By Cole Hatcher/OWU
Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) today announced its new identity as America’s University for Ambitious Self-Discovery, building on established momentum and a $40 million gift that will raise faculty salaries and establish the Mecum College of Arts and Humanities.
The new strategic direction is an intentional rebellion against the pressure placed on 17- and 18-year-olds to choose a major, and by extension, a career, before having an opportunity to explore vocational interests. Nationwide, it’s estimated that about 80% of college students change their major at least once within three years of initial enrollment. OWU is repositioning to serve the exploratory majority, expanding programs that encourage exploration and build the skills students need to enter the workforce in an era of rapid technological change.
“Much of higher education is playing defense right now: cutting, reacting and hoping to ride out the storm. We’re taking the opposite approach,” said OWU President Matt vandenBerg, Ed.D. “OWU is proactively building the model we believe is an antidote to many of the issues facing the sector: structured exploration; hands-on, real-world learning experiences; and a renewed focus on the arts and humanities.”
First-year OWU students don’t declare majors, spending their first two semesters taking classes intended to develop core competencies such as formal and quantitative reasoning; writing and speaking effectively; and creative thinking. Every student is also required to complete a connection experience, part of OWU’s experiential learning program that takes students out of the classroom for internships, undergraduate research, study away, service projects or launching their own businesses. Flexible two- to six-year pathways, including transfer from Columbus State Community College, give students more than one route to a degree, and the Palmer Center for First-Generation Student Success serves as a national model for helping this group persist to graduation.
Dudley Mecum II, OWU Class of 1956, and Harriet Zahn Mecum provided the $40 million trust commitment, which ranks among the largest gifts ever made to an Ohio liberal arts institution. The commitment will create an endowment dedicated to faculty compensation and elevate the university’s arts and humanities division into the Mecum College of Arts and Humanities, the first of OWU’s three academic divisions to be elevated to college status.
“At a time when many institutions are cutting the arts and humanities, we want to stand out as the place running back to them,” continued vandenBerg. “The skills the workforce and our communities need most are the ones the arts, humanities and social sciences are disproportionately good at building.”
Two of the Mecums’ children, Dudley Mecum III and Lynne Mecum, joined today’s announcement. The university continues to raise funds to expand the total faculty compensation investment and accelerate its impact. Several donor families have already pledged about $4 million in additional endowed support to allow faculty compensation to grow before the Mecum trust funds arrive and increase the total scale of the investment. The initiative advances OWU’s goal of ranking among the top central Ohio institutions for faculty pay and extends a historic fundraising run, which secured the two largest philanthropic totals in its history in consecutive years: $69.4 million in fiscal year 2025 and $94 million in fiscal year 2026.
“This is one of the largest investments ever committed to faculty compensation at an American liberal arts college,” continued vandenBerg. “Ask our alumni what set them on their path, and they almost always name a professor. Our faculty are how we deliver on every promise we make to students, and that’s why this gift goes straight into faculty pay.”
OWU’s commitment to societal impact extends well beyond campus. OWU contributes an estimated $95.5 million annually to the Delaware economy. OWU is also undertaking the most ambitious solar energy project among Ohio higher education institutions. Panel installation is underway, and the project is expected to generate energy within a year. The Delaware County Promise is opening doors to college for local students.
The announcements build on momentum already underway. OWU welcomed consecutive first-year classes at levels not seen in roughly 15 years, and total enrollment is at a decade high.
Photo: Ohio Wesleyan students (from left) Brendon Tandoh, Conner Ford, Jada Taylor, and Carolina Sola show off T-shirts proclaiming OWU as ‘America’s University for Ambitious Self-Discovery.’ President Matt vandenBerg announced the new market identity and a record gift to establish the Mecum College of Arts and Humanities at an Oct. 23 campus event. (Photos by Paul Vernon)
