Messiah University
| File:Messiahcollegelogo.gif | |
| Motto | Christ Preeminent |
|---|---|
| Type | Private Christian Liberal Arts |
| Established | 1909 |
| President | Dr. Kim S. Phipps |
Academic staff | 170 full-time, 127 part-time |
| Undergraduates | 2,900 |
| Location | , , |
| Campus | Suburban, 485 acres |
| Student Groups | 60+ |
| Mascot | The Falcon |
| Website | www.messiah.edu/ |
Messiah College is a Christian liberal arts college with approximately 3,000 undergraduate students in over 50 majors/courses of study, located in the rolling hills of south central Pennsylvania in the United States. The campus is in the unincorporated village of Grantham in Upper Allen Township, Cumberland County, about 30 minutes south west of Harrisburg. It was founded in 1909 by the Brethren in Christ Church, then named the Messiah Bible School and Missionary Training Home. The college's motto is "Christ Preeminent."
Academics
Messiah College offers over 50 majors in five schools. The schools are Arts; Education and Social Sciences; Health and Natural Sciences; Humanities; and Mathematics, Engineering, and Business. In addition to major requirements, there is a general education curriculum, required for all students. General education requirements include but are not limited to Bible courses, a philosophy, an art course, a worldviews class, physical education courses, first year and senior seminars, and a newly added requirement called 'Created and Called for Community.'
History
Messiah College was founded in 1909 by the Brethren in Christ Church, and was originally called Messiah Bible School and Missionary Training Home. The school moved from Harrisburg to its current location in 1911. In 1921 it became a junior college and changed its name to Messiah Bible School. By the 1950's the school offered four year college programs, and changed its name to Messiah College. Messiah discontinued its high school program in 1959 and added liberal arts programs during this period. It was accreditted in 1963, and continued to expand its liberal arts programs. In 1968 Messiah College opened its Philadelphia Campus in a unique partnership with Temple University. See Messiah's website
Messiah continues to be influenced by its traditions primarily in the Anabaptist, but also the pietist and Wesleyan holiness movements.
External programs and affiliations
Messiah College maintains a small satellite campus, known to students as the Messiah College Philly Campus or MCPC, on Broad Street in North Philadelphia. The campus is an academic partnership with Temple University and, as a collaboration between a small liberal arts college and a large research university, is essentially unique in American higher education.
Messiah College is a member of the Christian College Consortium.
Athletics
The Messiah College Falcons compete in NCAA Division III athletics with 20 different intercollegiate athletic teams. Messiah is a member of the Middle Atlantic Corporation. Winning is nothing out of the ordinary for the men's and women's soccer teams, both of which won the NCAA Division III National Championship in 2005. The men's team won the National Championship in 2000, 2002, and 2004. The women's field hockey team has appeared in the NCAA division III finals five times.
The college mascot is the falcon, which was given the name Fandango in 2006.
The Community Covenant
Students at Messiah College are required to sign the community covenant upon entering. The community covenant prohibits gambling, fornication, homosexual behavior, profanity, smoking on campus, and drinking when enrolled at Messiah as a student. Several of these prohibitions are enforced infrequently or not at all; the alcohol policy, however, is enforced more strictly.
In the fall of 2004 a task force headed by President Phipps, including members of the Student Government Association (SGA), formed to evaluate the present Community Covenant as well as provide feedback and proposals for change. Discussion is now taking place regarding a newly drafted covenant, one that strays from reciting behavior code and instead focuses on the relevance on communal living and common beliefs.
Chapel
There is a wide variety in the content of chapel. Speakers often come from outside the college, and talk about theological, social, and cultural topics. The music varies greatly from service to service as well, from hymns to African praise songs. The mission of Chapel reads:
- "Chapel at Messiah College is a central expression of our identity as a community of Christians with a deep commitment to spiritual growth and academic excellence.
- In chapel we seek to nurture holistic Christian faith through:
- worship that expresses our faith with a full range of contemporary and traditional form
- teaching that connects God's Word and our world
- community building that affirms our common identity in Christ and celebrates our diversity"
Students are required to attend 24 chapel services each semester.
Alumni
Notable Messiah College alumni include Ernest Boyer and Ray Crist. Ernest Boyer was considered by some to be the most influential figure in modern American education. Boyer was Chancellor of the State University of New York from 1970 to 1977 and President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching from 1979 to his death in 1995. Ray Crist, a world famous chemist, began his academic career as a student at Messiah. After studying at Dickinson College and Columbia University, working on and later leading the Manhattan Project, working at Union Carbide Research Institute, and teaching at Dickinson College, he returned to teach at Messiah College (1971-2004). As a professor at Messiah College, Dr. Crist's work focused on the adsorption of toxic metals by plant material and the use of living plants for purifying the environment (phytoremediation). Among Dr. Crist's many accomplishments, he was credited for being the oldest working American for the last few years of his Messiah College career. He retired in 2004 at the age of 104.
Student Activities
Students sometimes complain of lack of night life in Grantham and pass the time by joining intramural sports leagues, participating in various clubs, and watching on campus movies among other things. Underclassmen also participate in floor activities organized by their RAs. The Student Government Association funds 40+ organizations on campus that aim at providing for a co-curricular atmosphere conducive to a hollistic education and enjoyable experience while enrolled at both Grantham and Philadelphia campuses. The S.G.A. also provides students with unique access towards influencing governance and overall institutional perogatives.
Concerts
In recent years, Messiah College has hosted nationally recognized bands such as Counting Crows, Dashboard Confessional, Wilco, Bob Dylan, Switchfoot, Nickel Creek, 4th Avenue Jones, Phantom Planet, Jeff Tweedy and Rilo Kiley. Smaller bands are often booked by the Student Activities Board (SAB) to play in the Larsen Student Union Center.
Traditions
The Marshmallow Game
The men's soccer game between Messiah College and rival Elizabethtown College is known as the marshmallow game. To the chagrin of administrators, fans from both schools smuggle marshmallows into the game and throw them at the opposing fans throughout the match. The marshmallow game is generally the best attended game of the soccer season.
Creeking
Creeking is the tradition of a group of people abducting a friend, usually on his or her birthday, and tossing them in the Yellow Breeches Creek, which runs through the campus. This tradition was originally practiced when a couple would become engaged, and the couple would usually be creeked together.
The Midnight Scream
Beginning the night before final exams (reading day), and continuing each evening until the end of exams, tradition dictates that students still awake and studying pause work temporarily and collectively "scream" from their dormitory or on-campus apartment windows from 12:00 to 12:01 AM, though longer durations are not unheard of. Though the tradition is popularly known as the "midnight scream," it frequently includes other noisemaking activities, including but not limited to: electric guitar music/distortion, garbage can percussion, and the deliberate activation of car alarms along College Avenue.