Albion College

▪ college, Albion, Michigan, United States

      private, coeducational institution of higher learning located in Albion, Mich., U.S., 20 miles (30 km) west of Jackson. Albion College, affiliated with the United Methodist Church, is a liberal arts college offering bachelor's degrees in the humanities, business, social sciences, natural sciences, and fine arts. It provides study-abroad programs in Europe, Latin America, Israel, Africa, Asia, and Australia.

      Chartered in 1835, the college was founded to educate the region's male settlers and Native Americans. The Albion Female Collegiate Institute, opened in 1850, merged with the men's college to form the Wesleyan Seminary and Female College at Albion in 1857. The college began to offer four-year degrees in 1861. In 1940 Albion became the first private college in Michigan to have a chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa honorary society. The Carl A. Gerstacker Liberal Arts Institute for Professional Management and the Gerald R. Ford (Ford, Gerald R.) Institute for Public Policy and Service offer students the opportunity to combine a liberal arts education with internships in the business and public-service sectors.

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