Furman University
File:Furman Wordmark.gif | |
Type | Private |
---|---|
Established | 1826 |
Endowment | US$429.8 million [1] |
President | David Shi |
Academic staff | 272 |
Undergraduates | 2,600 |
Postgraduates | 500 |
Location | , , |
Campus | Suburban 750 acre (3 km²) |
Athletics | 17 varsity teams |
Nickname | Paladins |
Website | www.furman.edu |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/70/Furman-Belltower2.jpg/220px-Furman-Belltower2.jpg)
Furman University is a private, coeducational, non-sectarian, liberal arts university in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1826, Furman enrolls approximately 2,600 undergraduate and 500 graduate students on its 750 acre (3 km²) campus. Its current president is David Shi, who graduated from Furman in 1973.
The university is primarily focused on undergraduate education (only two departments, education and chemistry, offer graduate degrees). Furman University emphasizes "engaged" learning. In engaged learning, professors encourage undergraduate students to author articles, participate in internships, and volunteer in their respective fields of study. A program called the Furman Advantage funds research projects between professors and students. Furman receives funds annually from the The Duke Endowment for general operating support and for special projects and programs.
Furman is best known for its chemistry, history, music, political science, and psychology departments. The psychology, computer science, and chemistry departments have earned high marks among professional organizations spanning the sciences (social, applied, and basic), notable for a liberal arts institution of Furman's size.
Furman University students have an unusually high acceptance rate into graduate schools. Approximately 70% of pre-medical students gain entrance to medical school, and 99% of pre-law students gain entrance to law school. Approximately two-thirds of Furman students will earn graduate degrees. More of Furman University’s graduates have gone to earn Ph.D. degrees in recent years than any other private liberal arts college in the South, according to a survey conducted by the University of Chicago National Opinion Research Center .[2].
History
Furman was founded in 1826 as a Men's Academy and Theological Institute, in Edgefield, South Carolina. The original school building from that campus resides on the current Greenville campus today. In 1933, students from the Greenville Women's College began attending classes with Furman students. Shortly thereafter, the two schools merged to form the present institution. Furman began construction on its new campus, just five miles north of downtown Greenville in 1956. Classes on this new campus began in 1958. Now non-sectarian, the school was affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention[3] and the Southern Baptist Convention until the 1991-1992 school year.
Rankings
Furman was ranked no. 15 in the Washington Monthly's Top U.S Liberal Arts Colleges Rankings based on its production of research valuable to society and its commitment to national service.[4]. Furman has one of the largest undergraduate research programs in the country and is ranked no. 4 by U.S. News Best Undergraduate Research Programs along with MIT, Stanford and Michigan [5] The university's engaged learning academic program, which promotes a problem-solving, project-oriented, experience-based type of education, has received high praise from The Princeton Review, Peterson's Competitive Colleges , The Fiske Guide to Colleges and The College Board College Handbook . In terms of input, meaning the quality of the students the institution attracts, Furman was ranked no. 30 in the SSRN's U.S Colleges and Universities Preference Rankings (based on the choice to enroll of high-achieving students in US) [6] The Chronicle of Higher Education also ranked Furman no. 32 in the nation for the percentage of National Merit Scholars in its 2005-2006 freshman class .[7]
Campus
A 30-acre (0.1-km²) lake is at the center of the 750-acre (3-km²), wooded campus. Many academic buildings and student residences stand around the lake, including the Bell Tower. The Bell Tower figures highly in school insignias and is a replica (within 1/16th of an inch) of the Bell Tower that once existed on the men's campus in downtown Greenville. Today, the campus is anchored by its newly expanded 128,000 square foot (12,000 m²) James B. Duke Library. The American Society of Landscape Architects has named Furman one of the 362 most beautiful places in America.
Students are required to live on campus all four years. However, during a student's senior year, s/he may be eligible to live off campus through a lottery. There are two residence complexes (called Lakeside and South Housing), as well as four housing cabins which make up Bell Tower Housing. Most juniors and all seniors live in North Village Apartments, located near the Bell Tower.
Athletics
Furman competes in NCAA Division I athletics as the Paladins. The university is a member of the Southern Conference. In 1988 Furman won the NCAA I-AA National Football Championship. Furman also appeared in the 1985 and 2001 NCAA I-AA National Football Championship game, but lost (to Georgia Southern and the University of Montana, respectively). Furman, Colgate and Lehigh remain the only private universities that have appeared in the I-AA Football Championship game, and Furman is the only private school to win it. Over the past few years, Furman's football team has been consistently ranked in the top 3 spots in the NCAA I-AA polls, and recently climbed to no. 1 in the nation in the latest Sports Network polls [8]. The Paladins have also claimed 12 Southern Conference football titles, more than any school in league history.
The Men's Soccer team has been ranked as high as no. 3 in the nation and has produced a share of professional players [9]. Former star Clint Dempsey was the only American player to score a goal at the 2006 World Cup in Germany [10]. Few collegiate woman golf programs have produced more outstanding professionals than Furman, which boasts 11 former Lady Paladins on the LPGA tour, including two Hall-of-Fame inductees. Furman men's tennis coach Paul Scarpa is only the fourth college tennis head coach in history to reach 700 wins. He is currently the third-winningest active coach in the NCAA's and has coached 108 All-Southern Conference players. Furman's Rugby Club team has also proved notable in recent years, winning the East Coast Collegiate Championship three out of the last four years[11].Started in 1998 by John Roberts, the club continues to excel in Division III rugby in the southeast with many accolades. Furman is the only liberal arts college to be ranked in Sports Illustrated Top 100 America's Best Sports Colleges [12]and has 32 former student-athletes competing at the professional level- the most of any Southern Conference member school.
Notable Alumni
- John B. Watson - Father of Behaviorism (Psychology)
- Charles Townes - Nobel Prize-winner in Physics, inventor of the maser, laid theoretical groundwork for invention of laser
- Keith Lockhart - Current conductor of the Boston Pops
- Herman Lay- Founder of the Lay's Corporation
- Mark Sanford - Current Governor of South Carolina
- Marshall Frady- Emmy Award-winning journalist and biographer[13].
- Amy Grant - Contemporary Christian/Pop artist, only attended for a year then transferred to Vanderbilt
- Clement Haynsworth - Former United States judge and an unsuccessful nominee for the United States Supreme Court
- Ben Browder - Three-time Saturn Awards winner for Best Actor on Television [14].
- Baron Hill - Former Indiana congressman from 1999-2005
- George Singleton- Novelist
- Alexander Stubb - Finnish politician and Member of the European Parliament with the National Coalition Party
- Erika Grace Powell- Miss South Carolina 2005 .[15].
- Richard Riley - Former Governor of South Carolina and U.S. Secretary of Education under the Clinton administration
- Victoria Jackson - Former cast member of Saturday Night Live
- Florez- Pop Rock band .[16].[17].
- Keith Mathews- Director of the Central Gwinnett Black Knights Band
- Alicia Wilson- 2006 NITLE Robert R. Churchill Memorial Prize [18].
National Scholarship Winners
- Fulbright Scholars - David Bumpass, Travis Hinkle, Megan Hundley, David M. Johnson, Christine Lawton, Alicia Leerssen, Stuart Rentz, Charles Sharpe
- Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships[19] - Hans Bechtel, Derek Bruff, Jer-Chin "Luke" Chuang, Ginger Denison, John Dickson, Angela Hicks, Sarah Klapman, Erik Madsen, Scott P. Martin, Jess Riddle, Brittany Smith, Michelle Stewart, Mark Turlington, Michael Vagnini, Andrew M. Watkins
- Luce Scholars[20] - Cass DuRant
- James Madison Memorial Fellowship[21] - Tripp Jeffers
- Andrew W. Mellon Fellowships in Humanistic Studies[22] - Craig Caldwell, Chris Palmer
- George J. Mitchell Scholarship - Hal Frampton, Jennifer Lambert
- NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship[23] - Rebekah Potts
- NSF Graduate Research Fellowship[24] - Hans Bechtel, Maggie Dossett, Jennifer Fox, Marion Martin, Ginger Turpin
- Rhodes Scholarship - Robert W. Johnson
- Rotary Scholarships - Anna Cox, Will Doerner, Felice Fergurson, Karen Guth, Elaine Kelly, Anna Lang, Jacob Schroeder, Sarah Scopel
- Truman Scholarships - Monica Bell, Tomiko Brown, Brian Cromer, Ginger Denison, Beth Dotson, Cass DuRant, Adair Ford, Hal Frampton, Lewis Gossett, Mary Lee James, Jennifer Lambert, Chong Lo, Arianna McLain, Amy Powers, Eric Spitler, Lisa Stevens, Carrie Thompson, Lindsay Woolf
- Morris K. Udall Foundation - Adrienne DuBois, Kartikeya Singh
Athletes
- Beth Daniel - LPGA hall of fame, 32 career victories
- Clint Dempsey - Professional soccer player, 2004 MLS Rookie of the Year and member United States men's national soccer team, only US player to score a goal in the 2004 World Cup
- Bear Rinehart - South Carolina Player-of-the-Year Award 2002 and Singer/Guitarist of NeedToBreathe[25].[26].
- Brad Faxon - Professional golfer, multiple PGA tour winner
- Angel Martino- Olympic Gold Medalist
- Bruce Fleisher - Professional golfer
- Betsy King - LPGA Hall of Fame, 34 career victories
- Ricardo Clark - Professional soccer player for the Houston Dynamo, 2003 MLS Rookie of the Year runner-up
- Ned Caswell - Former ITF No. 1 ranked player in the world Men's 35s .[27]
- Jason L. Pagan - World Record Holder - Bench Press - 183 lb Weight Class; Whiny when sick
- Dottie Pepper - Former LPGA champion; current NBC and Golf Channel commentator
- John Keith - NFL player for San Francisco 49ers
- Orlando Ruff - NFL player for Cleveland Browns
- Frank Selvy - Former NBA All-Star; holds record for the most points in any NCAA Division 1 basketball game
- Rushia Brown - WNBA professional player for Charlotte Sting
- Sherry Turner - Professional golfer
- Sam Wyche - Former NFL head coach; led Cincinnati Bengals to Super Bowl XXIII
- Stanford Jennings- Former NFL player for Cincinnati Bengals, scored a touchdown in Super Bowl XXIII; current New Balance sales executive
- Ingle Martin- NFL player, QB for Green Bay Packers
- Brian Bratton- NFL player, Receiver for Baltimore Ravens
- Cam Newton- NFL player, Defensive Back for Atlanta Falcons
- Tom Mastny- Pitcher for Cleveland Indians
- Sarah Johnston- FUTURES Tour golf player and contestant in The Big Break VI [28].
Majors and Concentrations
- Accounting
- Ancient Greek and Roman Studies (concentration)
- Art
- Asian Studies
- Biology
- Business Administration
- Chemistry
- Classics
- Communication Studies
- Computer Science
- Computer Science—Mathematics
- Computing—Business
- Earth and Environmental Sciences
- Economics
- Education (Early Childhood, Elementary, Secondary, and Special)
- English
- Environmental Studies (concentration)
- French
- German
- Greek
- Health and Exercise Science
- History
- Latin
- Latin American Studies (concentration)
- Mathematics
- Mathematics-Economics
- Music (Church, Education, Performance, and Theory)
- Neuroscience
- Philosophy
- Physics
- Political Science
- Pre-engineering (dual degree)
- Psychology
- Religion
- Sociology
- Spanish
- Theatre Arts
- Urban Studies
- Women's Studies (concentration)
Notable faculty
- Christopher W. Blackwell - Classics
- Jay Bocook - Music
- Charles Brewer - Psychology
- Gilles Einstein - Psychology
- David Gross - Music
- David Spear- History
- Diane Vecchio- History
- Mark Kilstofte - Music, winner of the American Academy in Rome's Rome Prize for 2002-2003 [29]
- Hayden Porter - Computer Science
- Thomas Smythe - Finance
- Steppen Murphy - Oceanography
Social Organizations
- Sororities:
- Fraternities:
Points of interest
- Furman University Japanese Garden
- The amphitheatre, which features concerts and other performances. Site of the annual Black Swan Music Festival, and has been the place of concerts by artists such as Nickel Creek, Howie Day, Robert Randolph and the Family Band and others.