Warren Wilson College

History

The property of the college is situated along the Swannanoa River. It was purchased in 1893 by the Women's Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church. They were concerned that many Americans in isolated areas were not getting a proper education and decided to establish church-supported schools in impoverished areas. On November 30, 1894, the Asheville Farm School officially opened on 420 acre, with 25 students attending. A professional staff of three offered the first three grades of elementary instruction.

In 1923, the school graduated its first high school class. A Presbyterian church was started at the school in 1925 so students and teachers would no longer have to walk three miles to Riceville; it was also named for Warren Hugh Wilson, former superintendent of the Presbyterian Church's Department of Church and Country Life.

The first post-high school programs offering vocational training began in 1936. In 1942, the Asheville Farm School merged with the Dorland-Bell School in Hot Springs, North Carolina, to become a coed secondary school. It was named Warren H. Wilson Vocational Junior College and Associated Schools.

After World War II, the public education system in North Carolina improved dramatically and the need for the high school diminished. The last high school class graduated in 1957. In 1952, the college became one of the first in the South to desegregate, when it invited Alma Shippy, an African American from Swannanoa, North Carolina, to attend. Sunderland dorm residents voted 54–1 to allow Shippy to become a student and live in their dorm.

The school was a junior college until 1967 when it became a four-year college, Warren Wilson College, with six majors on offer. In 1972, the National Board of Missions deeded the WWC property to the college's Board of Trustees. With its expansion of programs and to a four-year curriculum, Warren Wilson enrolls students of many different geographic and socioeconomic backgrounds. This is in contrast to the original student population of underprivileged mountain youth for basic education.

The eighth president, Lynn Morton, was the first female president. She was succeeded in June 2023 by Damián J. Fernández.

A new academic building, Myron Boon Hall, was constructed on the site formerly occupied by Carson Hall; it was completed in May 2018. The building is LEED Gold Certified.

The college's pool has been closed since 2014 when repairs to structural beams were deemed too expensive. Demolition and construction of a new pool structure began in 2017. Buncombe County contributed $300,000 to the project, with the understanding that local swim teams would also be able to use the pool. Construction encountered major setbacks. Although originally planned to be completed for the 2017–18 swim season, work on the internal aspects of the pool were still underway as of May 2023. In October 2025, the college was awarded $1.6 million by the Buncombe County Tourism Product Development Fund to complete and upgrade Warren Wilson College's Aquatic Center. Construction is expected to begin in June 2026 and reach completion by January 2027.

Academics

Undergraduate

The foundation of the school's undergraduate curriculum establishes that all students earn 128 hours of academic credit, work 8–15 hours per week for the school, and complete the Community Engagement Commitment. Students earn $9.05 per hour that goes directly towards their tuition. Unlike other schools in the Work College Consortium, students at Warren Wilson do not receive traditional pay checks.

Required subjects include Artistic Expression, History and Political Science, Language and Global Issues, Literature, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Philosophy and Religious Studies, and Social Sciences to graduate and receive a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree. In addition to traditional liberal arts majors such as biology and English, undergraduates have the option of majoring in Outdoor Leadership or Environmental Studies. The Natural Science Undergraduate Research Sequence (NSURS) is the undergraduate research and presentation that is required for all Bachelor of Science degrees given by the college.

Work program

WWC has more than 70 work crews that are supported by students who commit to working 120, 180, or 240 hours each semester, helping to cover a portion of the cost of attendance. Work Crews contribute in different areas, assuming administrative, academic, custodial, land management duties on campus. :

Community engagement

Community engagement is a required activity to graduate.

Graduate degree programs

The college offers a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing, considered a pioneer of the low-residency MFA model. A Master of Arts program focused on "critical craft theory and history" was offered from 2017 to 2022 in association with the Center for Craft in Asheville, N.C.

Athletics

The Warren Wilson athletic teams are called the Owls. The college is a provisional member of the NCAA Division III ranks, primarily competing in the Coast to Coast Athletic Conference (C2C) for most of its sports since the 2022–23 academic year; while its men's and women's swimming teams compete in the Sun Coast Swimming Conference (SCSC). All varsity teams except cycling are competed under the USCAA, while collegiate cycling is governed by USA Cycling (USAC). At one point, the college also had football and baseball teams, although they have not existed for multiple decades.

The Owls previously competed as an NCAA D-III Independent from 2020–21 to 2021–22, and as an NAIA Independent within the Association of Independent Institutions (AII) of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) from 2010–11 to 2011–12. Warren Wilson was also a member of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA), primarily competing as a founding member of the Eastern Metro Athletic Conference (EMAC) for most of its sports from 2018–19 to 2019–20;

Warren Wilson competes in 20 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include basketball, cross country, cyclocross, lacrosse, mountain biking, road cycling, soccer, swimming, and tennis; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, cyclocross, lacrosse, mountain biking, road cycling, soccer, swimming, and tennis. The college also has club teams for timber sports and paddling.

NCAA Division III

In March 2019, it was announced that the college will be joining the NCAA Division III membership process, and in April 2020, the Owls were admitted as Division III provisional members for three years. They have been seeking to join a conference during the transition.

On July 27, 2022, Warren Wilson was invited to join the C2C, beginning in the 2022–23 academic year.

Accomplishments

The mountain biking team finished on the podium for 14 consecutive years at collegiate national championships until 2016, when they won the team omnium in Varsity Division II. In 2017 they finished fourth, for a 16th consecutive year on the podium. Although the mountain biking team was formed in the 1990s, the road and cyclocross teams were not added until much later. They did not compete at the national championship level until the 2013–14 and 2014–15 academic years, respectively. In 2016, the cyclocross team placed fourth in the DII team omnium at nationals and third in the team relay.

The men's basketball team won the USCAA DII national title in 2013.

The women's cross-country team won the USCAA national title in 2000.

Notable alumni

• Sara Benincasa, comedian
• Bianca Canizio, United States Virgin Islands women's international soccer player
• Reginald Dwayne Betts, poet, teacher, lawyer. Awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2021.
• Tony Earley, writer
• Rayna Gellert, fiddler
• Lee Meitzen Grue, poet and educator
• A. Van Jordan, poet (MFA)
• Vyvyane Loh, writer, choreographer, physician (MFA)
• Grace Dane Mazur, author
• Heather McElhatton, public radio producer, writer (MFA)
• Hieu Minh Nguyen, poet (MFA)
• Lewis Pullman, actor and son of Bill Pullman
• Katie Spotz, youngest Atlantic solo rower
• Duncan Trussell, comedian
• David Weber, writer
• Joe Wenderoth, poet
• Billy Edd Wheeler, singer/songwriter
• David Wilcox, folk musician
• Fran Wilde, writer (MFA)
• Paul Wright, racing cyclist

References

References

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