Wilkes University history

By 1934, the business college moved out of the building and BUJC had taken it over and continued to grow over the years, acquiring old mansions for student housing, classrooms, and administration offices along the streets of South River and South Franklin.

1936 First issue of The Beacon is published.

By 1945, the Board of Trustees formally moved to develop the junior college into a four-year institution.

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

In 1949, the Engineers’ Council for Professional Development recognized the engineering courses taught at the institute with accreditation.

In 1950, needing more space, the school moved its classes to the Guthrie Building in Wilkes-Barre.

Then, during the 1953-54 academic year, the two-year program leading to an associate degree in engineering began.

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.

1972 Colonels pull together to help the college and the community weather the Agnes Flood.

1973 Wilkes establishes the Sordoni Art Gallery.

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.

The Jay S. Sidhu School of Business & Leadership was created in 2004, and the following year, the Henry Student Center was expanded and the university purchased an 80,000-square-foot (7,400 m2) building in downtown Wilkes-Barre.

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

2007 Wilkes begins the Doctor of Education program.

2010 Wilkes launches the online Doctor of Nursing Practice program.

Established in 2012, the Public History Concentration at Wilkes University offers a B.A. in History with a concentration in public history.

2013 The state-of-the-art Lawrence and Sally Cohen Science Center opens.

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.

2018 The cutting-edge Mark Engineering Center opens to provide high-tech equipment and laboratory space.