Дрю университеті: Нью-Джерсидегі орман ішіндегі оқу орны

Private university in Madison, New Jersey
the private university in New Jersey

Drew University is a private university in Madison, New Jersey. Drew has been nicknamed the "University in the Forest" because of its wooded campus. As of fall 2020, more than 2,200 students were pursuing degrees at the university's three schools. currently enrolls more than 350 students preparing for careers in the ministry and the academic study of theology.

Drew University is located in Madison, New Jersey, a borough approximately 25 mile (40 km) west of New York City. Known as "the Rose City" because of its rose cultivating industry in the 19th century, Madison is an affluent commuter town in New Jersey's Morris County. The university hosts the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, an independent professional theatre company. The university sits on the former estate of William Gibbons (1794–1852), who owned the New York–New Jersey steamboat business that became famous from the Gibbons v. Ogden case,William was the son and heir of Thomas Gibbons, appellant in Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U. S. (9 Wheat) 1, 16 L. Ed. 23 (1824). and who pieced together a estate in Madison, New Jersey in 1832. He named his holdings "The Forest," which gives Drew its nickname of the "University in the Forest". The following year, Gibbons commissioned the design and construction of a Greek revival antebellum style residence that was completed in 1836. In 1867, financier and railroad tycoon Daniel Drew (1797–1879) purchased Gibbons' estate from his descendants for $140,000. A devout Methodist, Drew donated the estate to the church to establish a Methodist theological seminary. The university's campus also features the Florence and Robert Zuck Arboretum, named for two botany faculty members, containing a mixture of native and non native trees, plants and two small glacial ponds supporting populations of turtles, goldfish, catfish, and muskrats, and various species of birds including migratory fowl such as Canada geese, ducks, and herons. The preserve and arboretum both provide a natural laboratory for the instruction of students in the study of biology and life sciences and for research, but is also open to the public by appointment. Deconstructing Harry (1997), The Family Stone (2005), Spinning into Butter (2008), and The Incredible Hulk (2008)

In television, Drew University features prominently in Season 1, Episode 5 of the HBO drama series, The Sopranos, titled "College", which initially aired on February 7, 1999. In the episode, Drew's Mead Hall appears, substituting for Bates College, Colby College, and Bowdoin College in Maine., and specifically

In an episode of the NBC series "Friday Night Lights", which aired November 19, 2008, several Drew University campus locations appear, including Asbury Hall and S. W. Bowne Hall.

In 1866, Daniel Drew approached church leaders during the Methodist Centenary Celebration with an offer to build, equip, and endow a theological seminary near New York City. Drew asked that his pastor, John McClintock (1814–1870), be appointed to lead the seminary as its first president. The seminary attracted a faculty that made influential contributions to Methodist theology and biblical scholarship, including James Strong (1822–1894), a professor of exegetical theology, who collaborated with McClintock on the ten volume Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature (1867–1881), and researched, compiled, and published Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890) during his tenure at the seminary. Writings on early church theology and Christian practice were translated into Chinese for use by foreign missions.

Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, Drew Theological Seminary educated and trained hundreds of Methodist ministers. It began to expand its role with the addition of a course of study for women in 1920 when it established a "College of Missions." This course would be renamed the "College of Religious Education and Missions" in 1929 but was short lived. They established a law firm with former New Jersey governor John Griggs spanning "varied interests in lumbering, manufacturing, transportation, and other enterprises that ranged from owning the Grosvenor Hotel in New York City to Arthur's legal counseling for the rising McGraw Hill publishing empire." Drew began offering graduate level education in 1912. The university expanded its graduate education programs, focusing on religious studies and establishing the Graduate School, a third of Drew's degree granting entities, in 1955, under the leadership of the university's seventh president, Fred Holloway. Holloway also delivered on goals set during previous administrations, overseeing the renovation and rebuilding of the Drew campus, including the Baldwin Gymnasium and several dormitories. Four years later, it would expand the curriculum into other areas of the humanities. The Graduate School was renamed as the "Caspersen School of Graduate Studies" after a pledge of $5,000,000 in 1999 by financier Finn M. W. Caspersen (1941–2009) and his wife (and Drew alumna) Barbara Morris Caspersen (1945–2017). With financial assistance from the Mellon Foundation, the college established a freshman seminar program during the 1970s, which allows first year students to participate, with faculty who also serve as their academic advisers, in intensive study of a topic of hopefully mutual interest. Interdisciplinary study became a focus of the curriculum as well, with the creation of majors in neuroscience and minors in such fields as American studies and museology, dance, and writing. In 1984, psychology professors Philip Jensen and Richard Detweiler led an effort to provide a personal computer and application software to all incoming freshman, a program referred to as the "Computer Initiative". Drew was the first liberal arts college to have such a requirement. The Computer Initiative differentiated Drew from other liberal arts colleges, and continued until 2012, by which time most entering students had their own computers or wished to select their own model.

After serving two terms as New Jersey's 48th governor, Thomas Kean was appointed as Drew's tenth president in 1990. He would serve for 15 years before retiring in 2005. As president, Kean raised Drew's profile, overseeing fundraising efforts that tripled the size of the university's endowment, adding new faculty in African, Asian, Russian, and Middle Eastern studies, significantly increased opportunities for students to study abroad, increased applications from prospective students, and committed more than $60 million to construction of new buildings and renovation of older buildings—principally student residence halls. After Kean's retirement, the trustees selected Robert Weisbuch, former president of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, as Drew's eleventh president in 2005. He served for seven years, and stepped down in June 2012. Under Weisbuch's direction, Drew became SAT optional. From 2006 to 2013, applicants were allowed to submit a graded high school essay instead of SAT or ACT scores. In 2013, the university reinstated the SAT (or ACT) as an admission requirement, and changed course two years later in 2015, making it optional once again. MaryAnn Baenninger became the president of Drew University in July 2014 after serving 10 years as the president of the College of Saint Benedict. She succeeded Vivian A. Bull, a former economics professor and associate dean of the college at Drew and former president of Linfield College, who served as Drew's interim president from 2012 to 2014. The 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was shared by William Campbell, a research fellow at Drew University, for his work developing a drug that treats parasitic diseases. Undergraduate tuition, room and board for the 2017–2018 academic year was $62,000 (excluding books, personal expenditures, and health insurance), making Drew among the most expensive private universities in New Jersey. In September 2017, the school announced that it was cutting the list price of its tuition for the 2018–2019 school year by 20%, from $48,300 to $36,600, as part of an effort to make the school more appealing to prospective students who had been deterred by the sticker price, which had been one of the state's highest. In May 2020, it was announced by the school's board of trustees that President Baenninger would step down at the conclusion of her contract on July 31, 2020. In July, the school's search committee announced the appointment of Thomas J. Schwarz as interim president, beginning on August 1, 2020. Schwarz had previously served as president of Purchase College, SUNY, from 2002 to 2019 and was named President Emeritus of Purchase College shortly following his retirement. On February 8, 2023 the University announced the appointment of its fifteenth president, Hilary L. Link, former president of Allegheny College.

Drew University is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools with approval granted to offer undergraduate and graduate degree programs and professional or post graduate certificates. Drew was first accredited in 1932 and its accreditation was reaffirmed after a recent review concluded in 2016. Since 1938, the theological seminary at Drew has been accredited by the Commission on Accrediting of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada. Drew's MAT program is accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation. All of the university's programs are approved and accredited by the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry and the University Senate of the United Methodist Church. Drew is one of 119 institutions that are members of the National Association of Schools and Colleges of The United Methodist Church (NASCUMC). Drew is also a member of the American Council on Education, Council of Graduate Schools, Association of American Colleges and Universities, and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

Graduate education has taken place at Drew University since 1912. Initially, graduate education was limited to theology and was conducted through the Theological School. In 1955, the Graduate School was established to take responsibility for the academic (i. e., non ministerial) study of religion at the graduate level and allow for the development of new graduate programs. In 1999, in exchange for a private donation made by Barbara and Finn Caspersen, the school was renamed the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies. In 2006, the Graduate Division of Religion (GDR), which includes programs in biblical studies and early Christianity, historical studies, religion & society, and theological & philosophical studies, was moved from the Graduate School to the Theological School. The transition was made to reflect current trends in the academic study of religion. In 2006, the school created a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program, In recent years, the school has also added Master of Education, Master of Finance, and data analytics degrees. as of 2019, the Graduate School offered 10 degree programs, including an earned Doctor of Letters degree. In February 2022, it was announced that the university would halt admissions to their PhD program in History & Culture.

Drew Theological School admitted its first students in 1867. Until the 1950s, the school was known as the Drew Theological Seminary, and most students sought a Bachelor of Divinity (B. Div.) degree, which was considered the standard for becoming a minister in an established church. Occasionally, the seminary did issue other degrees, such a Master of Arts (MA) or a Doctor of Theology (Th. D.) to students engaged in the graduate study of religion. Starting in 1920 women were admitted as students, and most notably Olive Winchester was issued a Doctor of Theology in 1925, and became the first female ordained minister in Great Britain. The school is often noted for its strong ties to Korean Methodism. The Rev. Henry Appenzeller, a graduate of the Theological School, became the first Christian missionary to Korea. He worked to establish the Korean Methodist Church, schools and universities, and he translated the Bible into Korean. Henry Appenzeller maintained relationships with members of the Drew community following his graduation in the year 1885. As a result of his work and his connection to Drew, in 2016, members of the Chungdong First Methodist Church in Seoul, South Korea, started in 1887 by Appenzeller, visited Drew and donated a bronze bust of their patron, located outside the Theological School building. the Theological School's matriculating class includes many students from South Korea. One of the 13 official seminaries of the United Methodist Church, the Theological School prepares those pursuing ministry in the United Methodist Church. The student body also includes students preparing for ministry in other Christian denominations, and those from other faith communities. As of 2019, the Theological School offers six different degree programs.

Built in 1938 with funds donated by Lenox S. Rose, the Rose Memorial Library houses the university's library collections offering 558,000 bound volumes, more than 378,000 microforms, 10,000 periodical titles in electronic database subscriptions, and about 2,700 periodical subscriptions in paper form. The facility also includes a media resource center and learning center. The library has been designated a selective depository for U. S. government publications in accordance with the Federal Depository Library Program. Drew also maintains collections of official documents from the United Nations and the state of New Jersey. There are over 400,000 documents in the collection. Drew University houses the United Methodist Archives and History Center administered by the United Methodist Commission on Archives and History. This collection is among the most comprehensive collections of Methodist books, documents and artifacts in the world offering insight into eighteenth and nineteenth century English and American religious and cultural history. Special Collections at Drew University cover a wide range of materials from the 11th century to the present. Topics include religious materials such as hymnbooks, prayer books, and Bibles, as well as non religious materials such as witchcraft, literature, graphic novels, and science fiction magazines. Most notably, the collection holds a first edition of the King James Bible. The library's special collections include a collection of books, manuscripts, artifacts and papers of Nebraska born author Willa Cather (1873–1947). This collection, which is regarded as the best collection of Cather's papers assembled in the United States, was given to the university by several donors, including Frederick B. Adams, former director of the Pierpont Morgan Library; Earl and Achsah Brewster, longtime friends of Cather; violinist Yehudi Menuhin; and by Finn and Barbara Caspersen.