User:LaSaltarella/Academics

Ohio Wesleyan emphasizes faculty teaching and independent undergraduate research in its academics curriculum. Following the curriculum change under the Welch presidency that introduced academic specialization, the school stood 36th among the top producers of PhDs in the United States, not only among liberal arts colleges between 1920-1924. Over a longer period, between 1920-1995, Ohio Wesleyan holds the 27th spot in all disciplines.

The importance of research funding per student can not be underestimitated as an explanation of the percent of graduates who pursure further graduate study. Between 1996-2001 fiscal years, Ohio Wesleyan increased its expenditures per student by 23%, while the average increase over the same period for top tier liberal arts colleges was 17%. Economist Robert Lenke argued that this increase in spending per student contributed to an increase in the school's Ph.D. creation rate, a rate that captures the number of students that obtained baccalaureates at Ohio Wesleyan and eventually earned a doctorate at another institution. During the same time period, the Ph.D. creation rate for Ohio Wesleyan graduates increased from 3.8% to 5.3% of a graduating class. Biological and social science graduates of the college receive doctorates at much higher rates than graduates in other fields.

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) compiled data on gender equity indicators for academic institutions in the United States. The AAUP report stated that "the barriers for women in higher education not only raise questions of basic fairness, but place serious limitations on the success of educational institutions themselves". As of 2006, according to the report Ohio Wesleyan has 36.9% of the university full-time professors are female, 35% of the tenured professors are women, and female professors earned 93.8% of what male professors earned. For comparion, "at the national level, women constituted 39 percent and men 61 percent of fulltime faculty in 2005-06, women held only 31 percent of the tenured positions, women earned on average 88 percent of what men earned."