HIRAM COLLEGE

private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Hiram, Ohio, U.S. It is a liberal arts college affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Along with B.A. degrees in arts, sciences, religion, philosophy, and social sciences, it offers preprofessional programs in subjects such as dentistry, law, optometry, and physical therapy. Among its cooperative program offerings are engineering degrees from Washington and Case Western Reserve universities and nursing degrees from Case and the University of Akron. Among its foreign exchange programs are those with Mithibai College of the University of Bombay, India, and Kansai University of Foreign Studies in Osaka, Japan. Its teaching facilities include the James H. Barrow Field Station, which includes a maple-beech climax forest; the Northwoods Field Station, in Hiawatha National Forest near Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula; and an electron microscope laboratory in the biology department. Total enrollment exceeds 1,100. Hiram College was founded by Christian Church members in 1850 as Western Reserve Eclectic Institute. James A. Garfield, 20th U.S. president, was a student, English teacher, and, in 185760, principal of the institute. The school became Hiram College in 1867. In 1934 it pioneered a single-course plan, in which a student studied each subject exclusively for nine weeks. In 1977 Weekend College, for adult students, was initiated. Poet Vachel Lindsay attended Hiram College.