University of Montevallo

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University of Montevallo
Umontevallo-seal-not-the-animal-the-logo.jpg
Motto Alabama's Public Liberal Arts University®
Established 1896
Type Public Liberal Arts University
President John W. Stewart III, Ph.D.
Provost Terry G. Roberson, Ed.D.
Academic staff 200
Admin. staff 175
Students 2,885 (Spring 2011)
Undergraduates 2,346
Postgraduates 539
Location Montevallo, Alabama, USA
Coordinates: 33°06′14″N 86°51′54″W / 33.10378°N 86.86497°W / 33.10378; -86.86497
Campus Rural
Colors Purple and Gold            
Nickname UM
Mascot Falcons
Affiliations NCAA Division II; PBC
Website www.montevallo.edu

The University of Montevallo is a four-year public university located in Montevallo, Alabama, USA. Founded in 1896, it is Alabama's only public liberal arts college and a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. Programs are offered through the Michael E. Stephens College of Business, College of Arts and Sciences, College of Education, College of Fine Arts, and graduate studies in Business, Education, English and Speech-Language Pathology. Its current president, John W. Stewart III, was formerly Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida. Dr. Stewart succeeded Philip C. Williams, who left after four years of service to the university.

The University of Montevallo continues to ascend the rankings of “America’s Best Colleges,” published by U.S. News & World Report. According to rankings for the 2012 edition, released Sept. 13, UM is once again ranked as the No. 1 public master’s-level university in Alabama, a distinction it has held each year since 2008. For 2012, Montevallo is listed as the 11th best public university in the South in its division, climbing three positions from last year’s rank of 14th.

Overall in the South, UM ranked 36th, up four positions from 40th last year and 23 positions from its 2007 ranking of 59th. Schools in 12 states make up the South geographic region.

Montevallo earned high marks for academic reputation, freshman retention rate, graduation rate, entering freshmen test scores and class rank, small class sizes and low student-faculty ratio.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

Alabama Girls' Industrial School
Main Hall
University of Montevallo is located in Alabama
Location: Bounded by Middle Campus Dr., Oak, Bloch and Middle Sts., Montevallo, Alabama
Coordinates: 33°6′10″N 86°51′57″W / 33.10278°N 86.86583°W / 33.10278; -86.86583
Area: 25.7 acres (10.4 ha)
Built: 1851
Architectural style: Colonial Revival, Greek Revival, Federal
Governing body: Local
NRHP Reference#: 78000509[2]
Added to NRHP: December 11, 1978

The University of Montevallo opened in October 1896 as the Alabama Girls’ Industrial School (AGIS), a women-only technical school that also offered high school-level courses. AGIS became the Alabama Girls’ Technical Institute in 1911, further adding "and College for Women" in 1919. The school gradually phased into being a traditional degree-granting institution, becoming Alabama College, State College for Women in 1923.

The school's supporters lobbied the Alabama Legislature which passed a bill on January 15, 1956 that dropped the designation "State College for Women", effectively making the school coeducational ( though its student body still maintains a 7:5 ratio of women to men). The first men entered the school that same month. In 1965, the board of trustees authorized President D. P. Culp to sign the Certificates of Assurance of Compliance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964.[3] In the fall of 1968, three African American women, Carolyn Buprop, Ruby Kennbrew, and Dorothy (Lilly) Turner, enrolled in the university.[3] On September 1, 1969, Alabama College was renamed the University of Montevallo.

Montevallo is located in the geographic center of the state of Alabama in an area rich with Civil War history. With slightly over 3,000 students, the university generates a significant economic impact on the surrounding communities in Shelby County.

Many of the buildings on campus predate the founding of the college, including King House and Reynolds Hall. The King House is reserved for special guests of the campus, and Reynolds Hall is still used by the Theater Department and alumni relations. King House was reportedly the first home in Alabama to receive pane glass windows.

Montevallo's campus is considered an architectural jewel. Its appearance is more in line with private, elite institutions. The central part of campus is a National Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The main portion of the campus was designed by the Olmsted Brothers firm, who also designed the Biltmore House grounds in North Carolina. Frederick Law Olmsted designed Central Park in New York.

[edit] Courses of study

[edit] College of Arts and Sciences

[edit] Michael E. Stephens College of Business

[edit] College of Education

  • Early Childhood - BA, BS
  • Elementary - BA, BS
  • Family & Consumer Sciences - BA, BS
    • Concentration in Child & Family Studies
    • Concentration in Dietetics
    • Concentration in Family & Consumer Sciences Education
    • Concentration in Interior Design
    • Concentration in Retail Merchandising
  • Kinesiology - BS

[edit] College of Fine Arts

[edit] The Graduate School

[edit] Campus resources

[edit] The James Wylie Shepherd Observatory

The James Wylie Shepherd Observatory at the University of Montevallo is located roughly 3 miles from the main campus on the 150-acre Gentry Springs site owned by the university. The site offersexcellent dark-sky observing in a convenient locale. It is the most state-of-the-art astronomical facility in Alabama. The JWSO is capable of world-class astronomical telescopic observation and astrophotography, has a dedicated telescope for solar viewing, and is one of very few observatories in the country that is designed specifically to be completely accessible to people of all disabilities. Besides its observing capabilities, the JWSO will be a green facility, employing self-composting toilets, filtered rainwater and solar-generated electricity.

The facility is currently used by UM classes, the Montevallo Astronomical Society, AMSTI partners, and a variety of area K-12 classes and other local groups. There are also regularly-scheduled public viewing nights that are free of charge.

Upon completion, the observing complex will house an outdoor planetarium/amphitheater, a docent's cabin, walking trails, a digital indoor planetarium, a visiting scholar's dormitory, educational exhibits, and a visitors’ center in which groups can see images generated by the main telescope. Additional smaller scopes for solar and planetary observing can be set up at various locations outside the main dome, which is surrounded by solar-powered outdoor low-level lighting.

For a schedule of events, maps, photos and more information, visit www.jwso.org.

[edit] Ebenezer Swamp Ecological Preserve

The University of Montevallo’s Ebenezer Swamp consists of approximately 60 acres (240,000 m2) of wooded wetlands, and is located on near the headwaters of Spring Creek, approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) northeast of the University in central Alabama. Spring Creek and Ebenezer Swamp form a portion of the headwaters for the ecologically diverse and environmentally sensitive Cahaba River Watershed. The Cahaba is the longest remaining free-flowing river, has more species of fish per mile than any river in North America, and is one of eight river biodiversity hotspots in the U.S.

UM is creating the Ebenezer Swamp Wetlands Interpretive and Research Center (ESWIRC) to focus greater research on wetland ecology and to increase educational opportunities for high school and middle school students from across the state of Alabama. Research goals center on: establishing and maintaining an inventory of plant, animal, and fungal species; monitoring water quality, rainfall, and stream flow rates, and future studies of wetland ecological processes and the effects of encroachment along the swamp margin. Education goals center on raising the profile of the ecologic importance of wetlands to high school and middle school students, while simultaneously providing them with a sound introduction to the underlying principles of biology.

[edit] Greek Life

[edit] Interfraternity Council

Alpha Kappa Lambda (Gamma Delta, 1995)

Alpha Tau Omega (Eta Omega, 1972)

Delta Chi (Montevallo, 1972)

Lambda Chi Alpha (Sigma-Epsilon, 1972)

Pi Kappa Alpha (Theta Beta, 1974)

[edit] Panhellenic Council

Alpha Delta Pi (Zeta Delta, 1971)

Alpha Gamma Delta (Gamma Upsilon, 1972)

Chi Omega (Tau Kappa, 1971)

Delta Gamma (Zeta Nu, 1991)

Phi Mu (Kappa Chi, 1972)

[edit] National Pan-Hellenic Council

Alpha Kappa Alpha (Mu Mu, 1978)

Alpha Phi Alpha (Nu Tau, 1978)

Delta Sigma Theta (Nu Omicron, 1977)

Kappa Alpha Psi (Xi Upsilon, 1995)

Zeta Phi Beta (Tau Pi, 1998)

[edit] Athletics

The University of Montevallo fields 10 NCAA Division II athletic teams[4] that currently compete in the Peach Belt Conference. Men's athletics include: baseball, basketball, soccer, golf and cross-country. Women's athletics include: basketball, soccer, golf, cross-country, tennis and volleyball.

[edit] Men's basketball

  • 2004 GSC Champion
  • 2005 GSC Champion
  • 2006 NCAA South Region Champions
  • 2006 NCAA Elite Eight Quarterfinalists
  • 2007 GSC Champion
  • 2007 NCAA South Region Champions
  • 2007 NCAA Elite Eight Quarterfinalists

[edit] Men's baseball

  • 2006 NCAA South Central Region Champions
  • 2006 NCAA National Semifinalist

[edit] Men's soccer

  • 1999 GSC Champions
  • 2004 GSC Champions
  • 2007 NCAA South Region Champions
  • 2007 Final Four
  • 2010 PBC Champions

[edit] Notable faculty and staff

  • Eugene Bondurant Sledge, PhD, recounted his experiences in the Pacific theater of World War II in the book With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa. He is portrayed in the HBO miniseries "The Pacific". He was a professor of biology and a specialist in ornithology at the university until his death in 2001.
  • Eva Olivia Golson, PhD, a longtime professor of English, was one of the first female graduates of the University of Chicago, earning a doctorate in literature. An annual scholarship named in her memory is awarded to an outstanding rising senior majoring in English.
  • Garnie W. McGinty, a Louisiana historian taught briefly at UM prior to his longtime association with Louisiana Tech University
  • Julia Tutwiler, 19th-century champion of equal educational opportunities for Alabama women, secured the funding that enabled AGIS to open in 1896. She also served as the first president of Alabama Normal College (now the University of West Alabama) and wrote a poem, "Alabama," that was later adapted as the official state song.
  • William Sledge Cobb, the university's writer-in-residence for 13 years, is a critically acclaimed novelist and short-story writer whose works include Coming of Age at the Y, A Walk through Fire (nominated for the 1992 Pulitzer Prize), Harry Reunited, and A Spring of Souls. He is the 2007 recipient of the Alabama Writers' Forum's Harper Lee Award for a Distinguished Alabama Writer.

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] Traditions

The school mascot is a falcon, and the colors are purple and gold.

[edit] Crook Week/Senior March

Traditionally, Crook Week was a week in late October when the senior class women would hide the "crook"—a staff shaped roughly like a shepherd's crook—and give obscure clues for the underclass women who were to find it. At the end of Crook Week was Senior March. When the chimes struck thirteen, if the underclass women did not find the crook, the seniors march on them, getting them out of their rooms and onto Main Quad where they would have a shaving cream and water balloon battle. If the underclass women found the crook, they were safe that year. This tradition ended in the 1990s because the administration considered it hazing.

Today, Crook Week occurs the week before Founder's Day. The administration hides the crook and leaves clues as to where it can be found. The finder of the crook gets recognized at Founder's Day with a small cash prize.

[edit] Life Raft Debate

The Life Raft Debate is an annual event sponsored by the Philosophy Club. The debate has occurred each fall semester since 1998, making it the longest continually-held debate of its type.[citation needed] The debate occurs on the second Thursday in October during the university’s Founders’ Day commemoration.

In the Life Raft Debate, the audience is asked imagine that there has been a nuclear war and that they, as the survivors, are setting sail to rebuild society from the ground up. There is a group of professors vying to win the coveted Oar and get on the raft, and only one seat is left. Each professor has to argue that his or her discipline is the one indispensable area of study that the new civilization will need to flourish. At the end of the debating, the audience votes and the lucky winner claims the Oar and climbs aboard, waving goodbye to the others. Each professor gets to give an introductory account of his or her discipline, then give a brief rebuttal to the others, and, finally, the audience votes all but one panelist off. Often, a seventh participant, the Devil’s Advocate, appears and tries to convince the audience that the entire panel is unworthy and that all should be left behind to drown. In the following year, the defending champion faces five new challengers in a new debate. To date, no one has successfully defended the Oar.

The first event was held in 1998 before an audience of roughly 200 people. Michael Sterner of the Mathematics Department carried the day with an impassioned defense of his discipline, touting both its usefulness and beauty and promising that, if he were to be saved, there would be “no more word problems ever.” In the subsequent years the debate’s popularity grew to attract more than 800 audience members per year. Following years saw victories by professors from a variety of academic disciplines.

On March 12, 2010, the NPR show This American Life ran a story on the Life Raft Debate entitled “I’d Like to Spank the Academy”.[6] The story followed the events of the 2007 Life Raft Debate in which the Devil’s Advocate, Professor Jon Smith of the Department of English, successfully argued that all the panelists should be drowned because they were merely trying to be funny, not to educate or to defend the importance of their respective disciplines. Following the broadcast, several colleges and universities in the United States and abroad began hosting Life Raft Debates of their own, most after consulting the UM Philosophy Club for advice.[citation needed]

The 15th Annual Life Raft Debate is scheduled for October 11, 2012.

[edit] College Night

The oldest tradition at Montevallo is called College Night, an intramural competition between the Purple Side and the Gold Side. The tradition officially began on March 3, 1919, in honor of the school adding the name "college" to its title.

The homecoming competition consists of sports events, management of the side finances, and spirit. While these are key to the game of College Night, the primary focus is two student written, produced, and performed musicals—one for each competing side. For a small University in which the student-to-faculty ratio is only about 16-to-1, participation is key. A noticeable number of people participate in bringing the tradition together; at least 400 actually participate in the activities, but it is a tremendous success that draws those who do participate back after many years of being out of college. Each year, the school's Palmer Auditorium, which boasts a large stage, orchestra pit and seating for 1200, is standing room only as alumni and spectators gather to witness the unique tradition that is College Night.

College Night originated as a liberal arts school's response to its lack of a "proper Homecoming" - meaning an American football game. The campus is split into two teams, the Purple Side and the Gold Side. The two colors of the school, purple and gold, compete for the title of either "PV" (purple victory) or "GV" (gold victory). The student involvement is all-inclusive: there are athletic intramurals that count for points toward victory, cheerleading competitions, signs designed and painted by students to be judged and even community efforts and fund raising drives to gain points toward a victory.

College Night has been cited by some as the longest running homecoming tradition in the United States.[citation needed]

[edit] References

  1. ^ "America's Best Colleges". U.S. News and World Report. 2011. http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/montevallo-al/university-of-montevallo-1004/@@Academics_overview.html. 
  2. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html. 
  3. ^ a b Encyclopedia of Alabama: University of Montevallo, accessed 2010-05-16.
  4. ^ "University of Montevallo Athletics". University of Montevallo Athletics Homepage. http://www.montevallofalcons.com/landing/index. 
  5. ^ "Jonathon Maloney - Player Page". Harrogate Railway Athletic FC. 2011-09-22. http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/harrogaterailwayathletic/s/players-coaches-25487.html?player_id=246283. 
  6. ^ episode 402, Save the Day

[edit] External links
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West Division
Public institutions
Private institutions
Community/junior colleges
Birmingham Area Consortium for Higher Education
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