Denison University faculty and staff welcome some 650 members of the Class of 2022 on Sunday, Aug. 26. To start the day, the Denison football team and other members of Denison staff will help them into their new home on The Hill. After students unpack and settle in, they will join their families at the Induction Ceremony for the Class of 2022, which features a “clap-in” from faculty in academic regalia, and words of welcome from Denison President Adam Weinberg, as well as the student body president, Owen Crum ’20.

The Class originated from the largest applicant pool in Denison’s history, and with an admission rate of only 34 percent, it is the most selective college class in the State of Ohio.

“We are so excited to welcome the Class of 2022,” said Greg Sneed, vice president for enrollment management. “This class is incredibly accomplished. We look forward to the addition of their perspectives and intelligence to campus life, both inside and outside of the classroom.”

The Class of 2022 comprises students from 42 states and 40 countries, 51 percent of them women, 49 percent men. The class continues the college’s commitment to diversity, with 40 percent of the entering class hailing from multicultural backgrounds, including 17 percent international students. This puts Denison in the company of the most diverse liberal arts and sciences colleges in the country. Nearly two-thirds of the first-year students graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school class; five out of six graduated in the top quarter.

These students will be able to take full advantage of a number of strategic initiatives that have been introduced in the past several years, including groundbreaking academic programs in global commerce, data analytics, financial economics, narrative journalism, Middle East and North African studies, and health, exercise & sport studies.

In addition, the award-winning Knowlton Center for Career Exploration will help them gain the skills and connections during their four years that will enable them to find outstanding opportunities and launch into the professions. In a mentoring environment, Denison helps students become the architects of their own lives.

Most of these students will join more than 80 percent their Denison peers and take part in an off-campus experience through the college’s expanded global learning programs and partnerships with colleges and universities around the world. Many students also partake in arts, research and internship opportunities in nearby Columbus, which is trending for college students and graduates, and has been named by Forbes as a top “opportunity city” in the nation.

All Denison students will find newly renovated social, dining, and working spaces in Slayter Student Union, as well as significant updates to Brown and Huffman residence halls. They will enjoy new track and soccer surfaces at the Mitchell athletics complex, and a major construction project on the academic quad soon will offer beautiful new social spaces for students, making the heart of the campus even more functional, and a place to linger and meet with friends. And, in the spring of 2019, they can look forward to the opening of the Eisner Center for the Performing Arts, with an additional 80,000 square feet devoted to dance, music and theatre.