Founded in 1831, Denison University is private, coeducational, and residential college of liberal arts and sciences. Denison University is located in Granville, Ohio, approximately 30 miles (50 km) east of Columbus, the state capital. It is a member of the Five Colleges of Ohio, the Great Lakes Colleges Association, and the North Coast Athletic Conference. It has been consistently ranked one of the top fifty liberal arts colleges in the nation. Notable alumni include actors Steve Carell, Hal Holbrook and Jennifer Garner, football coach Woody Hayes, ESPN president George Bodenheimer, and former Disney Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner. On December 13, 1831, John Pratt, the college's first president and a graduate of Brown University, inaugurated classes at the Granville Literary and Theological Institution. Situated on a 200-acre farm south of the village of Granville, it was the first Baptist college west of the Allegheny mountains. While rooted in theological education, the institution submitted students to the same literary and scientific instruction common to other colleges of the day.