Beloit College

Last updated
Beloit College
Beloit seal.png
MottoScientia Vera Cum Fide Pura (Latin)
Motto in English
True knowledge with pure faith
Type Private liberal arts college
Established1846;178 years ago (1846)
Accreditation HLC
Academic affiliations
ACM
Oberlin Group
CLAC
WAICU
Endowment $113 million in 2021
President Eric Boynton [1]
Academic staff
94
Undergraduates 964 (2022) [2]
Location, ,
U.S.

42°30′11″N89°01′52″W / 42.503°N 89.031°W / 42.503; -89.031
CampusUrban, 65 acres (26.3 ha)
Colors Blue and gold
  
Sporting affiliations
NCAA Division IIIMWC
MascotBuccaneer (official), turtle (unofficial)
Website www.beloit.edu
Beloit Logo.png

Beloit College is a private liberal arts college in Beloit, Wisconsin. Founded in 1846, when Wisconsin was still a territory, [3] it is the state's oldest continuously operated college. It has an enrollment of roughly 1,000 undergraduate students. [2]

Contents

History

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 the Wisconsin Territory, agreed that a college needed to be established. The group raised funds for a college in their 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 remains in operation. Classes began in the fall of 1847, with the first degrees awarded in 1851.

Beloit's first president was Aaron Lucius Chapin, who served from 1849 to 1886. [4]

The college became coeducational in 1895. [5] In 1904, Grace Ousley became the first African-American woman to graduate from the college. [6]

Although independent today, Beloit College was historically, though unofficially, associated with Congregationalism. [7]

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 1945–46. The "Beloit Plan" was a year-round curriculum introduced in 1964 that comprised three full terms and a "field term" of off-campus study. [3] The trustees returned to the two-semester program in 1978.

Campus

Beloit's campus is within the Near East Side Historic District. [8]

The campus has 20 conical, linear, and animal effigy mounds built between about 400 and 1200, created by Native Americans identified by archaeologists as Late Woodland people. [9] [10] One of the mounds, in the shape of a turtle, inspired Beloit's symbol and unofficial mascot. The mounds on Beloit's campus are "catalogued" burial sites, and therefore may not be disturbed without a Wisconsin Historical Society permit. Several of the Beloit College sites have been partially excavated and restored, and material found within them—including pottery and tool fragments—is held in the college's Logan Museum of Anthropology. [9]

In 2008 Beloit College completed a 120,000 sq ft (11,000 m2) Center for the Sciences, which was named the Marjorie and James Sanger Center for the Sciences in 2017. [11] The building was awarded LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building certification. [12] It also won a Design Excellence Honor Award in Interior Architecture from the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 2009. [12]

Marjorie and James Sanger Center for the Sciences JOHNSON 20150422 469resize.jpg
Marjorie and James Sanger Center for the Sciences

In 2010, Beloit College opened the Hendricks Center for the Arts, a 58,000-square-foot (5,400 m2) structure with dance, music, and theater facilities. The building previously held the Beloit Post Office and later the Beloit Public Library. The renovation and expansion of the facility is the largest single gift in the college's history. The building is named after Diane Hendricks, chair of ABC Supply of Beloit, and her late husband and former college trustee Ken Hendricks. [13]

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 founded in the late 19th century. The Logan Museum, accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, curates over 300,000 ethnographic and archaeological objects from 125 countries and over 600 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 shows two sculptures by artist Siah Armajani, Gazebo for One Anarchist: Emma Goldman 1991 and The Beloit College Poetry Garden. [14]

Academics

Academic rankings
Liberal arts
U.S. News & World Report [15] 86
Washington Monthly [16] 63
National
Forbes [17] 458

Academic strengths include field-oriented disciplines such as anthropology and geology. In 2012, the college ranked among the top 20 American liberal arts colleges whose graduates go on to earn a Ph.D. [18]

Middle College overlooking the Beloit campus JOHNSON 20131025 790 (2)resize.jpg
Middle College overlooking the Beloit campus

The geology department continues a tradition that began with Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin more than a century ago. It combines a course load with 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.

The college created a center for entrepreneurship known as CELEB, founded by Professor of Economics Emeritus Jerry Gustafson (Beloit '63). [19]

Beloit College's average class size is 15 students, with one-third of courses having 10 or fewer students. [20] Its three most popular majors, by 2021 graduates, were Biology/Biological Sciences, Psychology, and Business/Managerial Economics. [21]

Student life

Beloit students' housing options range from substance-free dormitories to special interest houses, such as the Art, Spanish, Outdoor Environmental Club (OEC), and interfaith options. [22] Beloit College has fraternities and sororities. [23] The school also has over 60 student organizations and clubs. [20] As of 2022, there is a creative writing club called the Aardvark Authors. [24]

The student newspaper, The Round Table, was founded in 1853 as the Beloit Monthly. [25] The student radio station, WBCR-FM, operates at 88.3 MHz and streams online. [26]

Eaton Chapel Eaton Chapel.jpg
Eaton Chapel

Beloit College has a frisbee golf course contained almost entirely within the college grounds. In April 2006, Beloit students broke the world record for the longest game of Ultimate Frisbee, playing for over 72 hours. [27]

In 2011 Beloit College received the Senator Paul Simon Award for Comprehensive Campus Internationalization. [28] 48 states are represented at the college and approximately 14% of the student body is from countries outside the United States. [29] In addition, about half of all Beloit College students study abroad in places such as China, Russia, Brazil, Germany, India, and Spain. Each year, students can share their experiences abroad on International Symposium Day, when all classes are canceled so that everyone can attend the presentations. [30]

The "Mindset List", an annual list of the life experiences of entering college freshmen, originated at Beloit College in 1998. In 2019, the list moved to Marist College. [31]

In 1969, like many campuses across the country, Beloit College received a set of demands from Black students called "The Black Demands". [32] Various students protested by overtaking Middle College, turning it into a Black Cultural Center, and gathering in front of the Richardson Auditorium before a scheduled board of trustees meeting. The demands were met but the college has not successfully implemented all of them, such as increasing the percentage of both black faculty and students to 10%. In 2018 Beloit College edited its bias policy to add a section on hate acts in order to address hate acts that occurred in 2006, 2015 and 2017. [33]

Athletics

Beloit competes at the NCAA Division III level as a member of the Midwest Conference 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 cross country, women's tennis, men's and women's track and field, men's and women's lacrosse, and men's and women's soccer.

Recognition

In 2023, The Princeton Review listed Beloit College among the 388 best colleges. [34] Likewise, U.S. News & World Report gave Beloit College top rankings for National Liberal Arts Colleges, Best Value Schools, Undergraduate Research, Most Innovative Schools, and Top Performers on Social Mobility. [35] In their unique ranking based on their assessment of the college’s contribution to the public good, the Washington Monthly ranked Beloit College number 23 in the nation. [36]

Notable alumni

Notable faculty

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grinnell College</span> Private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, U.S.

Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1846 when a group of New England Congregationalists established Iowa College. It has an open curriculum, which means students need not follow a prescribed list of classes. The college's 120-acre campus includes several listings on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beloit, Wisconsin</span> City in Wisconsin, United States

Beloit is a city in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 36,657 people. Beloit is a principal city of the Janesville–Beloit metropolitan statistical area and is included in the Madison–Janesville–Beloit combined statistical area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bucknell University</span> Private college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.

Bucknell University is a private liberal-arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Freeman College of Management, and the College of Engineering. It offers 65 majors and 70 minors in the sciences and humanities. Located just south of Lewisburg, the 445-acre (1.80 km2) campus rises above the West Branch of the Susquehanna River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haverford College</span> Private liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania

Haverford College is a private liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Haverford began accepting non-Quakers in 1849 and women in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seoul National University</span> Public university in Seoul, South Korea

Seoul National University is a public research university located in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the SKY universities and a part of the Flagship Korean National Universities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lewis & Clark College</span> Private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon, US

Lewis & Clark College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Originally chartered in 1867 as the Albany Collegiate Institute in Albany, Oregon, the college was relocated to Portland in 1938 and in 1942 adopted the name Lewis & Clark College after the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It has three campuses: an undergraduate College of Arts and Sciences, a School of Law, and a Graduate School of Education and Counseling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Connecticut College</span> College in New London, Connecticut, US

Connecticut College (Conn) is a private liberal arts college in New London, Connecticut. Originally chartered as Thames College, it was founded in 1911 as the state's only women's college, a response to Wesleyan University having closed its doors to female students in 1909. The college became coeducational in 1969, adopting its current name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawrence University</span> Private college and conservatory in Appleton, Wisconsin, US

Lawrence University is a private liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Appleton, Wisconsin. Founded in 1847, its first classes were held on November 12, 1849. Lawrence was the second college in the U.S. to be founded as a coeducational institution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middlebury College</span> Private college in Middlebury, Vermont, US

Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont.

The University of Wisconsin–Whitewater is a public university in Whitewater, Wisconsin. It is part of the University of Wisconsin System. Student enrollment in the 2014–2015 academic year was more than 12,000. The university offers 47 undergraduate majors and 13 graduate programs. Approximately 1,400 faculty and staff are employed by the university, and the student body consists of individuals from about 40 US states and 30 countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Davidson College</span> Private college in Davidson, North Carolina, US

Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after Revolutionary War general William Lee Davidson, who was killed at the nearby Battle of Cowan's Ford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marist College</span> Private university in Poughkeepsie, New York, US

Marist College is a private university in Poughkeepsie, New York. Founded in 1905, Marist was formed by the Marist Brothers, a Catholic religious institute, to prepare brothers for their vocations as educators. By 1969, the college had become private with a predominantly lay board of trustees and in 2003, the Catholic Church recognized Marist as a secular institution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earlham College</span> Private college in Richmond, Indiana, US

Earlham College is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Indiana. The college was established in 1847 by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and has a strong focus on Quaker values such as integrity, a commitment to peace and social justice, mutual respect, and community decision-making. It offers a Master of Arts in Teaching and has an affiliated graduate seminary, the Earlham School of Religion, which offers three master's degrees: Master of Divinity, Master of Ministry, and Master of Arts in Religion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skidmore College</span> Private college in Saratoga Springs, New York

Skidmore College is a private liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York. Approximately 2,700 students are enrolled at Skidmore pursuing a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree in one of more than 60 areas of study.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marquette University</span> Jesuit university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US

Marquette University is a private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was established as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, by John Henni, the first Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Initially an all-male institution, Marquette became the first coeducational Catholic university in the world in 1909.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin</span> American geologist and educator (1843–1928)

Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin was an American geologist and educator. In 1893 he founded the Journal of Geology, of which he was editor for many years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Kentucky University</span> Public university in Highland Heights, Kentucky, US

Northern Kentucky University is a public university in Highland Heights, Kentucky. Of its 15,000 students, over 10,000 are undergraduate students and nearly 5,000 are graduate students. Northern Kentucky University is the third largest university, behind the University of Cincinnati and Miami University, of Greater Cincinnati's four large universities and the youngest of Kentucky's eight public universities. Among the university's programs are the Salmon P. Chase College of Law and the College of Informatics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Forest College</span> Private liberal arts college in Lake Forest, Illinois, U.S.

Lake Forest College is a private liberal arts college in Lake Forest, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Lind University by a group of Presbyterian ministers, the college has been coeducational since 1876 and an undergraduate-focused liberal arts institution since 1903. Lake Forest enrolls approximately 1,500 students representing 43 states and 80 countries. Lake Forest offers 32 undergraduate major and minor programs in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, and features programs of study in pre-law, pre-medicine, communication, business, finance, and computer science. Most students live on the college's wooded 107-acre campus located a half-mile from the Lake Michigan shore, however, the population of commuting students has increased in the past few years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Wisconsin–Madison</span> Public university in Madison, Wisconsin, US

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved statehood and is both the official state university of Wisconsin and the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. The 933-acre (378 ha) main campus is located on the shores of Lake Mendota and includes four National Historic Landmarks. The university also owns and operates the 1,200-acre (486 ha) University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum 4 miles (6.4 km) south of the main campus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chamberlin Springs</span> Woodland site outside Beloit, Wisconsin

Chamberlin Springs is a former recreational site outside of Beloit, Wisconsin, United States, that is now property of Beloit College. Started by Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin, a graduate of Beloit College in 1866, and his brother, John Chamberlin. Chamberlin Springs was originally a spring water business run by the Iodo-Magnesian Spring Company. Water from the spring was bottled up and sold for $7.00 "per barrel of 40 gallon, including package." The water from Chamberlin Springs was said to have healing properties, and was endorsed by several prominent community members from Beloit, including Beloit College's first President Aaron Lucius Chapin. The Iodo-Magnesian Springs, as they were originally called, attracted people from all across the Midwest, not just Beloit or Wisconsin as a whole. Chamberlin Springs is now a property of Beloit College and is used by students for geological, anthropological, and ecological research.

References

  1. "Honored to be your president". beloit.edu. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  2. 1 2 "Common Data Set". Beloit College Institutional Research Office. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  3. 1 2 Martin, Douglas (20 December 2005). "Miller Upton, Innovative Head of Beloit College, Dies at 88" via NYTimes.com.
  4. "Archives: Aaron Lucius Chapin". Beloit College. Retrieved 2012-05-20.
  5. "Archives: Part Two | Beloit College". beloit.edu. Retrieved 2017-02-15.
  6. "Fridays with Fred: The Ousley Family". www.beloit.edu. Retrieved 2019-11-08.
  7. "UCC related Colleges and Universities". Archived from the original on 2007-01-09. Retrieved 2006-08-12.
  8. "Near East Side Historic District". BeloitHistoricDistricts.org. Retrieved 2013-06-01.
  9. 1 2 "Logan Museum of Anthropology: Indian Mounds – Beloit College". beloit.edu.
  10. "Beloit College Magazine". Beloit.edu. Retrieved 2012-05-20.
  11. "Beloit College Center for the Sciences Named After Marjorie and James Sanger". Beloit Daily News. 2017-11-20. Retrieved 2017-11-20.
  12. 1 2 "News for Year". Holabird and Root. 2009-07-11. Retrieved 2009-07-11.
  13. "HENDRICKS CENTER ALMOST COMPLETE". beloitdailynews.com. 2010-08-05. Retrieved 2010-08-05.
  14. Vogel, Carol (1997-04-18). "Inside Art". New York Times. www.newyorktimes.com. Retrieved 2012-05-20.
  15. "2023-2024 National Liberal Arts Colleges Rankings". U.S. News & World Report . September 18, 2023. Retrieved August 9, 2024.
  16. "2024 Liberal Arts Colleges Rankings". Washington Monthly . August 25, 2024. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
  17. "America's Top Colleges 2024". Forbes . September 6, 2024. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
  18. "Best Colleges 2012". U.S. News & World Report. 2012. Archived from the original on 28 May 2011. Retrieved 20 Jan 2012.
  19. Beckman, Gary D. (2010-12-16). Disciplining the Arts: Teaching Entrepreneurship in Context. R&L Education. ISBN   978-1-60709-201-8.
  20. 1 2 "Admissions: Fast Facts | Beloit College". beloit.edu. Retrieved 2017-02-15.
  21. "Beloit College". nces.ed.gov. U.S. Dept of Education. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
  22. "Residential Life: Special Interest Houses". Beloit.edu. Retrieved 2012-05-20.
  23. "Residential Life: Fraternities and Sororities | Beloit College". beloit.edu. Retrieved 2017-02-20.
  24. https://www.beloit.edu/live/profiles/6683-aardvark-authors#:~:text=We%20are%20a%20student%2Drun,people%20of%20all%20writing%20levels.
  25. "Archives: The Round Table | Beloit College". beloit.edu. Retrieved 2017-02-15.
  26. "WBCR website" . Retrieved 2017-10-14.
  27. "Beloit students break record with 72-hour game". CNN. May 19, 2006. Archived from the original on June 20, 2006. Retrieved April 26, 2010.
  28. "Press Room | Eight U.S. Colleges Receive Awards for Campus Internationalization Efforts(2)". NAFSA. Retrieved 2012-05-20.
  29. "Beloit College Office of International Ed". beloit.edu. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  30. "Office of International Education: International Symposium". Beloit.edu. 2009-08-26. Retrieved 2012-05-20.
  31. Fishman, Julia (2018-10-25). "Marist to Take Lead on Iconic Mindset List in 2019". www.marist.edu. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  32. "Black Demands at Beloit College, 1969 · Digital Archives Class Exhibits". beloitdigitalarchives.com. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
  33. "Bias Incident Policy". www.beloit.edu. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
  34. "The Best 388 Colleges (2023)". The Princeton Review. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  35. "Beloit College Rankings". US News. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  36. "2022 Liberal Arts Colleges Rankings". Washington Monthly. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  37. "Matthew M Aid, independent researcher who wrote a history of the NSA, dies at 60". The Washington Post. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  38. "Who Was Roy Chapman Andrews?". Roy Chapman Andrews Society. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  39. "James Arness". IMDb . Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  40. "History of IRE". ire.org. Archived from the original on 25 September 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  41. Chamberlin, Rollin Thomas (1932). "Biographical Memoir of Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin 1843–1928" (PDF). National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoirs. 15: 307. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  42. "Derek Carrier TE Stats Summary".
  43. "Editorial Cartoons of J.N. "Ding" Darling". University of Iowa.
  44. "Joe Davis". FOX Sports. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  45. CIAMPAGLIA, Dante (7 February 2022). "Pioneers in Computer Science: Clarence "Skip" Ellis" . Retrieved 3 March 2023.
  46. "Portraits of Justice" (PDF). Wisconsin Court System.
  47. "Case History: Zainab al Khawaja". Frontline Defenders. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  48. Montgomery, Austin (28 December 2018). "Beloiter Klett Looks Back on 8 Years Leading State Tourism". Beloit Daily News. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  49. "Courtney Lyder". UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Archived from the original on 2018-12-19.
  50. "Kerwin Mathews". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  51. "Donor Stories: Judith Miller, '72". Beloit College. Archived from the original on May 2, 2016. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
  52. "Lorine Niedecker". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  53. "Madeleine Roux". U.S. Embassy in Argentina. 2017-03-31. Retrieved 2020-02-17.
  54. "John Sall, Co-Founder & Executive Vice President". SAS Institute. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  55. Clay, Gregory. "Thank you, Freedom Rider". Andscape . ESPN . Retrieved 5 February 2019.