 | |
Former names | Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (1850-1867) |
|---|---|
| Motto | Fiat Lux (Latin) |
Motto in English | Let there be light |
| Type | Privateliberal arts college |
| Established | March 1, 1850; 175 years ago (March 1, 1850) |
Academic affiliations | Annapolis Group NEOMED Shoals Marine Lab |
| Endowment | $130 million (2018)[1] |
| President | Robert E. Bohrer II |
Academic staff | 104 (fall 2023)[2] |
| Students | 777 (fall 2025)[3] |
| Location | , U.S. |
| Campus | College town, 110-acre (0.45 km2) |
| Colors | (Union blue, Infantry blue, Crimson) |
| Nickname | Terriers |
Sporting affiliations | NCAA Division III —PAC |
| Website | hiram.edu |
 | |
 | |
Hiram College (/ˈhaɪrəm/HY-rəm) is aprivateliberal arts college inHiram, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1850 as the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute byAmos Sutton Hayden and other members of theChristian Church (Disciples of Christ). The college is nonsectarian and coeducational. It is accredited by theHigher Learning Commission. Among its alumni is the 20th president of the United States,James A. Garfield, who also served as an instructor and principal at Hiram.
On June 12, 1849, representatives of theChristian Church (Disciples of Christ) voted to establish an academic institution, which would later become Hiram College.[4] On November 7 that year, they chose the village of Hiram as the site for the school because the founders considered this area of theConnecticut Western Reserve to be "healthful and free of distractions".[5] The following month, on December 20, the founders accepted the suggestion of Isaac Errett and named the school theWestern Reserve Eclectic Institute.[4]
The institute's original charter was authorized by the state legislature on March 1, 1850, and the school opened several months later, on November 27. Many of the students came from the surrounding farms and villages of the Western Reserve, but Hiram soon gained a national reputation and students began arriving from other states. On February 20, 1867, the Institute incorporated as a college and changed its name to Hiram College.[4][5]
During the years before it was renamed Hiram College, 1850–1867, the school had seven principals, the equivalent of today's college presidents. The two who did the most in establishing and defining the nature of the institution were Disciple ministerAmos Sutton Hayden, who led the school through its first six years, andJames A. Garfield, who had been a student at the institute from 1851 to 1853 and then returned in 1856 as a teacher. As principal, Garfield expanded the institute's curriculum. He left the institute in 1861 and in 1880 was elected the 20th president of the United States.[5]
In 1870, one of Garfield's best friends and former students, Burke A. Hinsdale, was appointed Hiram's president. Although there were two before him, Hinsdale is considered the college's first permanent president because the others served only briefly. President Ely V. Zollars increased enrollment, established a substantial endowment, and created a program for the construction of campus buildings.[5]
In 1931, shortly before Hiram celebrated the 100th anniversary of Garfield's birth, there was a debate in the community about changing the name of the school to Garfield College. There were strong advocates on both sides of the issue. Among the 2,000 guests at the centennial celebration were three generations of Garfield's family, including two of his sons. The idea of changing the college's name was not mentioned at the event, and the idea was abandoned.[6]
The following is a list of the school's leaders since its founding in 1850.[5]
In 1967, Paul and Maxine Frohring donated their recently acquired 75 acres of land in Garrettsville to Hiram College to promote wildlife research.[7] James H. Barrow, a biology professor at the college, founded the Hiram Biological Station on the land, causing the place to later be named in his honor in 1985. Originally, the property had a beech-maple forest, a stream and a bog, but over the years it grew into over 500 acres containing forests, fields, ponds, wetlands, and more.[8] The Frohring Forest–150 acres of mature beech-maple trees–Silver Creek, Eagle Creek, and the Observation Pond–which has many waterfowl species, along with a pair of trumpeter swans–are some of the Field Stations' most well-known natural attractions.[9] The property also contains multiple public hiking trails, and eleven facilities for different uses such as teaching, housing animals, research, and so on. Two of the most notable buildings are the Frohring Laboratory, which uses geothermal heating and cooling and was the first LEED certified building at Hiram, and also houses a miniature indoor aquarium with different breeds of fish, amphibians, reptiles, and occasionally mammals.[10] The other is the Endangered Waterfowl Conservation Facility, which houses multiple different breeds of endangered birds and allows students to gain valuable hands-on experience.[9]
A unique program established by the Field Station is the Grassland Program. Beginning in 2011, Land Stewardship Manager Emliss Ricks has been working on establishing grasslands in three locations on the property.[11]
| Academic rankings | |
|---|---|
| Regional | |
| U.S. News & World Report[12] | 10 |
| National | |
| Forbes[13] | 639 |
As of 2025, Hiram's student body consists of 777 degree-seeking students from 31 states and 7 foreign countries.[3] Hiram specializes in the education of undergraduate students, though the college does have a small graduate program. Hiram confers theBachelor of Arts,Bachelor of Science in Nursing, andMaster of Arts degrees. The college offers 30 majors and 38 minors for traditional undergraduates, in addition to pre-professional programs for specific fields.[14] Interdisciplinary studies have also been a part of Hiram'scurriculum for decades.[15]
Hiram's academic program consists of four schools: Arts, Humantities & Politics; Business & Communication; Health, Education, Sustainability & Society; and Science & Technology.[16] The college's curriculum is marketed under the name Hiram Connect, which involves four steps: First Year Colloquium/Foundations of the Liberal Arts, Declaration of Major, Experiential Learning, and a Capstone Project.[17] Hiram has five centers for interdisciplinary studies: Center for Integrated Entrepreneurship, Center for Scientific Engagement, Center for Literature and Medicine, Garfield Institute for Public Leadership, and Lindsay-Crane Center for Writing and Literature.[11]
Hiram is a member of theAnnapolis Group, which has beencritical of the college rankings process. Hiram is among the signatories of thePresidents Letter. In the 2026U.S. News & World Report college rankings, it was ranked tenth out of 89 regional liberal arts colleges in the Midwestern United States.[18] Hiram has regularly been included inThe Princeton Review Best Colleges guide,[19] and is one of 40 schools included inLoren Pope's bookColleges That Change Lives.[20]
.jpg)
The school's sports teams are called the Terriers. They participate inNCAA Division III and theNorth Coast Athletic Conference. In men's volleyball and men's wrestling, sports not sponsored by the NCAC, Hiram competes in theAllegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference. Stunt, an all-female cheerleading discipline included in theNCAA Emerging Sports for Women program, competes in theGreat Midwest Athletic Conference.
Hiram will join thePresidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) for administrative purposes on July 1, 2024, coinciding with its move to that conference as a men's volleyball associate.[21] It will continue to compete in other NCAC sports through the 2024–25 school year before fully joining the PAC. Hiram had been a full PAC member from 1971 to 1989.[22]
The Hiram College basketball team won the gold medal in the collegiate division of the1904 Summer Olympics inSt. Louis.[23][24] It was the first time that basketball was part of an Olympics; it was included as a demonstration sport and no foreign teams participated.[23][24]
TheCleveland Browns held their training camp at Hiram College from 1952 through 1974, making it the longest–tenured training site in the team's history.[25][26]
The2014 Hiram vs. Mount St. Joseph women's basketball game was named theBest Moment at the2015 ESPY Awards. The game featured terminally ill Mount St. Joseph playerLauren Hill in the first of her four college games, which set the all-time attendance record for an NCAA women's game below theDivision I level.
Student Senate is the elected student governing body of the college. It serves as a liaison between students and the school's administration, and oversees all student clubs and organizations, collectively called the Associated Student Organizations (ASO). The Kennedy Center Programming Board (KCPB) falls under the auspices of Student Senate, and is responsible for planning educational, social, recreational, and cultural programs.[27]
Hiram has close to 50 registered student clubs and organizations in eight categories: Academic, Greek Social, Musical, Political and Activism, Publications and Communications, Religious, Special Interest and Service, and Sports and Recreation.[28] Fraternities and sororities are not permitted on campus, but there are Greek social clubs.
Since 1971, Hiram has maintained a chapter ofPhi Beta Kappa, the national honor society for the liberal arts.[29] The school has also had a chapter ofOmicron Delta Kappa (ODK), a national leadership honor society, since 1962.
.jpg)
 | This sectionmay containexcessive orirrelevant examples. Please helpimprove it by removingless pertinent examples andelaborating on existing ones.(October 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
 | This article's list of alumnimay not follow Wikipedia'sverifiability policy. Pleaseimprove this article by removing names that do not have independentreliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this articleand are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriatecitations.(July 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
41°18′37″N81°08′46″W / 41.310255°N 81.146145°W /41.310255; -81.146145
