"S" is for Southern Wesleyan University

"S" is for Southern Wesleyan University. Southern Wesleyan University (SWU) is a private Christian liberal arts institution located in the town of Central in Pickens County. Founded in 1906 as Wesleyan Methodist Bible Institute, the university is affiliated with the Wesleyan Church, an evangelical denomination with Methodist roots in the American tradition. Since its founding the school’s name has evolved from Wesleyan Methodist College (1909), to Central Wesleyan College (1959), to Southern Wesleyan University (1995). Regionally accredited, the university offered bachelor’s degrees in disciplines ranging from the sciences to the humanities and graduate programs in business, education, and religion. By the early twenty-first century, many of the more than 2,200 students of Southern Wesleyan University were in nontraditional programs that offered evening and weekend classes to working adults at teaching sites across South Carolina.