York College of Pennsylvania

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York College of Pennsylvania is a private college located in York, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1787, and was originally known as the York County Academy. Today, the college serves approximately 5,300 students. The school colors are green and white & the mascot is the Spartan. The college is ranked by U.S. News & World Report as 18th in the Baccalaureate Colleges of the North category for 2009^[2].

[edit] History

York County Academy was founded in 1787. In 1929, the Academy merged with the York Collegiate Institute, allowing further growth of both schools. But up until 1941, a true college curriculum had yet to be established. It was in 1941 that the school's charter was amended, transforming it from a center for education into a 'two-year liberal arts school.' At this point, the school began to outgrow its campus, forcing a move outside of downtown York. In 1965, the current campus, located in Spring Garden Township was dedicated. The former occupier of these lands was a local country club and golf course that had gone bankrupt before selling its property. By 1968, York established an accredited four-year bachelor's degree program, and officially became the York College of Pennsylvania. The college sits near the historic center of the city and has some residence halls located in the city, which known as the fourth national capital of the United States of America and the birthplace of the Articles of Confederation. YCP has students from 31 states and 34 countries.

[edit] Facilities

York College is currently located on two campuses with the majority of its academic buildings on the Main Campus and a few others on its more recently built West Campus. Despite the college's extensive history, all the buildings on campus are less than 40 years of age with the majority of them being built during the 1960's. The buildings utilize a standard red brickwork style, enhanced with white marble on some buildings. The central buildings include the Robert V. Iosue Student Union building where several offices, gathering halls, cafeteria, the campus radio station WVYC, lounge, and the college bookstore are located. The major academic buildings are the newly revised Wolf Hall, formally known as the Music, Art, and Communications (MAC) building, housing the MAC Department, Recital Hall, and Art Gallery. Campbell Hall resides in the center, with renovations made to its chemistry labs and classrooms. The Appell Life Sciences Building is next door, housing Demeester Theater, most of the Social Sciences department, and the Playpen Theatre. Adjacent to the Life Sciences complex is the Business Administration Building, teaching of course all things business related. Schmidt Library resides as the figurehead building of the campus, being directly in the center of main campus academic life and houses a large collection of books, periodicals including both scholarly journals and popular magazines, a popular reading collection, the Information Literacy classrooms and a rotating display of student art. A new Social Sciences and Humanities Center which housing the History and Political Science and English and Humanities Departments, along with a new Performing Arts Center was completed in 2008.

On its West Campus resides McKay Hall (McKay owned a Steel and Chain factory in York, PA) the structure responsible for York's upper tier Nursing and its Sports Management curriculum. Not too far from that is the smaller Grantley Hall composed of general-use classrooms as well as the office of the Spartan Newspaper. The Kinsley Engineering Center(Kinsley Construction is the largest construction company in York, PA). houses the schools Engineering and Computer Science sections. The Grumbacher Sport and Fitness Center (The Grumbacher's own The Bon-Ton Company in York, PA), on the West Campus, houses a natatorium, the new Wolf Gymnasium, a fitness center, indoor climbing wall, field house, indoor elevated track, a racquetball court, locker rooms, snack bar, and shares the outdoor playing fields and a new all-weather track. The newly built apartments, Richland Hall, Spring Garden Apartments, and Brockie Commons also reside here along with Country Club Apartments, older apartments acquired by the university, not too far away. A suite style residence Hall, to be called Little Run Lodge, which will also house a dining facility, lounge and game room, is in development and is planned to be completed open by fall 2009.

The other buildings on campus include the Miller Administration Building and the adjacent Manor Complex (Manor North, Northeast, East, West, and South) which serves as the living quarters of many on-campus freshmen students. Manor Northeast is the newest of the residence hall and was opened in 1998. The campus tennis courts reside nearby with Tyler Run Apartments being a short walk from here as well. Across the small bridge over the picturesque creek which snakes through the campus lay the main commuter parking lots and the other dormitories as well as apartments. Beard Hall, Penn Hall, Codorus Hall (an all-woman dorm) Susquehanna Apartments for upperclassmen and the mini-dorms. The Mini-Dorms, low occupancy residence halls, consist of Willow, Laurel, and Evergreen, named for the surrounding plant/tree life in the area. Beyond there is the campus chapel, the President's house (the two oldest buildings on campus), baseball and softball fields, the old track, and the playing fields for most club sports, especially rugby. Greek Life surrounds the campus, with many being a short walk from most major buildings. Many off-campus upperclassmen live on the neighboring streets outside the college in historic townhouses.

[edit] Academics

York College has over 50 undergraduate majors in ten academic departments.

York College is also the host campus for WVYC as well as over 80 other clubs and organizations. The school has been recently called a "best buy" by US News & World Report and a "hidden gem" by the Wall Street Journal^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Social Organizations

Fraternities and Sororities comprise 15% of overall York College students. The following organizations are represented.

Fraternities:
Phi Kappa Psi (ΦKΨ)
Alpha Delta Gamma (AΔΓ)
Alpha Chi Rho (AXP)
Phi Sigma Phi (ΦΣΦ)
Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE)
Kappa Delta Rho (KΔP)
Zeta Beta Tau (ZBT)

Sororities:
Phi Sigma Sigma (ΦΣΣ)
Phi Mu (ΦM)
Alpha Sigma Tau (AΣT)
Delta Phi Epsilon (ΔΦE)
Sigma Delta Tau (ΣΔT)
Theta Phi Alpha (ΘΦA)

[edit] Sports

The Grumbacher Center

Recently, the school gained recognition when Duane Bastress became the only two-time national champion in school history in the sport of wrestling. Duane competed in the 184 pound weight class and is now an assistant coach at York College.

The men's basketball team reached the 2005 NCAA Division III Final Four and the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) named York's Jeff Gamber Division III National Coach of the Year that year. Gamber led the Spartans to a record of 28-4.

Other Spartans Teams include Mens and Womens Swimming, Mens and Womens Soccer, Mens and Womens Cross Country, Mens and Womens Track and Field, Womens Volleyball, Field Hockey, and Baseball. York College also offers intramural sports and activities such as Mens Volleyball and Mens and Womens Rugby.

During the summer of 2006, the finishing touches were made on a 160,000 square foot, multi-million dollar facility known as the Grumbacher Fitness Center. The Grumbacher Center includes three court field house, a state of the art strength and fitness center, 12 lane recreational natatorium, elevated jogging track, two-story climbing wall, classroom space, multipurpose rooms and the new Charles Wolf Gymnasium. The center was recently complemented with two artificially surfaced playing fields and an all-weather running track complete with throwing circles and jumping pits.

[edit] The Rock

A large rock about 6 feet tall sits next to the student union. This rock is painted green every December and May a week before graduation. After commencement graduating students paint their names and messages in white.

The Rock, or "Old Spart" as it was once known, was brought to campus by the class of 1972. That original rock was dropped during an attempt to move it for construction in 1996. The college obtained a new rock close to the same size and placed it in the same spot where the original rock stood. ^[3]

[edit] York College Football

York College does not have a football team, though does have many conspriacy theories and tales regarding the program's absence. The book store does sell York College Football t-shirts and hoodies. On the back of these it reads "Undefeated since 1787". These are one of the more popular clothing items sold by the York College Bookstore.

[edit] External links

• York College of Pennsylvania official website

[edit] References