About Us

About Us

Drew University, a Phi Beta Kappa liberal arts university, includes the College of Liberal Arts, Drew Theological School, and the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies. Drew is located on a beautiful, wooded campus in Madison, New Jersey, a thriving small town close to New York City.

Drew’s one-of-a-kind, leading edge path to an undergraduate degree, Launch, ensures that every student graduates with a purpose, sought-after transferable skills, a network of mentors, and an experience-based résumé—guaranteed. Drew’s unique, immersive learning experiences include professionally-mentored scientific research in RISE and DSSI, volunteer and community-based opportunities through the Center for Civic Engagement, making industry connections in seven semesters in New York City, and exploring the world through eye-opening international study abroad trips.

Drew University’s two graduate schools, Drew Theological School and the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies, confer 10 master’s and four doctoral degrees. Numerous certificate programs are also available. All programs are based on Drew’s renowned commitment to faculty-student mentorship, opportunities for out-of-the-classroom experiential learning, and facilitating a robust intellectual and global community, with many programs offered in hybrid or fully-online modalities.

Mission Statement

Drew University’s mission is to offer its diverse community of learners a challenging and individualized education shaped by a deep-rooted culture of mentoring, thoughtful engagement with the world beyond its campus, and a steadfast commitment to lifelong cultivation of the whole person. Through its distinctive emphasis on the reciprocity of knowledge, experience, and service, Drew prepares its students to flourish both personally and professionally as they add to the world’s good by responding to the urgent challenges of our time with rigorous, independent, and imaginative thought.

History

Drew was established in 1867 as a Methodist seminary with a gift of $250,000 from Daniel Drew, a Wall Street financier and steamboat tycoon. The gift included the Madison property known as The Forest, which has served as the school’s campus ever since. Drew Theological Seminary, as it was then known, was the antecedent of today’s Drew Theological School, which empowers creative thought and courageous action through its academic programs and social justice projects.

In 1928, an unexpected $1.5 million gift from brothers Arthur and Leonard Baldwin led to the addition of an all-male undergraduate college, aptly named Brothers College. The college became co-educational during the 1940s, was renamed the College of Liberal Arts in the 1950s, and grew significantly in the 1960s. In 1980, it was granted the fourth Phi Beta Kappa chapter in New Jersey.

A graduate school, which originally focused on advanced study in the humanities, opened in 1955. A gift of $5 million from trustee Barbara Morris Caspersen G’91 and her husband, Finn, in 1999 resulted in a new name for the school: the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies. It now offers degrees in professional programs for teaching, data science, finance, and education, as well as the humanities, with programs in medical humanities and arts & letters.

The University continues to add programs across all three schools based on student feedback and job market trends.