Drew University

In 1866, Daniel Drew approached church leaders during the Methodist Centenary Celebration with an offer to build, equip, and endow a theological seminary near New York City.[24] Drew asked that his pastor, John McClintock (1814–1870), be appointed to lead the seminary as its first president.[24] Instruction began under the direction of McClintock as both president and professor of practical theology after the first students were admitted in 1867.[24] Drew is the third-oldest of thirteen Methodist seminaries affiliated with the United Methodist Church.[6]

Drew offered professional training for candidates to the ministry augmented by "an opportunity for a broad culture through the study of the humanities."[25] The seminary attracted a faculty that made influential contributions to Methodist theology and biblical scholarship, including James Strong (1822–1894), a professor of exegetical theology, who collaborated with McClintock on the ten-volume Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature (1867–1881), and researched, compiled, and published Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890) during his tenure at the seminary.[26] Writings on early church theology and Christian practice were translated into Chinese for use by foreign missions.[27]

The faculty of Drew Theological Seminary, circa 1880–1890

Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Drew Theological Seminary educated and trained hundreds of Methodist ministers. It began to expand its role with the addition of a course of study for women in 1920 when it established a "College of Missions."[28] This course would be renamed the "College of Religious Education and Missions" in 1929 but was short-lived.[28]

In 1928, Drew Theological Seminary accepted a gift of $1.5 million from brothers Arthur J. Baldwin (1868–1939) and Leonard D. Baldwin (1866–1933) to establish an undergraduate liberal arts college. The Baldwins were successful attorneys who were raised on a farm in Cortland, New York. Both brothers attended Cornell University.[29][30][31] They established a law firm with former New Jersey governor John Griggs spanning "varied interests in lumbering, manufacturing, transportation, and other enterprises that ranged from owning the Grosvenor Hotel in New York City to Arthur's legal counseling for the rising McGraw-Hill publishing empire."[29][31] The Baldwins became acquainted with the seminary's president, Ezra Squier Tipple, who "welcomed the brothers to his prominent New York City Methodist Church when they came to Manhattan."[29] Leonard Baldwin eventually became a trustee of the seminary in 1919.[29] The donation originally consisted of $500,000 to build a college building, and $1,000,000 in the form of Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P) stock. However, the Baldwins exchanged the stock with a gift of cash in October 1928.[29]

The courtyard of Brothers College, built 1928

In their modesty and in recognition of their sibling affection, the Baldwins asked that it be named "Brothers College."[29] The theological seminary then changed its name to "Drew University" to reflect its expanded role.[10] Brothers College, later renamed as the "College of Liberal Arts", opened in September 1928 with its first class of 12 students.[29] Brothers College would incorporate the women's program and become coeducational in 1942 during World War II when school officials recognized that the military draft and war effort would reduce the all-male student body.[28] Drew offered admission to United States Navy personnel through the V-12 Navy College Training Program. Drew was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the program which offered students a path to a naval officers' commission.[32]

Drew began offering graduate-level education in 1912. The university expanded its graduate education programs focusing in religious studies in 1955 with the establishment of the Graduate School, the third of Drew's degree-granting entities. Four years later, it would expand the curriculum into other areas of the humanities. The Graduate School was renamed as the "Caspersen School of Graduate Studies" after a pledge of $5,000,000 in 1999 by financier Finn M. W. Caspersen (1941–2009) and his wife (and Drew alumna) Dr. Barbara Morris Caspersen.[28][33]

Samuel W. Bowne Hall

During the 1970s, the College also established, with generous assistance from the Mellon Foundation, a now widely imitated freshman seminar program. It allows first-year students to participate, with faculty who also serve as their academic advisers, in intensive study of a topic of hopefully mutual interest. Interdisciplinary study became a focus of the curriculum as well, with the creation of majors in behavioral studies, neuroscience and Russian Studies, and minors in such fields as American studies, arts administration and museology, business management, dance, public health and writing.

In 1984, psychology professors Philip Jensen and Richard Detweiler led an effort to provide a personal computer and application software to all incoming freshman, a program referred to as the "Computer Initiative". Drew was the first liberal arts college to have such a requirement. The Computer Initiative differentiates Drew from other liberal arts colleges, and continues to this day. As a result, Drew has considerably fewer public computing labs than comparable schools its size, using the centrally-managed student laptops for instructional and general-purpose computing use.

A class session held outdoors

After serving two terms as New Jersey's 48th governor, Thomas Kean (b. 1935) was appointed as Drew's tenth president in 1990. He would serve for 15 years before retiring in 2005.[34] As president, Kean raised Drew's profile, overseeing fundraising efforts that tripled the size of the university's endowment, adding new faculty in African, Asian, Russian, and Middle Eastern Studies, significantly increased opportunities for students to study abroad, increased applications from prospective students, and committed more than $60 million to construction of new buildings and renovation of older buildings—principally student residence halls.

After Kean's retirement, the trustees selected Robert Weisbuch, former president of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, as Drew's eleventh president in 2005. He served for seven years, and stepped down in June 2012.[35] Under Weisbuch's direction, Drew became SAT-optional. From 2006 to 2013, applicants were allowed to submit a graded high school essay instead of SAT or ACT scores.[36] In 2013, the university reinstated the SAT (or ACT) as an admission requirement.[37]

Dr. MaryAnn Baenninger became the President of Drew University in July 2014 after serving 10 years as the President of the College of Saint Benedict.[38] She succeeded Dr. Vivian A. Bull, a former economics professor and associate dean of the College at Drew and former President of Linfield College, who served as Drew's interim president from 2012 to 2014.[39]

The 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was shared by Dr. William Campbell, a research fellow at Drew University, for his work developing a drug that treats parasitic diseases.[40]

Undergraduate tuition, room and board for the 2017–18 academic year was $62,000 (excluding books, personal expenditures, and health insurance), making Drew among the most expensive private universities in New Jersey.[41] In September 2017, the school announced that it was cutting the list price of its tuition for the 2018–19 school year by 20%, from $48,300 to $36,600, as part of an effort to make the school more appealing to prospective students who had been deterred by the sticker price, which had been one of the state's highest.[42]

Drew University is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools with approval granted to offer undergraduate and graduate degree programs and professional or post-graduate certificates. Drew was first accredited in 1932 and its accreditation was reaffirmed after a recent review concluded in 2011.[43] Since 1938, the theological seminary at Drew has been accredited by the Commission on Accrediting of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada.[44][45]

All of the university's programs are approved and accredited by the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry and the University Senate of the United Methodist Church.[1][46] Drew is one of 119 institutions that are members of the National Association of Schools and Colleges of The United Methodist Church (NASCUMC). Drew is also a member of the American Council on Education,[47] Council of Graduate Schools,[48] Association of American Colleges and Universities,[49] and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.[50]

Drew University offers programs leading to the traditional undergraduate degree of Bachelor of Arts (BA) through its College of Liberal Arts. Traditional core liberal arts courses are required of Drew students within a general education curriculum that allows them to shape an individual academic program. Drew's programs emphasize depth, independent research, experiential learning, and collaborative teaming. A declared minor is required in the general education program, and students choose from structured disciplinary and interdisciplinary offerings, or may design a minor course of study, subject to faculty approval. The university provides undergraduate major concentrations in 31 academic areas and minor concentrations in 24 additional areas.[51] In 2011, the Princeton Review ranked Drew as having the No. 5 theatre program in the United States.[52]

Below is a list of key programs available to undergraduate students:

• Semester on Wall Street: an 8-credit program where 20 students attend classes twice a week in New York City at St. John's University, located in the Financial District. Students have guest lecturers from the various banks, organizations, and financial agencies.[53]
• Semester on the United Nations: an 8-credit program where 20 students attend classes twice a week in New York City in the Church Center, directly across from UN Headquarters. Students have guest lecturers from the UN Secretariat and NGOs, and attend meetings of the UN General Assembly.[54]
• Research Institute for Scientists Emeriti (RISE): selected students engage in research under the supervision of retired industrial scientists.[55]
• Drew Summer Science Institute: an on-campus summer program that pairs approximately 15 Drew students with faculty mentors for an intensive experience working full-time on a research project.[56]
• New York Semester on Contemporary Art: an 8-credit program where students meet weekly to discuss timely issues, and then visit New York City art museums two days a week.[57]
• London Semester: a 16-credit program where students explore political and social change in Great Britain.[58]

Graduate education has taken place at Drew University since 1912. Initially, graduate education was limited to theology and was conducted through the Theological School. In 1955, the Graduate School was established to take responsibility for the academic (i.e., non-ministerial) study of religion at the graduate level and allow for the development of new graduate programs. In 1999, to honor the generous gift made by Barbara and Finn Caspersen, the school was renamed the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies.[59]

In 2006, the Graduate Division of Religion (GDR), which includes programs in biblical studies and early Christianity, historical studies, religion & society, and theological & philosophical studies, was moved from the Graduate School to the Theological School. The transition was made to reflect current trends in the academic study of religion. In 2006, the school created a Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) program,[60] and in 2009, a Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) in Poetry program was established by Anne Marie Macari.[61]

As of 2019, the Graduate School offered 10-degree programs,[62] including an earned Doctor of Letters degree.[63][64]

A statue of Francis Asbury (1745–1816), one of the first two Methodist bishops whose travels spread Methodism across the United States and launched the Second Great Awakening

Drew Theological School admitted its first students in 1867. Until the 1950s, the school was known as the Drew Theological Seminary, and most students sought a Bachelor of Divinity (BD) degree, which was considered the standard for becoming a minister in an established church. Occasionally, the seminary did issue other degrees, such a Master of Arts or a Doctor of Theology (ThD) to students engaged in the graduate study of religion.[65] Starting in 1920 women were admitted as students, and most notably Olive Winchester was issued a Doctor of Theology in 1925, and became the first female ordained minister in Great Britain.[66]

The school is often noted for its strong ties to Korean Methodism. The Rev. Henry Appenzeller, a graduate of the Theological School, became the first Christian missionary to Korea. He worked to establish the Korean Methodist Church, schools and universities, and he translated the Bible into Korean. As a result of his work and his connection to Drew, the Theological School's matriculating class includes many students from South Korea.

One of the 13 official seminaries of the United Methodist Church, the Theological School prepares those pursuing ministry in the United Methodist Church. The student body also includes students preparing for ministry in other Christian denominations, and those from other faith communities.

As of 2019, the Theological School offers six different degree programs.[67][45] In October 2018, the school launch the "Drew Social Justice Leadership Project" which allow students, partners and professors to express their thoughts, and share their experience regarding social justice issues in an accesible way.[68]

Built in 1938 with funds donated by Lenox S. Rose, the Rose Memorial Library houses the university's library collections offering 558,000 bound volumes, more than 378,000 microforms, 10,000 periodical titles in electronic database subscriptions, and about 2,700 periodical subscriptions in paper form. The facility also includes a media resource center and learning center. The library has been designated a selective depository for U.S. government publications in accordance with the Federal Depository Library Program. Drew also maintains collections of official documents from the United Nations and the state of New Jersey. There are over 400,000 documents in the collection.[69][70]

Drew University houses the United Methodist Archives and History Center administered by the United Methodist Commission on Archives and History. This collection is among the most comprehensive collections of Methodist books, documents and artifacts in the world offering insight into eighteenth- and nineteenth-century English and American religious and cultural history.[69][71]

Special Collections at Drew University cover a wide range of materials from the 11th century to the present. Topics include religious materials such as hymnbooks, prayer book, and Bibles, as well as non-religious materials such as witchcraft, literature, graphic novels, and science fiction magazines.[72] Most notably, the collection holds a first edition of the King James Bible.[73]

The library's special collections include a collection of books, manuscripts, artifacts and papers of Nebraska-born author Willa Cather (1873–1947). This collection, which is regarded as the best collection of Cather's papers assembled in the United States, was given to the university by several donors, including Frederick B. Adams, former director of the Pierpont Morgan Library; Earl and Achsah Brewster, longtime friends of Cather; violinist Yehudi Menuhin; and by Finn and Barbara Caspersen.[74][75][76]