Interesting Facts

• In 1873, the college's board debated between the name Penn College and John Bright College. On September 9 of that year, the board voted to adopt Penn College as the official name.
• During the first year of operation, 1873, the college offered as classes: Bible Study, Classical Languages, Rhetoric, History, Natural Science, Math, and Commerce.
• The Byers Art Collection was given to Penn College in 1893 at Major S.H.M. Byers's retirement from service in Switzerland as a representative of the United States Government.
• The first college yearbook, the Aurora, was published in 1893.
• In 1916, fire destroyed the original campus. Flames that began on the third floor of Old Penn Hall spread to a tank of chemicals, causing an explosion that scattered fire in all directions. Insufficient water pressure made it impossible to fight the fire. Trying to remove college records, Penn's business manager Robert Williams and freshman student Harry Oakley were killed when the four-ton college bell crashed through the main building and buried them beneath it.
• Charles and Albert Johnson donated 40 acres of land to the College in 1898. After the 1916 fire destroyed the original campus, the college was moved to that 40 acres, which is its current location.
• During the depression, students sometimes gave cows and lambs to pay their tuition.
• In 1933, the college's name was legally changed from Penn College to William Penn College.
• After WWII, in accordance with our mission, Penn actively recruited Japanese-American students from relocation camps to attend school at our campus in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Conscientious objectors, some of whom had chosen prison over military service, were also welcome at William Penn.
• William Penn College hired Madeline Clark Foreman as Professor of Biology, the first female African American professor in Iowa, in 1945.
• William Penn's College for Working Adults was founded in 1995, providing cohort-based education for students in Des Moines, Ames & Oskaloosa, Iowa. This program has grown to over 900 students. An Associates degree program was added to the CWA curriculum in 2000.
• Currently, over 60 percent of students on the Oskaloosa campus participate in our fourteen NAIA sports teams, competitive dance, and cheerleading. More than 20 student organizations, five national fraternities and sororities, fine arts, intramurals and student-run media are available for student participation.
• In January 2000, William Penn College officially became William Penn University. The new name reflects the growth of the institution as it expands to meet the educational needs of its constituencies.
• Penn’s campus has grown to 75 acres with academic buildings, performance halls, athletic fields and residential buildings. In 2006, a major building project was undertaken to add a student recreation facility, additional classroom and office space, athletic locker/training rooms, and a technology center.