News & Media

Ohio Wesleyan University Welcomes Class of 2017

Ohio Wesleyan displays flags from every country represented by its students. The Class of 2017 includes students from 21 countries, including the United States. (Photo by Paul Molitor)

DELAWARE, Ohio – Ohio Wesleyan University will welcome its Class of 2017 and celebrate the start of the 2013-2014 academic year with a convocation ceremony at 4:30 p.m. Aug. 22 in Phillips Glen behind University Hall, 61 S. Sandusky St. The event also will be streamed live at https://www.owu.edu/about/follow-owu/stream-owu/.

The convocation – or “calling together” of Ohio Wesleyan’s newest students, their families, and the campus community – marks one of only two times that the full Class of 2017 will gather together while attending the university. The second time will be for commencement, when they assemble in May 2017 to receive their diplomas.

With more than 580 students, Ohio Wesleyan’s Class of 2017 includes students from 35 states and 21 countries, including the United States. Nearly 47 percent of the U.S. students come from Ohio, with the largest numbers of non-Ohio residents coming from California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and Maryland. Nearly 10 percent of the incoming class is international, with the largest numbers coming from Pakistan, China, India, Venezuela, and Ghana.

Among the international students is Shashank Sharma of Bhopal, who visited campus for a week in April as part of the Indian reality television show “College Hunt, USA.” Ohio Wesleyan was one of three U.S. universities featured in the six-part series that began airing in June on India’s Channel V. The OWU visit, featured in episodes three and four, also is posted on YouTube at www.youtube.com/show/collegehuntusa.

Of the students reporting class rank, 32 percent of Ohio Wesleyan’s Class of 2017 were in the top 10 percent of their high school class, and 53 percent were in the top 25 percent. Ohio Wesleyan’s Class of 2017 will be 53 percent female and 47 percent male.

For those who have declared majors, the largest numbers plan to study pre-medicine, followed by economics/management economics, biology, psychology, and education.

As part of this year’s convocation, President Rock Jones, Ph.D., will give remarks and ring in the new academic year with a ceremonial bell used to convene classes at Ohio Wesleyan since its founding in 1842. Additional speakers will include Martin Clark, a senior from Hamden, Conn., and president of the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs. Clark is pursuing a double major in politics and government and Spanish. He is a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, Ohio Wesleyan Marketing Group, and Black Men of the Future.

Learn more about earning an Ohio Wesleyan undergraduate degree at https://www.owu.edu.

Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities, with more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Located in Delaware, Ohio, just minutes north of Ohio’s capital and largest city, Columbus, the university combines a globally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that translate classroom theory into real-world practice. OWU’s close-knit community of 1,850 students represents 47 states and 57 countries. Ohio Wesleyan was named to the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” and is included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.