Ottawa University

ABOUT UNIVERSITY

Ottawa University (OU) is a private Baptist university founded in 1865, with its main residential campus in Ottawa, Kansas. It also operates a residential campus in Surprise, Arizona, adult campuses in the Kansas City and Milwaukee metropolitan areas, and offers online programs. The university is affiliated with the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma and the American Baptist Churches USA, serving more than 4,000 students across all locations. The Ottawa, Kansas campus enrolls over 875 students, while the Surprise, Arizona campus enrolls more than 900 students.The university’s origins trace back to the 1860s when Baptist missionaries established the First Baptist Church in the Ottawa area, then primarily occupied by Potawatomi and Odawa peoples. Kansas Baptists initially planned to found an institution called Roger Williams University. At the 1860 Baptist State Convention, Rev. John Tecumseh “Tauy” Jones advocated for locating the university in Ottawa and proposed collaboration with Native American tribes. Following agreements with tribal leaders, land was allocated for the college, and in 1865 the institution was officially named Ottawa University. Rev. Isaac Smith Kalloch served as the first president from 1866 to 1868 and oversaw the construction of Tauy Jones Hall, the oldest surviving building on campus.