Wesleyan College is a private, liberal arts women's college located in Macon, Georgia.

Students

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Wesleyan College has an undergraduate student population of around 700. It has a student-faculty ratio of 1:11, and an average class size of 20 students. Students from more than 20 states and 20 countries around the world attend the school each year. Wesleyan offers 33 majors, minors, and pre-professional programs for its students.

Campus

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Wesleyan College has an arboreal 200 acre (800,000 m²) campus dotted with revivalist Georgian style brick buildings. It features a 6.3 acre (25,000 m²) lake, Foster Lake, as well as an equestrian field.

Wesleyan's Campus hosts many diverse events each year. Midsummer Macon, a music and arts program for children and young adults, is held here every summer. The school also hosts several popular events of the Macon Cherry Blossom Festival every springtime, such as the annual hot air balloon launch. Porter Auditorium was once the home of the Macon Symphony Orchestra and it still hosts many musical and theatrical events and competitions. Wesleyan is also important to the community as it holds many award day programs for the public schools around Macon.

History

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Initially chartered on December 23, 1836 as the Georgia Female College, and opening its doors to students on January 7, 1839, it is one of the oldest institutions of higher education for women in the United States and the first college in the world chartered to grant degrees to women. It was renamed Wesleyan Female College in 1843 and later shortened to the present name Wesleyan College in 1917. It remains an all female college to this day. Wesleyan is also home to the world's oldest alumnae association, begun in 1859. Seniors are inducted into the association during a candle lighting ceremony at Alumnae Weekend.

Wesleyan College was also the birthplace of the first sororities: the Adelphean Society in 1851, now known as Alpha Delta Pi, and the Philomathean Society (not associated with the Philomathean Society of the University of Pennsylvania) in 1852, now known as Phi Mu. The school no longer has sororities (1914), and uses a class system. Incoming first years are assigned a class based on the outgoing seniors of the previous school year. The classes are the Green Knights and their sister class the Purple Knights, and the Pirates and their sister class the Golden Hearts. The 2005-2006 seniors are the Purple Knights.

The school colors are deep purple and lavender.^*

Well-known alumnae

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• Soong Sisters
• Neva Langley Fickling, Miss America 1953
• Sandra Deer, playwright
• Kathryn Stripling Byer, poet
• Toni Jennings, Florida Lieutenant Governor
• Catherine Brewer Benson, first woman to earn a college degree

External links

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• Wesleyan College Website

Universities and colleges in Georgia (U.S. state) | Women's universities and colleges in the United States | Educational institutions established in 1836 | Educational institutions established in 1839 | Macon, Georgia