Erskine College is a four year, Christian liberal arts college located in Due West, South Carolina. Established by the Associate Reformed Synod of the South as an academy for men, Erskine College became the first four year, church-related college in South Carolina in 1839. It was named for Ebenezer Erskine, one of the founders of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church and a pastor. Erskine had led a group of separatists from the Church of Scotland to found a separate Associate Presbytery. While the college has always employed a Professor of Divinity, its theological branch became a distinct but affiliated school, the Erskine Theological Seminary, in 1858. Erskine began to admit women in 1894 and officially became coeducational in 1899. In 1927, it merged with Women's College of Due West, founded in 1859. In 1929, Bryson College closed and merged with Erskine College. The college adopted a Mission Statement in May 1991: "Erskine exists to prepare persons for responsible living, service, and ministry, in both Church and society.