Denison University (Granville, Ohio)

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Denison was founded in 1831 and is located in Granville, OH, a small community in central Ohio, about 30 miles east of Columbus, OH. It has a current enrollment of about 2,000 students. Denison is a member of the Five Colleges of Ohio, the Great Lakes Colleges Association, and the North Coast Athletic Conference.

Originally called "Granville Literary and Theological Institution"[1] Denison University was founded by Ohio Baptist Education Society in 1831. When it finally moved to a hill overlooking the city it changed its name to Denison University, renamed as a means of securing a larger endowment, offering the privilege of naming the institution with a donation of $10,000. A local farmer named William S. Denison (and alternately spelled Dennison on some official documents) elected to donate this considerable sum. Although he ultimately donated only a portion of the total promised (using the excuse that with his recent remarriage, he could no longer afford to surrender such a large amount), the college retained his name. Denison was an exclusively male college at the time of its inception, but has since become coeducational. This began with the Granville Female Seminary, which was founded in 1832 by Charles Sawyer. It was sold to Daniel Shepardson in 1861 and renamed Young Ladies' Institute. Finally in 1900 it was renamed for a third time to the Shepardson College for Women and became a part of Denison University. Founded as a Baptist institution, Denison for many years enjoyed the support of John D. Rockefeller, who sat on the college's board of trustees until the institution mandated that all trustees be Ohio residents. Among Denison's former presidents is William Rainey Harper, who later (with Rockefeller) founded the University of Chicago. A boys' preparatory school, Doane Academy, also coexisted on the hilltop campus for many years; upon closing, the school building became the seat of the college administration.

Denison previously offered some graduate programs, including an early incarnation of the study of neuroscience, leading to a master's degree; however, Denison was made into an exclusively undergraduate institution in the late 1920s. The university offers 48 majors, each leading to a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree. Denison also offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. English, communication, economics, psychology, biology, political science and history are among the school's top majors; however, Denison also offers an array of less traditional majors, such as cinema.

Dale Thomas Knobel is currently serving as Denison's nineteenth president and has been since 1998. He resides in Monomoy Place in Granville, the official home of Denison's presidents.

Denison University
Granville, Ohio 43023
1-800-DENISON