Beloit College
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| Beloit College | |
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| Motto: | Scientia Vera Cum Fide Pura (True Science with Pure Faith) |
| Established: | 1846 |
| Type: | Private liberal arts college |
| Endowment: | US$109 million |
| President: | Dick Niemiec |
| Faculty: | 94 |
| Undergraduates: | 1,300 |
| Postgraduates: | 0 |
| Location: |  Beloit, WI, USA |
| Campus: | Urban, 65 acres |
| Colors: | Blue and Gold |
| Nickname: | Buccaneers |
| Mascot: | Buccaneers (Official) Turtles (Academic-Unofficial) |
| Website: | www.beloit.edu |
Beloit College is a private coeducational liberal arts college in Beloit, Wisconsin, USA, and a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest. Its current interim president is Dick Niemiec, and its enrollment stands at roughly 1,300 undergraduate students. On April 25, 2008 the Board of Trustees appointed former health industry executive and alumnus Dick Niemiec [1] interim president while the official presidential search takes place. The campus is noted for numerous prehistoric Indian mounds. Beloit is a tier one school, ranked by US News and World Report as 60th in the nation among liberal arts colleges.[1]
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[edit] Founding
Beloit College, the first post secondary education institution in Wisconsin, was founded by the group Friends for Education, which was started by seven pioneers from New England who agreed that a college needed to be established soon after arrival in Wisconsin Territory. The group raised funds for a college to be founded in their new town and convinced the territorial legislature to enact the charter for Beloit College into law on February 2, 1846. The first building for the college (then called Middle College) was built in 1847, and it remains in operation today. Classes began in the fall of 1847, and the college's first degrees were awarded in 1851.
[edit] History
The first president of Beloit was a Yale University graduate, Aaron Lucius Chapin, who served as president from December, 1849 until 1886, and under whose direction the college became widely known for scholastic achievement and for its willingness to experiment with new curricular approaches.[citation needed]
Although independent today, Beloit College was historically associated with the Congregationalist tradition, and continues to maintain a limited relationship with the United Church of Christ. [2] However, that denomination has no congregations in the city of Beloit.
The college remained very small for almost its entire first century with enrollment topping 1,000 students only with the influx of World War II veterans in 1945-1946. The "Beloit Plan", a year-round curriculum introduced in 1964, comprising three full terms and a "field term" of off-campus study, brought the college increased national attention.[citation needed] The trustees decided to return to the two semester program in 1978.
Among Beloit's more notable alumni are Roy Chapman Andrews, Robert Lee Morris, Charles Winter Wood, Jim Zwerg, and Lorine Niedecker. Teresa Heinz Kerry holds an honorary doctorate from Beloit College.
One of the campus Indian effigy mounds, in the shape of a turtle, inspired Beloit's symbol (and unofficial mascot).
[edit] Present day
Beloit College remains nationally known for its innovative curriculum, which retains many aspects of the "Beloit Plan" from the 1960s. Beloit has a notably strong anthropology program: more Beloit graduates have earned Ph.D.s in anthropology than graduates of any other undergraduate liberal arts college not affiliated with a university [3]. The college also has a good reputation in geology, owing to Roy Chapman Andrews' expeditions, as well several pioneering geologists of the 19th century, including T. C. Chamberlin and O. E. Mienzer. Beloit's students have placed well in the Association for Computing Machinery annual programming competition: in 1990, they were 11th and in 1991, 19th. They have often received "Meritorious" certificates for exceptional solutions in the Mathematical Modelling Competition.
In the 2006 college rankings by U.S. News & World Report, Beloit was shortlisted for "Study Abroad" (56% of students do) and "First-Year Initiative". It was also ranked highly for percentage of students living on campus. In 2007, it was ranked 35th for "Best Value", and overall, it ranked 61st among liberal arts colleges. In 2000, Beloit was included in the book Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools You Should Know About Even if You're Not a Straight-A Student (ISBN 0-14-029616-6). The 1999 National Study of Student Engagement ranked Beloit in the top 20% of five benchmark categories measuring the quality of the student experience, one of just four schools to achieve this ranking.
The college long hosted the Beloit Poetry Journal, but the editor, Professor Emerita Marion K. Stocking, has retired to Maine and now operates the journal from there. In 1985 the complementary Beloit Fiction Journal began, and has published an annual collection of short contemporary fiction every year since. The establishment of the Mackey Chair in Creative Writing has brought a new nationally-known author to campus annually for several years, including Billy Collins, Bei Dao, Ursula K. Le Guin, Amy Hempel, Denise Levertov, and Robert Stone. Beloit biology faculty member, John Jungck, along with Nils S. Peterson, CEO of From the Heart Software, co-founded and run the BioQUEST, while Brock Spencer maintains ChemLinks. Both are special-interest groups on the reform of science education. Beloit has had a faculty and student exchange program with Fudan University in China since the 1980s.
Psychology is one of the most popular majors at Beloit. The Psychology Department started with the well-known professor Guy Allen Tawney, a student of Wilhelm Wundt, who taught from 1897 to 1906. Psychology majors sometimes assist professors with their research. Additionally, many psychology majors conduct independent research or get involved with experience in the field. A study abroad program to Morocco and Estonia is targeted at psychology majors (although any student may apply for the program), where they engage in cross-cultural studies. Many psychology students continue on to graduate programs for their M.A. or Ph.D.
The Beloit College Geology Department continues a tradition of excellence in geology that began with T. C. Chamberlin more than a century ago. Today the department combines a course load with mandatory field methods and research. The department is a member of the Keck Geology Consortium. Started by the Keck Family, a philanthropic family known for supporting the popular children's' show, Sesame Street, the Keck Consortium is a research collaboration of several similar colleges across the United States, including Amherst College, Pomona College, and Washington and Lee University. The Consortium sends undergraduate students worldwide to research and publish their findings.
Two Beloit campus museums open to the public are run by college staff and students. The Logan Museum of Anthropology and the Wright Museum of Art were both founded in the late 19th century. The Logan Museum, accredited by the American Association of Museums curates over 200,000 ethnographic and archaeological objects from 122 countries and over 450 cultural groups. The Wright Museum's holdings of over 8,000 objects include a large collection of original prints and Asian art. Both museums feature temporary special exhibitions year round. Beloit College's campus also houses two sculpture works by renowned international public artist Siah Armajani, his "Gazebo for One Anarchist: Emma Goldman 1991" and "The Beloit College Poetry Garden."[4]
Extracurricular activities at Beloit play an important role, with intramural Ultimate having a high level of participation among students. Recently, Beloit College students broke the world record for the longest game of Ultimate by playing for over 72 hours [5].
Beloit College also has a frisbee golf course contained almost entirely within the grounds of the college. Many students find this a relaxing way to spend time, during all hours of the day or night, regardless of pedestrians or inebriation. This course has undergone many changes with the expansion of dormitories and additions to the grounds, such as the Poetry Garden [6]. The flexible Beloit students have incorporated the garden into the course. There remains some debate as to whether the garden holes are too easy and merely a means of shooting an easy game below par.
Since 1998, the college has become known for the annual "Mindset Lists," written by Professor Tom McBride, summarizing pop culture references that are allegedly meaningless to incoming college freshmen.
In 2004, the college unveiled a renovation plan that would tie the campus more effectively to the community. In 2006, Beloit College announced that it was attempting to raise $100 million. This campaign would fund a new science building, an increased endowment, and other campus improvements.
Justice Richard Goldstone was named the 2007 Weissberg Distinguished Professor of International Studies at Beloit College. From January 17-28, 2007 he visited classes, worked with faculty and students, participated in panel discussions on human rights and transitional justice with leading figures in the field and delivered the annual Weissberg Lecture, "South Africa's Transition to Democracy: The Role of the Constitutional Court" on January 24th at the Moore Lounge in Pearsons Hall.
On March 23, 2007 Congressman John Lewis delivered the keynote speech "Get In The Way" for the College's New Conscience/New Campus/New Community Conference.
Beloit College completed its new Center for the Sciences in the fall of 2008. The building is expected to achieve a minimum Silver Level LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building certification. The building cost roughly $40 million and is almost 120,000 sq. ft.
[edit] Prominent departments
[edit] Notable faculty members
Andras Boros-Kazai, History and Political Science
Emily Chamlee-Wright, Economics
Ann Davies, Political Science and Philosophy
Beth Dougherty, International Relations and Political Science
Georgia Duerst-Lahti, Political Science
Shawn Gillen, English and Journalism
Yaffa Grossman, Biology
Jerry Gustafson, Economics
Lisa Haines-Wright, English and Medieval Studies
John Jungck, Biology
Rob LaFleur, Anthropology
Diane Lichtenstein, English
Kathryn Linnenberg, Sociology
Debra Majeed, Religious Studies
Tom McBride, English
Catherine Orr, Women's and Gender Studies
Ranjan Roy, Mathematics
Brock Spencer, Chemistry
Matt Tedesco, Philosophy
Charles Westerberg, Sociology
Steve Wright, Creative Writing
Ken Yasukawa, Biology (2004 President of the Animal Behavior Society)[7]
[edit] Athletics
Beloit College is a member of the Midwest Conference, NCAA in Division III and fields varsity teams in football, baseball, softball, volleyball, men's and women's swimming, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's golf, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's track & field, men's and women's soccer. Beloit College also has a competitive rowing team that is sponsored by club funds and alumni support.
[edit] Prominent alumni
- See also Category:Beloit College alumni
- Roy Chapman Andrews, naturalist, explorer, and director of the American Museum of Natural History
- James Arness, actor
- Don Bolles, murdered journalist
- Julia Cuba '96, troop leader and coordinator for Troop 1500 of Girl Scouts, featured in documentary Troop 1500
- Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin, geologist, professor, University of Wisconsin president, museum director
- Evan Montvel Cohen, co-founder of Air America Radio
- Jay Norwood "Ding" Darling, editorial cartoonist and conservationist
- Mike Davis, anthropologist, archeologist, and boat builder.
- Adolph Dubs, diplomat murdered in Afghanistan
- Clarence Ellis, computer scientist (first African-American Ph.D. in the field)
- Suzanne K. Hale, diplomat
- Brooks Haxton, poet
- Leigh Holliday, mixed media artist & teacher of Fine Arts for Children and Children with ADD/ADHD and Autism (attended, no degree)
- Tom Hulce, actor
- John Pasquin, Emmy-nominated television and film director
- Dr. Robert Nowinski, developer of the first HIV vaccine
- Charles Winter Wood, actor, orator, Professor at Tuskegee Institute
- Pat Kilbane, comedic actor
- Michael J. Koss, founder of Koss stereophones
- Christina Kramer '75, professor of Slavic and Balkan languages
- Kerwin Mathews, actor
- Warren Miller, cartoonist for The New Yorker
- Mark W. Moffett, PhD, renowned explorer, scientist, writer, photographer for National Geographic Magazine and recipient of the Roy Chapman Andrews Society's distinguished explorer award
- Robert Lee Morris, jewelry designer
- Lorine Niedecker, poet
- Mary Jane Downs Lenz, curator at the National Museum of the American Indian
- Henry Schimberg, former president and CEO of Coca-Cola
- Margie Planton, politician
- Jameson Parker, actor
- Walter Robinson Parr, Chicago pastor
- Alfred Regnery, publisher
- Ruth Smith, Highland Community College President
- Julia Suits, cartoonist for The New Yorker
- John Thorn, sports historian
- Matt Tolmach, co-president of production at Columbia Pictures
- Peter Tufo, diplomat
- Willard Wirtz, U.S. Secretary of Labor (1962-1969)
- Amy Wright, actress
- James Woodward Strong, first president of Carleton College
- Timothy Draves, noted historian, Editor of the Journal of Life and Culture in San Antonio, English Educator, see also Renaissance Man
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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