Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware announced on Oct. 23 a $40 million gift to establish the Mecum College of Arts and Humanities and to raise faculty salaries across campus. The university made the announcement at a campus event as it also unveiled a new identity, describing itself as “America’s university for ambitious self-discovery.”
President Matt vandenBerg said too many students are expected to choose a major and a career path before they have had time to explore in college. He pointed to what he called the “exploratory majority,” noting that about 80 percent of college students change their major at least once, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Ohio Wesleyan said it wants to serve those students better.
The $40 million gift comes from Mecum II and will create the new Mecum College of Arts and Humanities. In addition, several donor families have already pledged about $4 million in additional endowed support. According to the university, that added support is intended to allow faculty compensation to grow before the Mecum trust funds arrive and to increase the total scale of the investment.
The gift is also intended to raise the bar for faculty salaries campuswide, not only in the arts and humanities. Ohio Wesleyan’s median full-time faculty nine-month base salary for 2026-2027 is $82,820, according to Director of Media and Community Relations Cole Hatcher. University officials did not give specifics about what the increases will look like or when they will take effect, but they said the increases will be across all divisions.
Humanities and Arts College Chair David Counselman said the investment recognizes the value of the work faculty do with students. “It affirms that faculty are not simply a part of what makes OWU special, we are in fact central to its promise and its future,” Counselman said. The university said the new college and the salary investment are meant to strengthen its offerings for students.
The announcement follows several recent steps at Ohio Wesleyan, including the Delaware Promise, which provides full-tuition scholarships for qualifying students from Delaware County. The university has also established new transfer pathways from Columbus State Community College and created the Palmer Center for First-Generation Student Success. Officials said enrollment is growing as those efforts continue.
For students and faculty in Delaware, the gift means a new academic college focused on the arts and humanities and a stated commitment to higher faculty pay across the university. Ohio Wesleyan presented the changes as part of a broader effort to help students explore different fields, build skills for the workforce and find a direction during their time on campus.
Photo: Christopher L. Riley, CC BY-SA 4.0