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Beloit College

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Beloit College
File:Beloit seal.jpg
MottoScientia Vera Cum Fide Pura (True Science with Pure Faith)
TypePrivate liberal arts college
Established1846
EndowmentUS$103.7 million[1]
PresidentH. Scott Bierman
Academic staff
94
Undergraduates1,300
Postgraduates0
Location
United States Beloit
,
WI
,
USA
Campus65 acres
ColorsBlue and Gold
NicknameBuccaneers
MascotBuccaneers (Official) Turtles (Academic-Unofficial)
Websitewww.beloit.edu

Beloit College is a private coeducational liberal arts college in Beloit, Wisconsin, USA. It is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, and has an enrollment of roughly 1,300 undergraduate students. Beloit is the oldest continuous running college in Wisconsin, and has the oldest building of any college northwest of Chicago in continuous academic operation.[2]

Founding

Beloit College was founded by the group Friends for Education, which was started by seven pioneers from New England who, soon after their arrival in Wisconsin Territory, agreed that a college needed to be established. The group raised funds for a college in their new town and convinced the territorial legislature to enact the charter for Beloit College on February 2, 1846. The first building (then called Middle College) was built in 1847, and it remains in operation today. Classes began in the fall of 1847, with the first degrees awarded in 1851.

History

The first president of Beloit was a Yale University graduate, Aaron Lucius Chapin, who served as president from December, 1849 until 1886.[3]

Although independent today, Beloit College was historically, though unofficially, associated with the Congregationalist tradition.[4]

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 national attention.[citation needed] The trustees decided to return to the two semester program in 1978.

One of the campus Indian effigy mounds, in the shape of a turtle, inspired Beloit's symbol (and unofficial mascot).

Academics

Beloit College's curriculum retains many aspects of the "Beloit Plan" from the 1960s. More Beloit graduates have earned Ph.D.s in anthropology than graduates of any other undergraduate liberal arts college not affiliated with a university.[5] The college's reputation in geology is largely based on Roy Chapman Andrews' expeditions, as well several pioneering geologists of the nineteenth century, including T. C. Chamberlin and O. E. Meinzer. In the Association for Computing Machinery annual programming competition in 1990, Beloit students placed 11th and in 1991, 19th. They have received "Meritorious" certificates for exceptional solutions in the Mathematical Modelling Competition.[citation needed]

In 2008, Beloit was ranked 161st of 600 schools by Forbes.[6] In the 2006 college rankings by U.S. News & World Report, Beloit was shortlisted for "Study Abroad" (56% of students participate) and "First-Year Initiative". In 2007, it was ranked 35th for "Best Value", and overall, 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. 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.

Middle College

The college long hosted the Beloit Poetry Journal, but the editor, Professor Emerita Marion K. Stocking, now deceased, had retired to Maine and operated the journal from there. In 1985 the complementary Beloit Fiction Journal began, publishing 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,[7] and Brock Spencer maintains ChemLinks.[8] 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.[citation needed] The Psychology Department started with Guy Allen Tawney, a student of Wilhelm Wundt, who taught from 1897 to 1906. 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.

The Beloit College Geology Department continues a tradition 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, 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 nineteenth century. The Logan Museum, accredited by the American Association of Museums, curates over 300,000 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. The Beloit College campus also houses two sculptures by artist Siah Armajani, his "Gazebo for One Anarchist: Emma Goldman 1991" and "The Beloit College Poetry Garden."[9] The campus has numerous prehistoric Indian mounds[10].

Since 1998, the college has produced the annual "Mindset List," 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 in a campaign to 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. In January, 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".

Justice Richard J. Goldstone delivers the 2007 Weissberg Lecture

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 a 120,000 sq ft (11,000 m2) Center for the Sciences in the fall of 2008. The building was designed to achieve a minimum Silver Level LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building certification and was ultimately awarded platinum level certification. It also won a Design Excellence Honor Award in Interior Architecture from the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) on October 30, 2009.

On September 25, H. Scott Bierman, a former dean at Carleton College, was installed as Beloit's latest president.

In 2010, it was announced that David Axelrod, Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama, would deliver the Commencement Address to the Class of 2010.

Student life

Beloit College has a frisbee golf course contained almost entirely within the grounds of the college. This course has undergone many changes with the expansion of dormitories and additions to the grounds, such as the Poetry Garden, with students incorporating the garden into the course.

Beloit College has an Ultimate Frisbee club team BUFF (Beloit Ultimate Frisbee Family) and intramural teams during each spring semester. In the spring of 2009 the BUFF team competed in sectionals in Whitewater, Wisconsin and regionals at Carleton College. In the fall of 2009 BUFF will compete in two tournaments: Hucktoberfest in Whitewater, Wisconsin and No Wisconsequences in Milwaukee.

Recently, Beloit College students broke the world record for the longest game of Ultimate by playing for over 72 hours.[11]

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 and field, and men's and women's soccer. The school also has a competitive rowing team sponsored by club funds and alumni support.

Prominent alumni

See also Category:Beloit College alumni

Prominent faculty

References

  1. ^ As of June 30, 2009. "U.S. and Canadian Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year 2009 Endowment Market Value and Percentage Change in Endowment Market Value from FY 2008 to FY 2009" (PDF). 2009 NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments. National Association of College and University Business Officers. Retrieved March 8, 2010.
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ [2]
  4. ^ [3]
  5. ^ [4]
  6. ^ http://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/94/colleges-09_Americas- Best-Colleges_Rank_7.html
  7. ^ [5]
  8. ^ [6]
  9. ^ [7]
  10. ^ [8]
  11. ^ "Beloit students break record with 72-hour game". CNN. May 19, 2006. Retrieved April 26, 2010.

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