OLIVET COLLEGE

private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Olivet, Mich., U.S. It is affiliated with the Congregational Christian Church and the United Church of Christ. It is a liberal arts college offering bachelor's degree programs in business, communications, education, arts and sciences, and music. The college's facilities include an observatory and a 60-acre (24-hectare) nature preserve known as Kirkell Del. Total enrollment is approximately 700. Olivet, established in 1844, was the second coeducational college in the United States. The Soronian Society, the oldest collegiate sorority in the nation, was founded at Olivet College in 1847. The college's music conservatory, opened in 1874, was renamed Margaret Upton Conservatory of Music in 1974. In 1888 Olivet, along with two other colleges, formed the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association, the oldest such association in the United States. Author Ford Madox Ford and historian Gottfried Mann were among its notable faculty members.