Oberlin College

Oberlin College, a private institution set on 500 acres of land in Oberlin, Ohio, was founded in 1833 by two Presbyterian ministers, who also founded the town. The liberal arts college is known for the high quality of its alumni and for its top-ranked Conservatory of Music, the oldest continually operating conservatory of music in the United States. Oberlin College is a member of the Great Lakes Colleges Association, a group of eleven liberal arts colleges in Ohio, Indiana and Michigan, and the Five Colleges of Ohio consortium, which includes Ohio Wesleyan University, Denison University, Kenyon College, and The College of Wooster.

Presbyterian ministers, John Shipherd and Philo P. Stewart, founded Oberlin College on 500 acres of land donated by its previous owner. The ministers envisioned the site as a place for a religious community and a school. They named the town and school that they founded after an Alsatian minister named Jean-Frédéric Oberlin, whose work as a teacher and instructor in France had impressed them. The college became widely recognized and its standing increased because of the work of its second president, evangelist Charles Finney.

• President: Marvin Krislov
  • 2007-present: President
    • 1998-2007 Vice President and General Counsel of the University of Michigan

• Wikipedia: Oberlin College Notable Alumni
  • Eric Bogosian
  • Marc Cohn
  • Karen O of the band Yeah Yeah Yeahs
  • Liz Phair
  • Josh Ritter
  • Julie Taymor

• College Undergraduate School: College of Arts and Sciences and the Conservatory of Music
• College Graduate School: Oberlin Conservatory of Music
• College Notable Programs of Study:
  • Master of Music in Performance on Historical Instruments, Master of Music (integrated, five-year programs in opera theater, conducting, and historical performance, Master of Music Teaching, and Master of Education

• 1833: Founded by two Presbyterian ministers

• 1835: Decides to admit students regardless of race

• 1837: Admits women

• 1850: Oberlin Collegiate Institute changes its name to Oberlin College

• 1858: Students and faculty were involved in the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue of a fugitive slave, which received national press coverage

• 1865: The Oberlin Conservatory of Music is founded

• 1945: Stanley Cohen, who became a 1986 Nobel laureate in medicine and physiology, graduates from Oberlin College

• 1965: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. visits Oberlin to give the College commencement address and receive an honorary degree.

• 1970: Opened coed dormitories

• 1988: Created the American Soviet Youth Orchestra, comprised of 100 young musicians from the United States and the former Soviet Union, making it the first arts exchange produced by the two countries

• Official Athletic Site: 22 Varsity Teams