkins – anchor, CNNfn
• Deborah Joseph – computer scientist
• John Samuel Kenyon – linguist
• Frank Laporte – Major League baseball player, second baseman

Vachel Lindsay

• Vachel Lindsay – poet
• Lance Liotta – cancer biologist
• J. Kevin McMahon – President and CEO, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
• Louis Mink – philosopher of history and college professor
• Horace Ladd Moore – U.S. Representative
• Wendy Murray – journalist
• Gilbert Nations - lawyer, professor and anti-Catholic activist
• Carol Z. Perez – U.S. Ambassador to Chile
• Augustus Herman Pettibone – U.S. Representative
• Benjamin D. Pritchard – Brevetted Brigadier General, United States Army
• Dean A. Scarborough – chief executive officer of Avery Dennison Corporation
• Platt Rogers Spencer – originator, Spencarian penmanship
• Mark W. Spong – roboticist
• Michael Stanley – singer–songwriter, musician, and radio personality
• Claude Steele – social psychologist, college professor, and college administrator
• Howard F. Taylor – sociologist
• Emma Rood Tuttle — writer, poet
• Allyn Vine – physicist and oceanographer
• P. H. Welshimer – minister
• Tom Wesselmann – artist
• John J. Whitacre – U.S. Representative
• Bill White – Major League Baseball player and broadcaster; President, National League
• Dempster Woodworth – editor, politician and physician
• Laurin D. Woodworth – U.S. Representative
• Harold Bell Wright – author
• Allyn Abbott Young – economist

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hiram College.

• Official website
• Official athletics website

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