“W” is for Wofford College

“W” is for Wofford College. A four year liberal arts college in Spartanburg, Wofford College was founded with a $100,000 bequest from Methodist minister and Spartanburg native Benjamin Wofford. The college opened in 1854. In the aftermath of the Civil War, the institution went through a period of retrenchment and rebuilding—especially in attracting dedicated faculty. Wofford’s improved academic reputation culminated in 1941 with the awarding of a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. The college had a few women students as early as 1897, but only with the approval of full residential co-education in 1975 did large numbers of women enroll. In the latter years of the twentieth century Wofford College was named the best southern liberal arts college by U.S. News and World Report and the college’s athletics program began to compete in the NCAA Division I Southern Conference.