KNOX COLLEGE

private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Galesburg, Ill., U.S. It is a liberal arts college and awards the bachelor's degree. The college offers several preprofessional programs as well as cooperative degree programs with other universities. Knox operates study-abroad programs in Barcelona, Spain, and Besanon, France. Research facilities include the Green Oaks Ecological Field Station, the Center for Molecular Biology, and the Centel Data Analysis Laboratory. Total enrollment is approximately 1,000. The college was founded in 1837 by Presbyterians and Congregationalists from New York and New England. Instruction began the following year. It was originally named Knox Manual Labor College, and the students worked on the college farm to pay their board. In the 1850s Knox became one of the first colleges in the United States to admit African-Americans and women. Knox College was the site of the fifth debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas in 1858. Poet Carl Sandburg was a student at Knox College.