The University Seal

In 1957, the year Western Michigan University became a university, art professor John Kemper made a sketch on the back of his faculty identification card that would eventually be adopted as the official seal of WMU.

The circular design by Kemper has remained the University’s official mark for more than 60 years. It has four components:

• Five stars that symbolize the main academic units in place when WMU gained university status: the schools of Applied Arts and Sciences, Business,

Education, Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Graduate

Studies.

• A tree, which signifies the University’s continuing growth. Its roots acknowledge the institution’s firm planting through its creation by the Michigan

Legislature in 1903.

• A stone arch that symbolizes a gateway to knowledge as well as solid growth, while the missing keystone indicates the University’s growth is incomplete, with much more remaining to be accomplished and discovered.

• A pyramid, which stands for the building of knowledge and features a flame at its apex to signify enlightenment—WMU’s true purpose.

Prior to the current design, four different seals represented the University under its various names. The first two emblems were circular and modeled on components of Michigan’s state seal. The two subsequent seals were rectangular and featured depictions of campus buildings.