Denison University

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Denison University is a co-educational liberal arts institute with an excellent science program. Denison’s curriculum is balanced with a liberal arts foundation and a curriculum that revolves around interdisciplinary integration. The University is located in Granville, Ohio, United States, only 50 kilometers away from Columbus. Denison participates in matches with the other institutes in the Five Colleges of Ohio, the Great Lakes Colleges Association, and the North Coast Athletic Conference.

Denison graduates obtain the degrees B.A., B.S., and B.F.A. from the institution. Many students choose the more popular majors Economics, Biology, Communication, Psychology, History, and English. A number of students choose to go for an interdepartmental major.

School History

Denison University, then known as the Granville Literary and Theological Institution, was inaugurated in 1831 by John Pratt, a Brown University alumnus and the institution’s first president. The university is set on the platform of theological education, but the institution gave students the academic experience and scientific instruction as the other colleges at that time. The majority of the first class was under fifteen years old.

The all-male Granville Literary and Theological Institution changed its name to Granville College in 1845. An endowment of ten thousand dollars by William S. Denison in 1853 prompted another name change to honor the school’s benefactor. Prior to the Civil War, many students and faculty members were proponents of the anti-slavery movement.

The school was on the road to turning co-educational in 1832 with the founding of the Granville Female Seminary by Charles Sawyer. The seminary was changed to the Young Ladies’ Institute founded in 1859. When Reverend Dr. Daniel Shepardson acquired the Young Ladies’ Institute in 1886, it was renamed the Shepardson College for Women. The all-women institution was incorporated into the Denison University, and was fully consolidated in 1927.

Expansion was done after the incorporation of Shepardson College. In 1916, the college hired Frederick Law Olmsted & Sons architectural firm, the same firm that designed Central Park in New York City, to improve the school. What resulted was the construction of buildings offering scenic views of the surrounding woodlands, hills and valleys. Denison University turned non-sectarian in the 1960s, severing its century-old ties to the Baptist church.

Campus Life

Denison requires all students to live on campus in various housing options, such as single, double, triple and quad rooms. Suites that can house up to six people are also available. Apartments with separate living rooms and kitchen areas are reserved for seniors.

Freshmen about to attend the university are told about their room assignments and roommate information. All students have a meal plan except those that choose not to take the plan because the housing option includes a kitchen.

Denison University works to keep all residents safe inside the halls. The residences are locked and only those with access keys are permitted. Non-residents allowed by residents to visit the halls can stay only up to 1 a.m. An entry phone is available outside the halls for visitors to use. Residents accept the calls and are the ones that let the visitors in. Escorts are available for students that go home late at night, and they’re called safe walk escorts.

Financial Aid

Financial aid packages may comprise need-based and merit-based scholarships, grants, federal work study programs and student loans. Students that don’t have work study as a part of their financial package may still apply for a job on campus. It is the student’s responsibility to seek employment. The average debt at graduation is $16,000.