Coe College was founded in 1851 by Rev. Williston Jones as the School for the Prophets.^[3][4] While canvassing churches in the East to raise money for students to attend Eastern seminaries, Jones met a farmer named Daniel Coe, who donated $1,500 and encouraged Jones to open a college in Cedar Rapids. Coe's gift came with the stipulation that the college should offer education to both men and women, and when the Cedar Rapids campus opened as the Cedar Rapids Collegiate Institute, it was founded as a co-educational institution.^[3] In 1875, the college was reestablished as Coe College Institute and in 1881, after a private donation from T.M Sinclair, founder of the Sinclair Meat Packing Company, was finally founded as Coe College.

Coe was accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools in 1907.

Coe College awards the following degrees: Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Bachelor of Music (B.M.), and Bachelor of Science in Nursing (B.S.N.). Coe offers more than 60 areas of study and provides the option for students to create their own major under the guidance of faculty members. Forty percent of Coe students double major and graduate in four years. All students are guaranteed an internship, research or off-campus study opportunity.

Thirty-five percent of Coe students participate in varsity athletics. Coe College has 21 Men's and Women's athletic teams and is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III. Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field - indoor, track & field - outdoor and wrestling; women's sports include basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field - indoor, track & field - outdoor and volleyball. Coe also supports five Co-Ed athletic teams. They include Archery, Cheer, Dance, Clay Target and Esports. Their athletic team name is the Kohawks, a stylized bird; their mascot is known as Charlie Kohawk.

Stewart Memorial Library houses more than 202,000 books and other materials. The library contains gallery spaces featuring collections from Iowa artists Marvin Cone, Conger Metcalf, and Grant Wood.^[5]

Coe has an active Greek social community with five fraternities and five sororities. The groups, all of which are chapters of national organizations, include fraternities Lambda Chi Alpha, Phi Kappa Tau, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Tau Kappa Epsilon, and Sigma Lambda Beta; and sororities Alpha Omicron Pi, Alpha Sigma Alpha, Delta Delta Delta, Alpha Gamma Delta, and Sigma Lambda Gamma.^[6]

Coe's Writing Center (CWC) is the largest undergraduate student-run writing center in the nation, with over 60 undergraduates on staff.^[7] It opened in September 1986 with a staff of seven writing consultants, directed by Robert L. Marrs, professor of rhetoric. Since that first year, the CWC has grown in size and influence on campus, currently conducting over 2,000 student conferences per year. Staff members have published in professional journals, and have given over 80 presentations at state, regional, and national conferences including the Midwest Writing Center Association conference.

The CWC also produces and distributes several campus publications, including The Pearl, Colere, Coetry, and the Coe Quarto.

• Fran Allison – the "Fran" in the 1950s TV series Kukla, Fran and Ollie^[8]
• Michael Boddicker – Grammy winning musician^[9]
• Janet M. Box-Steffensmeier - political scientist^[10]
• Wilmer D. Elfrink – college football and basketball coach^[11]
• Paul Engle – director of the Iowa Writer's Workshop and the International Writer's Workshop, both at the University of Iowa
• Bill Fitch – head coach of various NBA teams, including 1981 NBA champion Boston Celtics^[12]
• Edgar S. Furniss – economist and educator
• Chris Funk – guitarist and eclectic instrumentalist for The Decemberists^{[citation needed]}
• James William Good – US Congressman and Secretary of War^[13]
• Dora Jane Hamblin – journalist, editor
• Fred Hickman – sportscaster, formerly of Turner Sports, ESPN and YES Network^[14]
• Timothy S. Hillman – U.S. District Court judge^[15]
• Fred Jackson – former NFL running back, Buffalo Bills and Seattle Seahawks^[16]
• Jason Kottke – blogger, designer^[17]
• Marv Levy – Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee; former coach for the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills – former general manager for the Bills.^[18]
• Byron McKeeby - 20th-century American artist and professor at the University of Tennessee, known for lithography^[19]
• Curt Menefee – sportscaster, host of Fox NFL Sunday^[20]
• Ronald Moon – Chief Justice of Hawaii Supreme Court (1993 - 2010)^[21]
• Dow Mossman – American writer, known for his novel The Stones of Summer.
• Edward A. Ross – sociologist^[22]
• Bradley Marc Sherrill - Director of the NSCL and scientific director at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams. Awarded with the Tom W. Bonner Prize in Nuclear Physics.
• William Shirer – journalist, author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and other books
• Gary Allan Sojka - president of Bucknell University from 1984 to 1995.^{[23][circular reference]}
• Lindsay Souvannarath - convicted of plotting a mass shooting in Halifax, Nova Scotia ^[24]
• Shelby Steele – author, sociologist, political commentator
• S. Donald Stookey – inventor who had 60 patents in his name related to glass and ceramics,^[25] inventor of Fotoform and CorningWare^[26]
• Gregory Alan Williams – actor and author^[27]

• Official website
• Official athletics website

Coordinates: 41°59′18″N 91°39′25″W / 41.98833°N 91.65694°W / 41.98833; -91.65694