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Otterbein University

University in Ohio

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 12, 2026
Entity authorityQ7109428 ↗
Source-derived summary

Otterbein University is a private university in Westerville, Ohio, United States. The university was founded in 1847 by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ and named for United Brethren founder, Philip William Otterbein. It has been associated since 1968 with the United Methodist Church.

It is primarily an undergraduate institution with approximately 2,100 undergraduate and 240 graduate students on campus. The school's mascot is Cardy the Cardinal and the school is a member of the Ohio Athletic Conference in NCAA Division III athletics.

History

Otterbein University was founded in 1847 by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. The university is named for United Brethren founder Philip William Otterbein.

As a result of a division and two mergers involving the Church, the university has since 1968 been associated with the United Methodist Church. In 2010, due to an increasing number of graduate and undergraduate programs, its name was changed back from Otterbein College to Otterbein University.

Otterbein University and Antioch University came together in 2023 to create an umbrella organization called the Coalition for the Common Good (“CCG”).

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Otterbein University” is university in Ohio. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Otterbein, University and Ohio, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA strong contextual entry point for chronology, institutions and public events when official records are distinguished from later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1847, 1968, 2010, 2023—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1846-01-01. For this dossier, Otterbein, University and Ohio is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “university in Ohio” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7109428. VIAF identifies the subject as 168331068. The Library of Congress control number is n85135149. Authority coordinates are 40.126, -82.936. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1847, 1968, 2010 and 2023.

Critical limits

Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Otterbein University”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Otterbein University primary sources, Otterbein University archive and Otterbein research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Otterbein University”?
  2. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
  3. Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Otterbein University” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.