Bucknell University history

In 1850, the department moved into the first building completed on campus, now called Taylor Hall.

The school's first commencement was held on August 20, 1851, for a graduation class of seven men.

Built for $8,000 ($250,000 today), the building housed both women's and men's studies until the opening of the Female Institute in 1852.

Bucknell's long connection with the Southeast Asian nation dates to the enrollment of Maung Shaw Loo at the University at Lewisburg in 1858.

In 1881, facing dire financial circumstances, the university turned to William Bucknell, a charter member of the board of trustees, for help.

Women were first admitted in 1883.

In 1886, in recognition of Bucknell's support of the school, the trustees voted unanimously to change the name of the University at Lewisburg to Bucknell University.

The first elective course in civil engineering, for example, was offered in the academic year 1893-94.

Bachelor of science degrees in education were awarded for the first time in 1925.

When the Depression brought a drop in enrollment in 1933, several members of the faculty were "loaned" to found a new institution: Bucknell Junior College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

1936 First issue of The Beacon is published.

1947 Bucknell University Junior College becomes Wilkes College, an independent, nondenominational, four-year college.

The first computer on campus was installed in 1957.

In 1962, building on its long-standing programs in chemical, civil, electrical and mechanical engineering, Bucknell formally established the College of Engineering, naming Herbert Eckberg its first dean.

1965 Wilkes dedicates the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center for the Performing Arts.

1968 The Farley Library, named in honor of President Eugene S. Farley, opens its doors.

He won critical acclaim with the collection Lies (1969), which contains lyrical yet vituperative poems railing against human callousness and dishonesty.

1973 Wilkes establishes the Sordoni Art Gallery.

His mature style first appeared in With Ignorance (1977), which is an exploration of the American psyche rather than a diatribe, and its long-lined conversational poems have a dramatic and investigative quality.

1980 Max Rosenn Lecture Series in Law and Humanities is established.

1982 Students begin moving into the new Evans Hall.

1984 Christopher Breiseth becomes the fourth president.

1989 Arnaud C. Marts Center welcomes its first athletes.

1990 Wilkes College gains academic prominence and transforms into Wilkes University.

1993 The University opens the Allan P. Kirby Center for Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, serving campus and the community.

1995 The John Wilkes statue begins its watch over campus, and Breiseth Hall, then known as the Classroom Office Building (COB), opens its doors.

1996 The University establishes the School of Pharmacy, which became the Nesbitt School of Pharmacy three years late.

1999 A new student center, later named for Frank and Dorothea Henry, opens.

2004 Wilkes launches the Jay S. Sidhu School of Business and Leadership.

2005 The first students begin the low-residency creative writing master’s program.

2007 Wilkes begins the Doctor of Education program.

In 2008, building on a history of management education at Bucknell that goes back a century, Bucknell launched a new School of Management within the College of Arts & Sciences.

2010 Wilkes launches the online Doctor of Nursing Practice program.

Academic West opened in fall 2013.

2014 The University celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Sidhu School of Business and Leadership with the dedication of its new home at the University Center on Main.

2015 Wilkes creates the Passan School of Nursing.

The college was named the Kenneth W. Freeman College of Management in 2018 in recognition of a philanthropic commitment of more than $25 million by Kenneth W. Freeman '72 and his wife, Janice.

2019 The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education categorizes Wilkes as a doctoral university, reflecting an increased focus on research and scholarship.