President's Message


	Dr. Brent DeVore, President

Welcome to the Otterbein College website.

I'm Brent DeVore, President of Otterbein. I would like to acquaint you with our College and, hopefully, stimulate your interest in learning more about us.

Otterbein was founded in April, 1847. It was the first institution of education founded by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, which later joined with the Methodist Church to form the United Methodist denomination.

Otterbein lays claim to many "firsts" or "near firsts." Among these are being the first to admit women without restrictions on what they could study, one of the first colleges to admit students of color, the first to include women on its faculty and among the first to offer a program balancing a classical liberal arts education with practical career training.

The mission of Otterbein is to educate the whole person in a context that fosters the development of humane values. We sponsor traditional and continuing education programs at the Baccalaureate and Master's levels and our commitment is to the liberal arts as the broad base of all learning.

An Otterbein education has always meant more than figures and "the bottom line." The quality of our offerings is measured by the individuals involved in the process, persons of imagination, compassion and dedication. The first among these are the faculty, deeply committed to teaching and to close involvement with students while maintaining the highest standards of scholarly excellence.

While we don't impose specific values on students, we continually challenge them to define their own values and live "the examined life." We view a comprehensive liberal arts education as one that expands the soul as well as the mind and provides a consistent influence over a lifetime.

We encourage you to learn more about Otterbein and we welcome your inquiries.

Welcome to Otterbein.

Brent DeVore, Ph.D.
President