About us

Since 1933, Wilkes has been preparing students for lifelong success. National rankings recognize our commitment to access and making a Wilkes education as affordable as possible, while highlighting our ongoing return on investment for graduates.

We’re excited about our future, with promising students like you joining dedicated faculty and staff to write the next pages in the Wilkes University story. We’re also proud of our history, building on the past to encourage continued success.

Wilkes University is a private university in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. It has over 2,200 undergraduates and over 2,200 graduate students (both full and part-time).[3] Wilkes was founded in 1933 as a satellite campus of Bucknell University, and became an independent institution in 1947, naming itself Wilkes College, after English radical politician John Wilkes after whom Wilkes-Barre is named. The school was granted university status in January 1990. It is classified among "Doctoral/Professional Universities" and accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

The school mascot is a Colonel and the official colors are blue and yellow. The campus symbol is a letter "W" known as the "flying W" by students and alumni.

Wilkes University was first established in 1933 by Bucknell University under the name Bucknell University Junior College (BUJC) in Wilkes-Barre. Frank G. Davis, chair of the Education department at Bucknell, first developed the idea of BUJC and served as an early liaison between BUJC and Bucknell.[14] BUJC attracted many students who were the first members of their families to benefit from higher education as the need for junior colleges arose in urban areas.[8] The college opened in downtown Wilkes-Barre, where the first classes were held on the third floor of the Wilkes-Barre Business College building. By 1934, the business college moved out of the building and BUJC had taken it over and continued to grow over the years, acquiring old mansions for student housing, classrooms, and administration offices along the streets of South River and South Franklin. By 1945, the Board of Trustees formally moved to develop the junior college into a four-year institution.

In 1947, Wilkes College was instituted as an independent, nondenominational four-year college, with programs in the arts, sciences, and a number of professional fields, as well as numerous extracurricular activities.[13] The student body in the postwar period was primarily composed of Luzerne County residents, especially G.I. bill recipients. In the 1950s, increasing numbers of students elected to live on campus, which led to a rapid expansion in on-campus student housing. Increased federal funding for science and engineering in the 1950s led the college to develop academic programs in those areas, build the Stark Learning Center, and increase enrollment.

Late Twentieth Century
Wilkes College became Wilkes University in December 1989, and the school officially received university status a month later, in January 1990.

Wilkes University opened the School of Pharmacy in 1996, and in 1999, through a donation from Mrs. Geraldine Nesbitt Orr, the Nesbitt School of Pharmacy was established.

The Thomas P. (Pettus) Shelburne Jr. Telecommunications Center was built under the guidance of chief engineer Carl Brigido and dedicated by Wilkes University in the lower level of the Start Learning Center in 1996. Secured after a major gift from Shelburne's widow Catherine and family and fundraising efforts of long time Communication Studies professors, Dr. Bradford L. Kinney and Thomas Bigler. This was the second television studio on campus, previously located in two small rooms on the second floor of the Stark Learning Center. The Shelburne Center became the first dedicated space built with first use equipment for the direct purpose of media education with multiple editing bays, two studio spaces, educational break out teaching space and director offices and storage. The Shelburne Center served for twenty years as the pre-curser to the Clayton and Theresa Karambelas Media and Communications Center dedicated in 2017 that consolidated all of the University media holdings for instruction.

2000s /Early Twenty-first Century
The Jay S. Sidhu School of Business & Leadership was created in 2004, and the university purchased a 80,000 sq ft (7,400 m2) building in downtown Wilkes-Barre. to house the expanding school. Initially named the Center on Main the building houses the Sidhu School of Business and Leadership, an indoor track and field, and ropes course. August 11, 2021, the Center on Main was formally named after Ron and Rhea Simms to be known as Simms Center on Main.

The Henry Student Center was expanded in 2005.

By 2014, Wilkes University grew to include eight academic buildings, 20 residence halls, nine administrative buildings, and other facilities such as the Eugene S. Farley Library, the Henry Student Center, and athletic complexes.

On April 17, 2015 Wilkes University dedicated the main university mailroom facility located on the second floor of the Henry Student Center as the Edward Elgonitis Sr. Mailroom or simply "Eddie's Mailroom" in honor of the thirty-three year dedicated Wilkes University staff member.

August 31, 2017 the University dedicated the Clayton and Theresa Karambelas Media and Communication Center, built within the structure of the original Bartikowsky Jewelers building on 25 West South Street by the Sordoni Contractors to be the first constructed to hold all the university media instruction holdings into one consolidated building. The building also houses the Sordoni Art Gallery that moved from its original location on the first level of the Stark Learning Center.

March 2020 Wilkes University temporarily suspended in-person instruction and evacuated the campus as a safety measure to address the global COVID-19 pandemic. Under the leadership of alumnus, Interim President Dr. Paul S. Adams '77 the university continued basic operations and was able to safely re-open following strict protocols. Commencement for the Class of 2020 was postponed and eventually held in-person along with the Class of 2021.