Living Our Mission
Diversity has always been an integral part of the Illinois Wesleyan story from the institutions' founding in 1850.
We Titans continue to be trailblazers in many regards; as an institution that continually strives for Inclusive Excellence in all aspects of our university, we have adopted gender neutral restrooms and provided added support services for our LGBQA TGNC+ students; implemented campus-wide mandatory diversity and inclusion training; support an active and vibrant group of faculty and staff - The Alliance; provided increased trainings and workshops on DACA student needs, and give an annual Inclusive Excellence award to one faculty and staff member who go above and beyond in promoting inclusive practices in their work.
At IWU students are encouraged early and often to engage in a wide variety of activities that challenge them to step outside of their comfort zones in order to grow as scholars in a global community. Over half of our students take advantage of over a dozen opportunities to study abroad in nearly 70 countries. Students of all backgrounds can participate in one of our pre-orientation programs , engage in our summer reading program , or attend our 70+ co-curricular programs designed to celebrate and educate our students about identity and agency.
31%
Of our students are non-white. This percentage that has been on an steady incline over the last decade. Additionally, IWU has experienced significant growth in students who identity as part of the LGBTQIA community.
Dedicated Faculty and Staff
As a community, we are committed at every level to learning about and strengthening their intercultural fluency. We do so through participating in workshops and retreats about intercultural communication, cultural differences in academia. racial/ethnic identity development, culture shock, inter-faith prayer space development, and online sexual assault training.