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Wilkes University is a private, non-denominational American university located in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, with branch centers in Mesa, Arizona and Bartonsville, Pennsylvania. It has over 2,200 undergraduates and over 2,200 graduate students (both full and part-time). 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. The school was granted university status in January 1990.
The school mascot, which was suggested by Wilkes student Joe Pringle (class of 1949), 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.