WILKES UNIVERSITY

Wilkes – a truly unique university

Wilkes offers the opportunities, programs and activities of a large university in the caring, mentoring culture of a small university. And there is no other college like us. Really. We did the research. We searched the country for a college that had all the programs and activities that we offer to fewer than 2,500 undergraduate students.  We are the only one with our mix of liberal arts and professional programs -- where an engineering major can double-major in digital media, or a pharmacy major can earn a concentration in Spanish and play football or field hockey. Our undergraduate students conduct research on global warming by traveling to the Arctic Circle and our business students can start a real business while earning their degrees. That’s right, there is no university quite like Wilkes.

About Wilkes University

What’s so unique about Wilkes?

If you’ve been looking at colleges, you’ve seen the pictures on all the websites. Beautiful buildings on a well-kept campus. Students chatting in the cafeteria. Professors sharing their knowledge in a classroom. Crowd shots at commencement. After a while, all those websites and all those colleges start to look the same. So what makes Wilkes unique?

Wilkes is a small university. We have fewer than 2,500 undergraduate students on campus, so you’ll get to know your classmates by name. And you’ll received personalized attention from your professors, not a glance from a graduate student in a 500-seat lecture hall.

We offer big opportunities. Wilkes is the only university of our size to offer the broad mix of professional and liberal arts programs we do. You’ll have the opportunity to choose from 41 majors across six different schools. If you can’t pick just one, you can double major or combine a major and a minor. Double major in engineering and digital media. Major in accounting and minor in Spanish. With so many different programs, you’ll have a wide range of options. (If you’re a math major, you can figure out exactly how many.)

A Wilkes education is worth it.The Economist ranked Wilkes University 25th in the nation for economic value by comparing what our graduates earn to what they might have earned if they had studied elsewhere. The Brookings Institution, Money magazine and technology company Smart Asset have also recognized the value of a Wilkes education. We know that our commitment to academic success pays off for our students, but it’s great to see others catching on.

We believe in hands-on learning. Lectures and study groups are vital parts of the college experience, but Wilkes faculty wants you to put that book learning to good use. Students have worked with Dr. Abas Sabouni on technology that could revolutionize breast cancer screening, and others summered north of the Arctic Circle with Dr. Ned Fetcher researching the effects of climate change on plants. Dr. Jane Elmes-Crahall and the staff of Zebra Communications, our student-run public relations agency, have conducted fundraising campaigns for the Salvation Army. At Wilkes, you’ll have the opportunity to work side by side with your professors, gaining research experience as an undergraduate that students at other schools can’t even think about until grad school.

You won’t spend all your time studying. But that doesn’t mean you’re not learning. As an NCAA Division III school, Wilkes gives you the opportunity to be a true student-athlete. You can choose from 20 sports, competing for the love of the game rather than the requirements of an athletic scholarship. We encourage a balance of academic and athletic excellence, while the Division III season also gives you the time to participate in other cocurricular and extracurricular opportunities. Speaking of other activities, Wilkes has more than 70 clubs and organizations on campus. So whether you’re an all-star forward or a comic book aficionado (maybe both), you’ll have plenty of opportunities when you’re not hitting the books.

We’ll help you jump-start your future. At Wilkes, your future as a business leader can start right now. As a freshman business major, you’ll take a class where you build a company from the ground up. No matter your major, you can work with our business incubator. The incubator provides encouragement and support for student-run businesses, from idea to product development to marketing.  One of those businesses, Kraken Boardsports, started as a mechanical engineering assignment. While still students, the Kraken team manufactured a winch that allows athletes to snowboard without a hill and wakeboard without a boat. Kraken has caught waves, business accolades and the attention of board sports enthusiasts, launching a business well before the team donned their graduation caps.  

Your success is our job, and we love our job. One of our greatest assets at Wilkes is the quality of our people. Our faculty and staff are committed to student success both in and out of the classroom. Need to get in touch with your professor? You’re likely to have her cell phone number. Looking for an internship? The director of cooperative education will strive to make the internship experience a perfect fit. Stressing about finals? Tony in the cafeteria is sure to notice and is more than willing to help with a smile and some words of encouragement. At Wilkes, we’re committed to you, and that commitment doesn’t stop when the workday ends.

We’re proud of our past and excited about our possibilities. You’ll see the statue of our namesake, John Wilkes, in the center of campus (sometimes he even dresses for special occasions). We love showing off our stately mansions, which are the former homes of business leaders and coal barons. Our history is important to us. But we’re always looking to the future. In just the last few years, we’ve made significant investments in the Cohen Science Center, the Sidhu School of Business and Leadership, the Passan School of Nursing and the campus gateway project. The near future will bring improvements to our engineering and communications facilities as well as the Sordoni Art Gallery.  We invest in our campus because we’re dedicated to your future.

What’s so special about Wilkes? It’s the size, the program mix, the value, the people, the opportunities, the past, the future.  All of these factors combine to make Wilkes one of the most unique universities in the county. Wilkes offers the programs and activities of a large university in the caring, mentoring culture of a small university. Now the only thing missing is you.

Academics at Wilkes University

College is no time to play follow the leader; it's your opportunity to become one.

There is no better time to step out of your comfort zone than the time you spend at a university. At Wilkes you'll be encouraged to take risks in a safe environment. That's not to say that you won't make mistakes along the way, but your professors and peers will be there to pick you up and help you learn from them..

Or maybe you're looking to take the next step to better yourself and your career. Wilkes University's academic programs can help take you there.

At Wilkes, we offer a personal environment and the flexibility to earn a degree while studying full-time or working a full or part-time job. Our professors are educated at the doctoral level and have earned degrees from prestigious universities including Harvard, Yale, Brown, and MIT. Our faculty are well published in their areas of expertise, ensuring that you'll earn a topnotch education that is taught by professors who are committed to providing the personal attention associated with a small university environment.

An intimate atmosphere like Wilkes means great opportunities to have a major impact on the university, or the city of Wilkes-Barre, or your community. Maybe you'll start a charity fundraiser, or play a key role in rehabilitating the Susquehanna River, or come up with something we haven't even thought about. The chances to make a difference are limitless.

Admissions at Wilkes University

We've been in your shoes, sifting through a mountain of viewbooks from countless competing universities all promising small class sizes, of course.

You're buried in endless comparisons of minimum SAT scores, student-to-faculty ratios, and pretty campuses ( take a tour of our campus here ).  All of which start to look very similar very quickly.   

Here's the simple truth: A good student will do well at any school. But what transforms good students into great learners, great thinkers, and great people are caring, involved, compassionate professors who treat students as equals and challenge them to strive toward greater accomplishments.

Very few people achieve anythingAC Online Top College of significance entirely on their own.

At Wilkes, you'll find someone who believes in you. You'll form relationships that last the rest of your life, and you will most definitely stand out from the crowd.

Life at Wilkes

Listed below is information involving all of the activities a student can participate in at Wilkes.

Clubs, Services and Sports

And you thought your high school had a lot of activities!

Early in your freshman year, you'll step out with your classmates to Club Day, where you get a chance to check out all of our student clubs and sign up for however many you like.

Safety & Security

The Department of Public Safety at Wilkes University is committed to providing a safe environment for students, faculty, staff and campus visitors. Maintaining a safe and secure campus takes commitment from both our office and the campus community, working together.

MEDUCA Bilingual Panama Program

PANAMA’S MINISTER OF EDUCATION VISITED FEB. 10-13 TO SIGN PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT

Marcela Paredes de Vásquez, Panama’s minister of education, visited Wilkes University from Feb. 10-13 as part of a comprehensive new partnership being developed between the Latin American country and the University.

Paredes de Vásquez began her visit – her first to northeastern Pennsylvania – by signing an agreement with Wilkes that will pave the way for educational partnerships in fields that include education and STEM fields. Wilkes already is hosting a cohort of Panamanian teachers as part of that country’s MEDUCA-Bilingual Panama initiative. The minister met with the teachers during her visit. Wilkes is one of only 12 schools in the United States and just two in Pennsylvania to participate in the bilingual program. 

An initiative of the President of Panama, Juan Carlos Varela, and run under the auspices of Panama’s Ministry of Education (Ministerio de Educacion), the MEDUCA-Bilingual Panama program brings cohorts of teachers to Wilkes and other colleges and universities in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom to study English and learn educational methods that are best practices. MEDUCA-Bilingual Panama is part of a national commitment to develop bilingualism in the country’s public schools. The cohort studying at Wilkes includes teachers who work with students in Panama’s elementary and secondary schools.

The new agreement was signed by Wilkes establishing a comprehensive partnership with Panama. In January, University President Patrick F. Leahy signed an agreement with Isabel de Saint Malo de Alvarado, vice president and minister of foreign affairs, for Wilkes to provide educational opportunities for Panama’s diplomatic corps. In addition, Wilkes Provost Anne Skleder signed agreements of collaboration with four Panamanian universities: Universidad de Panamá, Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá, Universidad Especializada de las Americas y Universidad Latina.