Millikin University

Shilling Hall under construction in 1902. Millikin was initially established on April 30, 1901, through a partnership with the then- Lincoln University , an existing college in Lincoln, Illinois also affiliated with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church . At this time, the charter for Lincoln University, which had been in existence since February 1865, was modified to create a new overarching university, the James Millikin University . This new institution had two subsidiary units: Lincoln College, the newly renamed, Lincoln-based campus formerly known as Lincoln University , and the Decatur College and Industrial School , a new campus to be established in Decatur. This arrangement leveraged the existing resources of Lincoln University to establish a wholly new college in Decatur. The combined, two-campus institution took the name of its primary advocate, James Millikin . Millikin's campus in Decatur, however, would not officially open until September 15, 1903. Its dedication was presided over by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt . James Millikin University maintained its two-campus model until 1952, when the two units separated to become two wholly independent institutions; the Decatur campus was renamed to Millikin University while the Lincoln campus remained known as Lincoln College. The charter of independent Millikin was approved by the state on July 23, 1953. [ 5 ]

Millikin confers undergraduate degrees, graduate degrees, and post-graduate certificates and degrees. Its most popular undergraduate majors, based on number out of 403 graduates in 2022, were: [ 6 ] Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse (55) Musical Theatre (31) Business Administration and Management (28) Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts (27) Biology/Biological Sciences (25) Undergraduate admissions In 2024, Millikin University accepted 75.4% of undergraduate applicants, with admission standards considered moderate, applicant competition considered very low, and with those enrolled having an average 3.4 high school GPA . The university does not require submission of standardized test scores, but they will be considered when submitted. Those enrolled that submitted test scores had an average 1070 SAT score (31% submitting scores) or an average 23 ACT score (14% submitting scores). [ 7 ]

In 2025, U.S. News & World Report ranked Millikin University tied for No.14 out of 94 schools in "Regional Colleges Midwest", No.22 in Best Value Schools, and tied for No.44 in Top Performers on Social Mobility, noting that the university had a student-faculty ratio of 10:1, 74.5% of classes had fewer than 20 students, had an average freshman retention rate, an indicator of student satisfaction, of 71%, and that the university considered a student's GPA an important academic factor with an applicant's high school class rank and letters of recommendation considered. [ 8 ] In 2024, Washington Monthly ranked Millikin University 45th among 223 colleges that award almost exclusively bachelor's degrees in the U.S. based on its contribution to the public good, as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service. [ 9 ]

Shilling Hall Decaturian The Decaturian is the bi-weekly student newspaper. Its first issue appeared in 1903; issues up to 1951 are archived online. [ 10 ]