History:

Founded by Father John J. Shipherd in 1844, Olivet College's guiding principle was to provide students with the means of intellectual, moral and spiritual improvement, and to teach them the Divine art and science of doing good to others. From its beginning, the college's founders and leaders believed an education should be available to anyone regardless of gender, race or ability to pay.

Olivet's commitment to educating women and minorities cost the college dearly at the time. In 1845, the college was prevented from receiving a state charter because of its abolitionist beliefs. Nevertheless, the college and the community persevered. In spite of illness and the unexpected death of Father Shipherd, the settlers began offering classes as the Olivet Institute. Finally, in 1859, a state charter was granted and in 1863 the college granted degrees to its first class of college graduates: Sara Benedict, Mary N. Barber and Sophia A. Keyes.

During the 1930s and 40s, the college developed a national reputation for adopting the "Oxford model," a tutorial system used in European universities that relied heavily on seminars and interaction between faculty and students. It was during this period that the college also sponsored a series of writers' conferences that brought some of the world's leading literary talents to Olivet. Participants included Katherine Anne Porter, Sherwood Anderson and Ford Maddox Ford.

In the early 1990s, Olivet College redefined its direction and produced a new academic vision titled Education for Individual and Social Responsibility. This vision statement echoes the language of the original catalog: "Olivet College is dedicated today, as it was in 1844, to the principle that the future of humanity rests in the hands, hearts and minds of those who will accept responsibility for themselves and others in an increasingly diverse society."

The transformation of the institution that proceeded from the development of the new vision statement has been far-reaching and profound. It has forced the college to redesign curricula and to challenge traditional assumptions about the purposes and assessment strategies for a college education. The critical change in this new educational delivery system, now known as The Olivet Plan, is the focus on student learning as documented by students' growing competence in groups of learning outcomes rather than on simply delivering courses, credits and grades.

Moving into the next phase of our work, we face maturation level challenges to the college's comprehensive institutional transformation. These challenges continue to resonate with the three critical issues facing Olivet College and, indeed, all of American higher education: institutional accountability for student learning, building civil and inclusive communities that model democracy at its best, and ensuring equity of access to higher education by controlling costs.