Berry College

Berry College
Seal of Berry College
Motto	"Not to be Ministered Unto, but to Minister"
Established	1902
Type	Private, coeducational
Endowment	$592.3 million
President	Dr. Stephen R. Briggs
Students	1792 Undergraduate, 145 Graduate
Location	Floyd County, Georgia, USA
Campus	Suburban 26,000+ acres (105+ km²)
Colors	Blue and Silver
Athletics	NCAA Division III
Mascot	Viking
Website	www.berry.edu
Berry Schools
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
Coordinates:	34°18′27″N 85°12′49″W
Area:	5,300 acres (2,100 ha)
NRHP Reference#:	78000981
Added to NRHP:	July 21, 1978

Berry College is an American accredited, private, four-year liberal arts college located in Mount Berry, unincorporated Floyd County, Georgia, north of Rome. It was founded in 1902 by Martha Berry.

Location

Berry College is located on U.S. Highway 27 (Martha Berry Highway) in Northwest Georgia, 72 miles (116 km) northwest of Atlanta and 75 miles (121 km) south of Chattanooga.

Spanning more than 26,000 acres (110 km²), Berry College is the largest contiguous college campus in the world. The Berry campus consists of fields, forests, and Lavender Mountain. Designated portions are open to the public for hiking, cycling, horseback riding, and other outdoor activities. The campus is also home to a large population of deer (estimates range between 1,500 and 2,500). The Georgia Department of Natural Resources oversees a large area (almost 16,000 acres) and conducts managed hunts in an attempt to control the deer population and provide recreational opportunities within department regulations. There is also a wildlife refuge encompassing campus buildings and other public spaces where no hunting is allowed.

History

Berry was founded in 1902 by Martha McChesney Berry as a school for rural boys. Seven years later, a girls school was added. A junior college was established in 1926, and a four-year college followed in 1930. Graduate programs outside the liberal arts were added in 1972. Funds for campus facilities and other programs have been provided by such notable contributors as Henry Ford and Truett Cathy.

The reflecting pools located in front of the Ford Dining Hall.

Mary Hall.

The "Gate of Opportunity" is the main entrance to the college campus.

Academics

Berry College offers Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Science, Master of Business Administration, Master of Education, and Education Specialist degrees from the four schools making up the academic program. It is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the National Council for Teacher Education (NCATE), the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM), and the American Chemical Society (ACS). Berry is also a member of the Annapolis Group, an organization of more than 120 liberal arts colleges nationwide. According to U.S. News and World Report Berry is currently ranked 112th among the "Top Liberal Arts colleges."

Undergraduate programs

The Campbell School of Business offers bachelor's degrees in accounting, economics, finance, management, and marketing. It also fields an MBA program.

The Charter School of Education and Human Sciences offers bachelor's degrees in early childhood education, psychology, health and physical education, exercise science, and middle grades education. Upper-level programs include a Master of Education, Education Specialist, ESOL endorsement, master's level reading endorsement, and certifications in early childhood education, middle grades education, and secondary education.

The Evans School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences offers bachelor's degrees in art, communication, English, French, German, government, history, international studies, music, music education, music with elective studies in business, religion and philosophy, sociology and anthropology, Spanish, and theatre. Pre-law is also available as a pre-professional program. This department is also home to the all of the school's student publications including the Campus Carrier (campus newspaper), the Cabin Log (yearbook), Ramifications (art magazine), and Viking Fusion (multimedia news and entertainment website).

The School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences offers bachelor's degrees in animal science, biochemistry, biology, chemistry, environmental sciences, mathematics, and physics. Dual-degree programs are available in engineering (with the Georgia Institute of Technology) and nursing (with the Emory University School of Nursing). Pre-professional programs in pre-dentistry, pre-medicine, pre-pharmacy, and pre-veterinary medicine are also available.

Minors can be obtained in 36 different courses of study throughout the four schools.

Berry also offers an undergraduate degree in interdisciplinary studies, as well as a certification in Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

Mirror Lake, located on the Mountain Campus of Berry College.

Religion

Berry was built upon Christian ethics and beliefs. Though mandatory religious adherence was abandoned decades ago in the college as a whole, it remains for those students with the WinShape grant . Additionally, the school's mission statement espouses "values based on Christian principles." The campus has a chaplain, a non-denominational church, four chapels, and an active religion-in-life program spanning all Christian denominations. An interfaith council and an interfaith center were set up in 2004 to address the needs of other faiths among students, faculty, and staff. This has since been expanded to include an SAIC (Student Association for an Inter-Religious Community) and other non-Christian groups.

Athletics

The Berry College mascot is the Viking. Berry fields competitive teams in 18 intercollegiate sports including men’s and women’s basketball, soccer, tennis, running, lacrosse, swimming and diving and golf, as well as men’s baseball and women’s volleyball, softball and equestrian.

The Berry College Board of Trustees recently voted to add football in 2013, with track and field coming soon after. According to the school newspaper, The Campus Carrier, adding football will not affect the Title IX regulations.

Berry is a founding member of the Southern Athletic Association, Division III of the NCAA. Other members include Birmingham-Southern College, Centre College, Hendrix College, Oglethorpe University, Millsaps College, Sewanee: The University of the South and Rhodes College. The SAA was formed in 2011 and will begin league play in 2012.

Films

Berry College has been used for the filming of several movies, along with music videos by bands such as Casting Crowns. The most notable films are Remember the Titans and Sweet Home Alabama. Disney's movie Perfect Harmony was filmed at buildings including Old Mill. A short scene from Dutch was filmed on the Berry campus.

External links

• Official website
• The Unofficial Website of Berry Academy and Mt. Berry School for Boys
• Viking Fusion, Berry College's student media website