Wittenberg University

College review by Lisa Bleich

We approached the beautiful campus from the bottom and looked up at a gorgeous green hill.  The campus felt very collegiate and peaceful.  Wittenberg was named after the city in Germany where Martin Luther, the founder of the Lutheran religion lived.  While Wittenberg is a Lutheran university, the student body was very open to other points of view, ideas and cultures.

Wittenberg has an excellent education department and strong sciences, world languages, business, and English. Wittenberg students were engaged, friendly, low-key, and extremely nice.  They seemed to all know each other and valued each other.  The campus was gorgeous and the buildings were all upgraded and very nice. The residential halls, in particular were among the nicest I’ve seen.   Our tour guide, Riley, showed us her “girly” decorated room with pink, polka-dotted curtains separating the sleeping area from the desks flanked along a pretty bay window.

Our tour guide was studying middle education with a desire to be a middle school teacher.  She was extremely friendly, wholesome and strongly rooted in the Wittenberg religious values.  She was very active in Young Life as a leader at local high schools.

We had the opportunity to hear Dr. Fleisch, a physics professor who was named the best professor in Ohio.  He spoke enthusiastically about his involvement with students (even though two of the three classes he taught only had 3 students in them, the intro class had 45.)  One of the students that he mentored built a radar device that could measure velocity of objects within a kilometer.  Another female student, a math major, got an internship with NASA in Huntsville, AL.  Students seemed genuinely enthusiastic about Astronomy.

The campus is not terribly diverse, however, there is a desire to learn from others.  Right now the student body is 6% African American and 5% other (Asian, Int’l, Hispanic).  Their goal is to increase the international number to 10% within 10 years.

One of the traditions of Wittenberg is to “streak” down the hollow before graduation and also not to step on the seal as you walk through the quad.  (Of course, I stepped right on the seal while walking across the quad, so I guess I will fail a test if I ever take one at Wittenberg!)  The Wittenberg motto is to “Pass one’s Light”, which reflects their commitment to reach out in the community and make it a better place.

Wittenberg students are clean cut, friendly, and have strong mid-west values.  60% of the students come from Ohio and while almost all the states are represented, the majority of students come from neighboring states like IN.

Wittenberg also offers on average $15,000 in merit aid to students.

Wittenberg is a good school for students who want a close-knit community, wholesome kids, and desire strong, Lutheran values that influence the philosophy of the campus.