Siena College

Siena College

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Motto	Education...One Student at a Time
Type	Private
Established	1937
President	Fr. Kevin E. Mackin, OFM
Undergraduates	2900
Postgraduates	153
Location	Loudonville , NY , USA
Campus	Suburban, 164 acres (0.66 km²)
Affiliations	Roman Catholic Church
Mascot	Saints (Saint Bernard Dog)
Website	http://www.siena.edu

Siena College is a nationally recognized independent Catholic Liberal Arts College situated in the suburban community of Loudonville, New York, two miles north of the state's capital (Albany). Founded in 1937 by seven Franciscan friars, the college enrolls 2,900 students. The beautiful 164-acre campus is known throughout the community for its gold-domed building, Siena Hall, which has become both symbol and signature.

History of the College

The groundwork for the first building, Siena Hall, was begun in March 1938 on the former site of an asparagus farm. By June, Siena received its provisional charter. Siena grew in student body quite quickly. By 1939, Siena added a co-educational evening division, and one year later enrollment was just under 1,000 students. In 1941, Gibbons Hall (the gymnasium) was built as the second building on campus. In 1942, St. Bernadine of Siena College received its permanent charter. Also in 1942, Siena changed its program to meet defense needs for World War II, creating a program to train Navy personnel, as well as regular students. After the war, 75% of the student body were ex-servicemen. The college had to rely on the existing structures and rented facilities to handle the large enrollment which hit a peak of 2,752 in 1948. At this time, the school was primarily a commuter school. Two of the buildings created, called "A" and "B", were later destroyed to make way for the current "Roger Bacon Science Center".

In July 1950, the Friary was completed, and that same year, Siena was granted a US Army ROTC detachment. In 1955, the Dawson Memorial Library was erected, containing stack rooms for 150,000 volumes and reading room accommodations for over 400 students. In 1959, Siena built its first residence hall, Plassman Hall, followed closely by another - Ryan Hall (which are both currently still in use). To provide for resident students, Serra Dining Hall was also created, which also is still the school's dining facility. In 1967, the (previously mentioned) Roger Bacon Science Center opened its doors, on top of where building's "A" and "B" once stood. One year later, Hennepin Hall was added, a 300-person dormitory. Also in 1968, the "quad" was beautified and Siena Hall refurbished. It was in 1968 that women were allowed Full-time student status.

In the early 1970's the curriculum was extensively revised and a student voice in policymaing was assured by seating a student on each standing committee. The Alumni Recreation Center, a 55,000 square foot recreational and athletic facility was opened in December 1974. Gibbons Hall, the former gymnasium, was converted into use as "Foy" campus center (now re-converted into a theatre and creative arts center).

In 1981, a new friary was opened to accommodate the Franciscans. The former friary was converted into a residence hall for 200 students - Hines Hall. In 1986, townhouses were erected for 300 upperclass residence living. Later that year, floors were added to Hennepin and Plassman Halls, increasing their capacity to 470 and 380 students respectively. To provide for the need of additional classrooms and office space for faculty, Kiernan Hall was constructed between Siena and Hines Halls, and opened at the start of the 1987-88 school year. The Marcelle Athletic Complex was completed in February of 1992 and houses an indoor pool, aerobics/dance/martial arts studio, exercise equipment, racquetball and squash courts, an elevated running track, and full sized basketball, volleyball, and tennis courts. Started in 1993, and completed in 1995, a 300-bed townhouse complex was opened for more upperclass students.

The Standish Library was built on the academic quad and opened for use in the fall of 1999. The old library was constructed into a new student center, the Sarazen Student Union (named after the inventor of the Sand Wedge and alumni, Gene Sarazen) opened in April 2001.

After the school's expanding number of residence, another residence hall was constructed. In 2001 Padua Hall was dedicated. Named after a Franciscan friar, the four story building houses three students per room. Each room is equipped with its own restroom facilities, including a shower, sink and toilet.

In 2004, the college renovated its main building, Siena Hall. The main academic structure was redone to include state of the art technology and classrooms. It is also home to the Hickey Financial Center, which receives a live feed from the U.S. Stock Market.

Most recently, in 2006, the student dining hall, Serra Hall (right) was completely renovated. The project cost over $5 million. The school is also currently working on constructing a state of the art artificial turf field, which will be ready by Spring 2007.

Schools and Research

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The college is composed of three schools of learning: School of Liberal Arts, School of Science and School of Business. Siena students often benefit from the College’s proximity to the City of Albany (Capital of New York State) by acquiring practical internships (and later, careers) in government, the arts, science and business.

School of Liberal Arts

• American Studies
• Creative Arts
• Education
• English
• History
• Modern Language & Classics
• Multicultural Studies
• Philosophy
• Political Science
• Peace Studies
• Psychology
• Religious Studies
• Social Work
• Sociology
• Theatre Program

School of Science

• Biology
• Chemistry & Biochemistry
• Computer Science
• Environmental Studies
• Mathematics
• Physics
• 3/2 Engineering Program

School of Business

• Accounting & Business Law
• Accounting Lab
• Economics
• Finance
• Hickey Financial Center
• Marketing & Management
• Quantitative Business Analysis

The Siena Research Institute [1] , founded in 1980, conducts opinion polls that are quoted by the national media including the New York Times and USAToday, and well-known authors such as Betty Boyd Caroli (First Ladies). In 1982, SRI conducted the world's first Ranking of First Ladies. More recently, SRI has conducted studies on a First Woman President and hosted the First Woman President Symposium in March 2005. SRI regularly conducts polls concerning New York's consumer index and polls prior to elections.

Other forms of research are conducted by faculty members of the School of Science.

Extracurricular

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Siena students participate in the college's regionally popular radio station WVCR.Other activities include: The Student Events Board, political activism (Campus Action Club, Democratic Club, and College Republicans), choral groups, concert band, dance, drama/theater, "The Pendragon" literary magazine, music ensembles, musical theater, band, student government, student newspaper (The Promethean), student film society, and symphony orchestra.

Athletics

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Siena sponsors 18 sports teams that compete at the NCAA Division I level. Seventeen Saints' sports teams compete in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), with field hockey playing in the Northeast Conference. In 1989, the Siena men's basketball had a first round NCAA Tournament victory (80-78) over third seed Stanford. The Siena men's basketball team made another leap into prominence in 2002 with an ESPN-televised opening round victory over Alcorn State. The Saints later fell to national champion Maryland before 20,000 fans at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C.. This was the team's third trip to the "Big Dance". Siena has appeared in five NITs (1988, 1991, 1994, 2000, 2003) and three NCAA tournaments (1989, 1999, 2002) They reached the 1994 NIT final four, losing to Villanova in the semifinals but beat Kansas St in the consolation game. Siena's current coach is Fran McCaffery. Siena finished the 2005-2006 season at 15-13 in fourth place after being picked to finish unanimously last in the MAAC. Siena played at Stanford on November 11 and will play at Maryland December 31 during the 2006-2007 season.

Presidents of Siena College

• 1937 - 1943 Rev. Cyprian Mensing
• 1943 - 1952 Rev. Mark Kennedy
• 1952 - 1955 Rev. Bertrand J. Campbell
• 1955 - 1964 Rev. Edmund F. Christy
• 1964 - 1970 Rev. Brian Duffy
• 1970 - 1976 Rev. Matthew T. Conlin
• 1976 - 1989 Rev. Hugh F. Hines
• 1989 - 1996 Rev. William E. McConville
• 1996 - present Rev. Kevin E. Mackin

Notable Siena graduates

• George Deukmejian, former Republican Governor of California (1982-1990)
• J. Patrick Barrett, former president of Avis, Inc
• William Kennedy, Pulitzer Prize winning author
• Howard S. Foote, Chief Financial Officer and Co-President of UHY, LLP
• Kenneth J. Ringler Jr. , Executive Director, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
• Jack Quinn, Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York
• His Excellency Harry Flynn, Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis
• Raymond Fisher, vice president of Daimler-Chrysler Corp.
• Ron Vawter, actor (Philadelphia; The Silence of the Lambs; sex, lies, and videotape)
• Douglas Colbeth, president and CEO of Kinaxis, former president and CEO of Spyglass, a pioneering Internet developer
• Kathleen Jimino, Rensselaer County Executive, NY
• Tim Christman, former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Colorado Rockies
• Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Rifle Association
• Marc "Showbiz" Brown, considered by many to be Siena greatest men's basketball player
• Bob Danzig, The Hearst Corporation, ranking senior executive
• Jeffrey W. Connelly, General Electric Vice President for GE Infrastructure, Water & Process Technologies
• His Excellency Roberto González Nieves, Archbishop of San Juan, Puerto Rico
• Michael Hoffman, Industry leading software architect
• Joseph Cardillo, author of "Be Like Water" and other titles.
• Gene Sarazen, Professional golf legend
• Steven Lamy, Professor and former director of the School of International Relations, at the University of Southern California.

External links

• Foundations Sequence
• Siena College Homepage
• Siena Saints (athletics)
• Siena college Radio