Illinois Wesleyan University

The Ames Library

Illinois Wesleyan's Ames Library was completed in 2002. It contains over 368,000 volumes spread over five floors. The Ames Library also houses eight sets of stained glass panels originally from Pembroke College at Oxford University. Among the special collections are the papers of former U.S. Representative Leslie C. Arends; the Gernon collection of first editions of detective fiction and mysteries; and the Schultz collection of 18th- and 19th-century British drama, including The Beggar's Opera. Construction cost $25.7 million; Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbot were the principal architects.[10]

Illinois Wesleyan offers a May Term course option. The university refers to it as a 4–4–1 system. This allows any student who has completed a full course-load in either the spring or fall semesters of that academic year to enroll in a May Term class.

May Term classes last approximately three weeks during the month of May. Students take several hours of instruction in the same course each day for five days each week. This allows the students to immerse themselves in that one topic. At the end of the May Term a student completes the equivalent of a single course during one semester.

May Term emphasizes curricular experimentation, and also offers an opportunity for service projects, study abroad, and internships.[11]

Illinois Wesleyan offers a number of study abroad opportunities, and ranks in the top 40 schools in the nation for students studying abroad.[12] IWU's International Office provides support for over 300 global Study Abroad Options in 70 countries through various institutes such as IES and SIT Study Abroad. Domestically, IWU offers a UN semester, a Washington Semester, and the Associated Colleges of the Midwest Chicago Program. Internationally it offers programs in London and Barcelona.[13] It also maintains a very strong relationship with Pembroke College, Oxford, and traditionally a few juniors can spend a year there as exchange students.[14]

The university publishes several different undergraduate research journals in the fields of political science, economics, history, and English.[15] Perhaps the first of its kind, the Undergraduate Economic Review is a student-managed, open access journal that has published original undergraduate content from students in the U.S. and at least 15 other countries.[16] Its "internal twin", the Park Place Economist, publishes original work of Economics seniors graduating Illinois Wesleyan University. Articles range from basic topical explorations to focused senior research. All published volumes are available online.[17]

The John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference was established in 1990 to provide opportunities for students to present research projects and findings in a public and interactive manner.[18] The Action Research Center was established in 2004 to partner student research and service projects with the wider Illinois community.[19]

Shirk Center

Shirk Center is the university's athletic complex. The two-story 135,000-square-foot (12,500 m²) complex was constructed in 1994. A 20,000-square-foot expansion was opened in 2016. The Shirk complex provides a multi-use facility for squash, tennis, basketball, and other indoor sports. It also houses Fort Natorium, the university's swimming center, as well as classrooms and a six-lane, 200-meter track.[8] The Shirk Center also hosted the 2010 & 2011 NCAA Division III Women's National Basketball Championships.[21] The "Shirk" is also the championship venue for the annual State Farm Holiday Classic, one of the largest, coed high school holiday basketball tournaments in the nation, as well as the Heart of Illinois Conference basketball tournament in mid-January.

• Men's
  • Basketball – 1997
  • Baseball – 2010
  • Golf – 2019
• Women's
  • Indoor Track & Field – 2008
  • Outdoor Track & Field – 2008, 2010, 2016
  • Basketball – 2012

All halls are co-ed, all residence hall rooms have cable television and wireless Internet, and the vast majority of rooms are two/three-person units. Dodds Hall offers eight-person suites and Harriet Fuller Rust House offers four-person and six-person suites as well as two eight-person two-story townhouse style suites.[23][24] Traditional style living is offered in Magill Hall and Pfeiffer Hall. First-year students live in first-year halls: Gulick Hall, Munsell Hall, and Ferguson Hall. Illinois Wesleyan also offers two themed housing communities: Kemp Hall (the International House) and Blackstock Hall (the Arts House).[25] Nearly one-third of the campus community is involved and/or resides in one of five fraternities or four sororities. Students are also able to live in the Gates (est. 2013), and the East Street Apartments (est. 2006) which are modern, apartment-style residences that students can sign as leases.

There are 200 student organizations at Wesleyan, ranging from the rock-climbing club, the Anime club, to Pi Kappa Lambda (the music honors society).[26]

Illinois Wesleyan co-hosts the annual Stevenson Lecture Series, initiated in 1965 as a memorial to former Governor Adlai Stevenson. IWU co-hosts the Lecture Series with Illinois State University.[27]

Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke at the university twice, in 1961 and 1966.[28] In 1966 he came to the university while he was trying to organize in Chicago. There, he said,

And I still have faith in America because I love America and I believe that we will continue to build a coalition of conscience that one day will solve this problem. We sing a little song in our movement and it has been our guiding faith. Sometimes we’ve been facing hooded perpetrators of violence; sometimes we face jeering mobs. Sometimes we face dogs and the gushing waters from fire hoses. Sometimes in crowded jail cells we join hands to sing it. And sometimes in just open mass meetings. But we could sing it as a hymn of faith. We shall overcome, we shall overcome, deep in my heart I do believe we shall overcome. [29]

Illinois Wesleyan has its own radio station, WESN 88.1 FM. It plays a mix of indie, rock, classic, electronic, and folk music.[30]

Wesleyan also has its own television station, Titan TV, broadcasting exclusively to IWU's residence halls. It broadcasts a collection of movies and campus announcements.

The campus newspaper is called The Argus, published continuously under student supervision since 1894.[31]