The Western College Program was created in 1974 when the
Western College for Women
Western College for Women, known at other times as Western Female Seminary, The Western and simply Western College, was a women's and later coed liberal arts college in Oxford, Ohio, between 1855 and 1974. Initially a seminary, it was the host o ...
merged with
Miami University
Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the 1 ...
. The program consisted of an
interdisciplinary
Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, ec ...
living/learning community with small class sizes and student-designed focuses. Majors included Interdisciplinary Studies, Environmental Science, and Environmental Studies. Academics were divided into three core areas: Creativity and Culture, Social Systems, and Natural Systems.
Western, also known as the School of Interdisciplinary Studies, was cited as a primary reason for Miami University making the list of "
Public Ivies
"Public Ivy" is a term that refers to prestigious public colleges and universities in the United States that provide a collegiate experience similar to those in the Ivy League.Richard Moll in his book ''Public Ivys: A Guide to America's best pub ...
" in Richard Moll's book, ''The Public Ivies: A Guide to America's Best Public Undergraduate Colleges and Universities''.
In the mid-1960s, when it was the Western College for Women, the campus served as the staging ground for
Freedom Summer
Freedom Summer, also known as the Freedom Summer Project or the Mississippi Summer Project, was a volunteer campaign in the United States launched in June 1964 to attempt to register as many African-American voters as possible in Mississip ...
, a voter registration drive in Mississippi.
The Western campus
Located directly east of the main campus of Miami University, Western College is characterized by winding pathways through forest and stone bridges over creeks.
Peabody Hall, currently a
coed
Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...
dormitory, is said to be haunted by its namesake Helen Peabody. Other buildings on Western Campus include McKee Hall, Mary Lyon Hall, Kumler Chapel, Western Lodge, Ernst Theater, Western Tower, Ice House, Summer House, Sawyer Hall (former gymnasium, heating plant, pool and dining hall), Boyd Hall, Hoyt Hall, the Art Museum, and non-WCP buildings, Clawson Hall, Alexander Dining Hall, Presser Hall, Langstroth Cottage, Havighurst Hall, and Thomson Hall.
Merger with College of Arts and Sciences
In March 2006, Miami University Provost Jeffrey Herbst recommended to Miami University President Dr.
James C. Garland
James C. Garland is a physicist, author and professor, and formerly the 20th president of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Garland was educated at Princeton University (BA) and Cornell Univ. (PhD), in the field of condensed matter physics, a ...
that the Western College Program be phased out in favor of expanding Miami's Honors Program. The proposal called for the creation of the Western Honors College. This proposal met with resistance from Western faculty, students and alumnae.
On June 23, 2006, The Board of Trustees voted to eliminate the School of Interdisciplinary Studies in favor of a "Western Honors College" in an attempt to expand the honors program at Miami.
On October 24, 2006, the University Senate began deliberations on the persistence of the program (without the ''school'' classification).
In January 2007, it was announced that the Western College Program would be merged into the College of Arts and Sciences. The Western College Program became the Western Program, Department of Individualized Studies. Rather than having a department of permanent faculty, the program would have one central faculty member with students taking classes led by faculty in several different departments. Students now receive a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
or
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...
degree rather than the
Bachelor of Philosophy
Bachelor of Philosophy (BPhil, BPh, or PhB; la, Baccalaureus Philosophiae or ) is the title of an academic degree that usually involves considerable research, either through a thesis or supervised research projects. Unlike many other bachelor's ...
its graduates were awarded in the Western College Program. Critics say the program may provide diverse courses with faculty from different backgrounds but the student-faculty bond which was a strongly beneficial attribute of Western's previous incarnation may suffer. However, such concerns have turned out to be largely unfounded. The alleged plan to rid Western of permanent faculty never came to pass. After the transition, many Western College Program faculty remained as full-time faculty members for the Western Program.
Notable alumni
* Leslie Greene Bowman, President of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation
* Shelia Curran, author
* Ryan Donmoyer, congressional and White House correspondent for Bloomberg News
* Jeffrey Horst, Atlanta Lawyer
* Chris Jennings, senior health care adviser for President Bill Clinton
*
Austin Kleon
Austin Kleon (born June 16, 1983Shelfari (2013). Austin Kleon. Retrieved from May 7, 2013 archive of Kleon's Shelfari page Retrieved on February 16, 2017.) is a ''New York Times'' bestselling author of five books: Steal Like an Artist'; Show You ...
, author of Newspaper Blackout and How to Steal Like an Artist
* Barbara A. Knuth, Professor and Dean of the Graduate School, Cornell University
* Bill McMahon, managing director of Goldman Sachs
* Jan Montgomery, Assistant General Counsel for Homeland Security & Justice, US GAO
* Thomas Porter, PhD., Senior Advisor to the USPS CISO's Office
* Tim Race, Business Editor, The New York Times
* David Rankin, CEO Great Lakes Protection Fund
* Steve Ricchetti, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton
* Ken Weil, Deputy Chief of Staff for Colorado Governor Bill Ritter
References
{{Reflist
External links
Western Program websiteWestern Round-Up Student Newspaper - Digital CollectionWestern College Memorial Archives
Miami University
1974 establishments in Ohio