Willbur Fisk - Wesleyan Academy and Wesleyan University

Wesleyan Academy and Wesleyan University

While still engaged in his ministerial duties, Fisk became actively involved with the New Market Academy in New Market, New Hampshire and in 1824 was appointed to the Board of Trustees. When it was relocated to Wilbraham, Massachusetts (and renamed the Wesleyan Academy), he was appointed to the position of principal in 1826. The success of the Academy under his direction was noted by many Methodists, and he was then offered the presidency of the new Wesleyan University which was being established in Middletown, Connecticut. He accepted that position and remained as its first president from its opening in 1831 until his death in 1839. As an indication of the high esteem with which he was regarded by his contemporaries, he was elected to the office of Bishop in 1835, which he declined to devote his energies to educational matters. In 1851, Wesleyan Academy (now Wilbraham & Monson Academy) erected Fisk Hall in his honor.

Under his leadership the university became an important center for Methodist education in New England. Many of his ideas were regarded as unusual in his day: admission was not dependent on religious affiliation, he encouraged the “bodily health” of students, and he regarded modern languages as being as important as classical languages. His views may be summed up with this quote from his writings: “The great object which we propose to ourselves in the work of education is to supply, as far as we may, men who will be willing and competent to effect the political, intellectual, and spiritual regeneration of the world.” To that end, he worked to insure the physical, moral and intellectual developments of his students.