Houghton College is a Christian liberal arts college affiliated with the Wesleyan Church. The college is a member of both the Christian College Consortium and the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. The main campus is in Houghton, in the Genesee Valley of southwestern New York State. Houghton College began in 1883 as Houghton Seminary, a coeducational high school founded by Willard J. Houghton, a Wesleyan Methodist minister. In 1899, the first few college classes were offered. James Luckey was appointed president in 1908, and Houghton College received its provisional charter from New York in 1923. A permanent charter was granted in 1927, and accreditation by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools came in 1935. Stephen Paine was appointed president in 1937. When the former Buffalo Bible Institute merged with Houghton College in 1969, the West Seneca campus was created. Wilber Dayton was appointed president in 1972, and Daniel R. Chamberlain was appointed president in 1976. The college initiated its first master’s degree program in 2004, and Shirley Mullen was appointed president in 2006 and currently holds that position.