Virginia Wesleyan University: A Tradition of Liberal Arts Education in Coastal Virginia
Virginia Wesleyan University (VWU) stands as a testament to the enduring value of a liberal arts education. Located in the heart of Coastal Virginia, a region brimming with history, culture, and natural beauty, VWU provides a unique learning environment that fosters intellectual curiosity, personal growth, and community engagement. This article delves into the history, academics, and campus life that define Virginia Wesleyan University.
A Concise History
While the provided text does not explicitly detail the historical timeline of Virginia Wesleyan University, its enduring presence in the Hampton Roads area suggests a rich history intertwined with the region's development. Further research into the university's founding and evolution would provide a more complete picture of its historical significance.
Academics: A Foundation in Liberal Arts
Virginia Wesleyan University offers a comprehensive academic program rooted in the liberal arts tradition. The university employs a four-credit system, which allows students to apply classroom knowledge to hands-on experiences. This approach encourages students to learn by doing, connect theory to practice, and link the classroom to the outside world.
Diverse Course Offerings: VWU offers over 40 undergraduate bachelor's degrees and a wide variety of minors across various fields. The academic program features liberal arts disciplines, including:
- American studies
- Biology
- Earth and environmental science
- English
- History
- International studies
- Political science
- Psychology
- Visual and performing arts
- Women's and gender studies
The History Department: The history department at Virginia Wesleyan aims to familiarize students with American and Western heritage, as well as aspects of non-Western history. The study of history is presented as a means of integrating college experiences and developing perceptual and analytical skills. Students are exposed to a broad range of modern historical methodologies, making connections between history and many other academic disciplines. The study of history aims at students motivated by diverse goals, offering preparation for careers in law, civil service, journalism, business, foreign service, museum work, and archives, and for graduate study, including law school.
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History Courses: The history department offers a spectrum of courses, including:
- United States History: Introductory courses focus on the study of United States history, emphasizing the materials and methods of historical inquiry. Brief surveys of American history are available, dividing the subject into two halves: from early Native American history to Reconstruction, and from Reconstruction to the present.
- Non-Western History: Introductory courses also explore non-Western history, focusing on specific topics or eras and introducing historical inquiry methods.
- Asian History: Courses examine selected topics in Asian history, focusing on regions like China, Japan, India, and the Near East. These courses may be repeated for credit as topics change. There are courses focused on specific countries, such as an overview of Korean political, economic, social, and cultural history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, paying special attention to the impacts of colonialism and the relationship of Korea with the rest of the world during the period of globalization. There's also a course providing an overview of Japanese political, economic, social, and cultural history combined with a study away trip to Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, and Hiroshima. The class includes study of Japanese intangible cultural heritage in the forms of food, music, and art.
- African American History: Courses examine the ideas, individuals, and institutions shaping African American life from the mid-fifteenth century until after the Civil War, exploring the growth of the Atlantic slave system and modes of resistance. Additional courses cover the period from the end of the Civil War to the 1990s, discussing institution building, debates over black political leadership, the Great Migration, the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Freedom Movement, and the post-Civil Rights era.
- World History: Courses cover world history from the emergence of early cultures to the 16th century, emphasizing the variety of human societies and the ways in which Old World societies influenced one another. Other courses explore world history since 1600, focusing on intercultural exploration and appreciation, examining critical political events and key historical trends such as industrialization, Marxism, nationalism, and imperialism.
- Specialized Courses: Further specialized courses include studies of the Civil War and Reconstruction, examining the causes, experience, significance, and lasting legacies of the conflict. Topics include the ongoing crisis of sectionalism and nationalism, the political, ideological, and moral conflict over slavery, the impact of expansionism, the ideological development of a revolutionary South, and the impact of the war on national politics, culture, and memory.
- Historical Analysis: Courses apply skills in historical analysis to a variety of geographical, chronological, cultural, social, and political topics, teaching students how societies change over time, analyze primary documents in their historical context, and develop independent arguments based on primary sources.
- European History: Courses investigate the history of various European cities, including Berlin, Paris, London, Vienna, and Prague, focusing on the history of art, architecture, city planning, and public spaces. There are also courses dedicated to the history of France, exploring the history of France from the beginning of the 18th century to the present, examining the various political regimes, beginning with Absolutism under Louis XIV, through the series republics and the two Napoleonic empires. Another course explores the meaning of modern Germany since its unification as a modern nation-state in 1871. Topics include the political outline of German history, the social and cultural histories of Germany, German identity, ethnic groups, the Holocaust, and Germany’s national borders.
- American History Topics: Courses cover the social, cultural, religious, and demographic changes that took place over two centuries in early American history. Topics studied include Native American life; encounters between whites and Indians; the political, economic, and social formation of the colonies; free and enslaved black life; African, European, and American cultural development; and religion, among others. There are also courses that provide an intensive exploration of major themes, events, and individuals in United States history between Thomas Jefferson’s presidency and the Spanish-American War. Topics include territorial and governmental expansion, the politics of slavery and freedom, the Civil War and its aftermath, the industrial revolution, urbanization, imperial adventurism, and other transformations that marked this tumultuous and fascinating time in history.
- Virginia History: A course explores the history of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Topics include Powhatan culture, early colonial life, the origins of slavery and the construction of race, gentry and slave culture, the Civil War, and the 20th century.
- Interdisciplinary Examinations: Interdisciplinary examinations of major social issues in American history such as slavery, racial equality, and the status of women are offered. Explores the religious influences, background, and context of these social issues which have had a profound effect on American history and continue to reverberate in American society today.
- Radicalism and Violence in American History: A course examines dissent, radical politics, terrorism, and political violence in American history from the colonial era to the present.
- American Foreign Policy: A course examines the major themes, events, ideas, and consequences of American foreign policy from the French and Indian Wars through Woodrow Wilson’s attempt to re-shape international relations in the aftermath of World War I.
Experiential Learning: Virginia Wesleyan emphasizes experiential learning, encouraging students to connect their classroom knowledge with real-world experiences. The Department has a robust Internship program which places students at historical sites, museums, and archives in the region.
Senior Capstone Experience: Through the Senior Capstone Experience (SIE), history majors complete advanced creative and scholarly work to prepare them for future employment in business, law, government or academia. Students research and write their senior theses with the guidance of the faculty, culminating in an oral defense of the thesis and a public presentation. Students are encouraged to present their research at undergraduate conferences, where they often win prizes.
Preparation for Future Careers: The study of history at VWU is aimed at students who are motivated by diverse goals. It offers excellent preparation for careers in law, civil service, journalism, business, foreign service, museum work and archives, and for graduate study, including law school. Many history students work in law, journalism, government, politics, and international affairs, as well as other fields. Businesses seek history majors because of the keen analytical and writing skills they offer.
Campus Life: A Close-Knit Community
Virginia Wesleyan prides itself on its small, intimate campus, which allows students to feel comfortable and at home almost immediately. With a beautiful, 300-acre coastal campus, VWU offers a wide array of activities and opportunities for students to engage in campus life.
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Residential Life: The university maintains a residential requirement that requires most students to reside in recognized University housing facilities. The residence halls at VWU are designed to offer a sense of community. It is in the residence halls that students find opportunities for cultural, educational, social, and recreational enrichment. Two of the four villages are modeled after Thomas Jefferson’s Oxford-Cambridge plan.
Student Activities: From campus traditions to Fraternity and Sorority Life, intramural sports, and 50+ clubs and organizations, there is always something to keep body and soul active and engaged on campus. On any given day at Virginia Wesleyan students can be found participating in athletics, singing with the choir, rehearsing for a play, planning for an art show, gathering news for the student newspaper, leading prayer and Bible study, partaking in an aerobics or rock climbing session, and engaging in social activities. The student activity committee offers everything from bingo to laser tag and goat yoga. Other ways to relax include recreational activities like using the pool, the rock wall, the indoor track, the gymnasium, and the pool table in the student center. When the weather is nice, students spend time outside at Chick's Beach, and many students enjoy trying the "delicious restaurants around Norfolk" and Virginia Beach.
Marlin Ministries: Virginia Wesleyan is committed to providing opportunities for spiritual growth and exploration through MarlinMinistries.
A Supportive Community: Students "can easily build strong relationship[s]" among this "close-knit community" of "laid back" yet "friendly and outgoing" peers who are "open to new things." As one student says, "Whatever you are interested in, you can easily find a group of people that connect with you. Our school is so inviting that it's hard to not fit in somewhere." Another student emphasizes the inclusive nature of the student body, saying, "I feel like my school is extremely accepting, and we have events for all cultures, beliefs, and extracurricular [activities] all the time."
Health and Well-being: Virginia Wesleyan University strives to create and support a healthy campus community. The well-being of our students is of the utmost importance; as a result we offer numerous resources, programs and safety nets to assist our students in creating and maintaining their physical, emotional, social, financial and intellectual health. All residential students have access to individual counseling services at no additional cost. There is not a cap or limit on the amount of counseling appointments a student has access to during their residential experience. Residential students further have access to all mental health programming events hosted by the Counseling Services office.
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Location: Virginia Wesleyan University is located in Coastal Virginia, a diverse and vibrant region rich in history, culture, natural resources, and thriving industry. Virginia Wesleyan is in world-famous Virginia Beach, Virginia, just miles from the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay, and part of a metropolitan region of 1.7 million people. Its serene 300-acre campus is largely forested and enjoys remarkable proximity to some of Virginia’s major cities. Situated in between Norfolk and Virginia Beach, the state’s two most populous, it is also 10 miles from Chesapeake, the third. It is a part of a metropolitan area with a population that exceeds one and a half million.
Transportation: Transportation to the campus from the surrounding community includes taxies and buses. The nearest airport is the Norfolk International Airport, located approximately 3 miles from campus. A major interstate highway, I-64, passes near the campus. From I-64 one should take the Northampton Blvd. (Rte. 13, Exit 282) exit toward the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, making an immediate right turn at the first light (Wesleyan Drive). If approaching from the Chesapeake Bay on Rte. 13, proceed to the last light before I-64.
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