Former name | Converse College (1889–2021) |
---|---|
Type | Private university |
Established | 1889 |
Endowment | $77.6 million (2020) [1] |
President | Boone Hopkins |
Provost | Joe Wilferth |
Academic staff | 90 Full-time (2022) [2] |
Students | 1,284 |
Undergraduates | 804 |
Postgraduates | 480 |
Location | , U.S. 34°57′16.59″N81°55′01.51″W / 34.9546083°N 81.9170861°W |
Campus | Urban, 70 acres (28 ha) |
Colors | Purple and gold |
Nickname | Valkyries |
Sporting affiliations | NCAA Division II – Carolinas |
Mascot | Val the Valkyrie |
Website | www |
Converse University is a private university in Spartanburg, South Carolina. It was established in 1889 by a group of Spartanburg residents and named after textile pioneer Dexter Edgar Converse. It was originally a women's college but now admits men.
Converse College Historic District | |
Location | 580 E. Main St., Spartanburg, South Carolina |
---|---|
Area | 20 acres (8.1 ha) |
Built | 1891 | -1915
Architect | Hook, Charles |
Architectural style | Late Gothic Revival, Romanesque, Richardson Romanesque |
NRHP reference No. | 75001706 [3] |
Added to NRHP | November 12, 1975 |
Converse College opened on October 1, 1890, with a student body of 168 women and 16 faculty members. The college only admitted women students and operated as a "stock company" with the board of directors composed entirely of residents of Spartanburg. Dexter Edgar Converse, a native of Vermont who had settled in Spartanburg before the American Civil War and had become a successful pioneer in the cotton mill industry, served as the head of the first board of directors. On January 2, 1892, fire destroyed the college's main building. The building was enlarged during its reconstruction. In 1896, the college was incorporated in South Carolina and a self-perpetuating board of trustees was named. In 1964, the college introduced graduate programs.
The Converse College Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. [3] It encompasses eight contributing buildings dated between 1891 and 1915. They are the Main Building (Wilson Hall) (1892), Annex (Pell Hall, 1891), Twichell Auditorium (1898–1899), Carnegie Library (1905), Cleveland House (c. 1905), Judd Science Hall (1915), Dexter Hall (1899) and Towne House (1898). The buildings are representative of the Romanesque Revival, Gothic Revival, and Neo-Classical styles. [4] [5]
The college changed its name to "Converse University" in the summer of 2021. The college also "expanded its undergraduate residential program from single-gender to co-ed" by admitting male undergraduate students in the fall of 2020. [6]
Name | Years served |
---|---|
Benjamin F. Wilson | 1890–1902 |
Robert Paine Pell | 1902–1932 |
Edward Moseley Gwathmey | 1933–1955 |
Oliver Cromwell Carmichael, Jr. | 1956–1960 |
Robert T. Coleman, Jr. | 1961–1989 |
Ellen Wood Hall | 1989–1993 |
Sandra C. Thomas | 1994–1998 |
Nancy Oliver Gray | 1999–2005 |
Elizabeth A. Fleming | 2006–2016 |
Krista L. Newkirk | 2016–2021 |
Jeffrey H. Barker [7] | 2021–2021 |
Boone J. Hopkins [8] | 2022–present |
Academic rankings | |
---|---|
Master's | |
Washington Monthly [9] | 76 of 603 |
Regional | |
U.S. News & World Report [10] | 46 (tie) of 103 |
As of August 2023 [update] , Converse offers 44 undergraduate degree programs and 28 graduate programs. The university's undergraduate program also awards certificates. [11] The University also has a presence at University Center of Greenville, a center that houses satellite campuses of several South Carolina colleges offering higher education programs. [12] Converse offers two undergraduate and three graduate degree programs at the center. [13]
The Nisbet Honors Program, established in 2000, is the university's undergraduate honors program. [14]
Converse has a Model Programs team who participate in Model Arab League and the annual International Model NATO conference hosted by Howard University. [15] [16] Converse's Model Programs annually hosts the Southeastern Regional Model Arab League (SERMAL) conference. [17]
Converse Valkyries | |
---|---|
University | Converse University |
Conference | Conference Carolinas (primary) |
NCAA | Division II |
Athletic director | Jenn Bell |
Location | Spartanburg, South Carolina |
Varsity teams | 21 (6 men's, 12 women's, 3 co-ed) |
Basketball arena | Weisiger Center/Tom and Tracy Hannah Gym |
Softball stadium | Tyger River Stadium |
Soccer field | Hayden Abney Fulp Field at Weisiger Stadium |
Lacrosse stadium | Hayden Abney Fulp Field at Weisiger Stadium |
Tennis venue | Sally Abney Rose Complex |
Nickname | Valkyries |
Colors | Purple and gold [18] |
Website | govalkyries |
Converse athletic teams are known as the Valkyries. The university is a member of the Division II level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily competing in the Conference Carolinas.[ citation needed ]
Women's sports include acrobatics and tumbling, basketball, cross country, equestrian, field hockey, lacrosse, soccer, softball, track and field (indoor and outdoor), golf, tennis, swimming and volleyball.[ citation needed ]
The inaugural men's sports are basketball, cross country, soccer, tennis, track and field (indoor and outdoor) and volleyball. Converse's equestrian program is coeducational, though only women participate in NCAA-recognized competition. The university also has a coeducational varsity esports team.[ citation needed ]
South Carolina is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia to the southwest and south across the Savannah River. Along with North Carolina, it makes up the Carolinas region of the East Coast. South Carolina is the 40th-largest and 23rd-most populous U.S. state with a recorded population of 5,118,425 according to the 2020 census. In 2019, its GDP was $213.45 billion. South Carolina is composed of 46 counties. The capital is Columbia with a population of 136,632 in 2020; while its most populous city is Charleston with a 2020 population of 150,227. The Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, SC Combined Statistical Area is the most populous combined metropolitan area in the state, with an estimated 2023 population of 1,590,636.
Spartanburg County is a county located on the northwestern border of the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 327,997, making it the fifth-most populous county in South Carolina. Its county seat is Spartanburg. Spartanburg County is the largest county within the Spartanburg, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, SC Combined Statistical Area.
Gaffney is a city in and the seat of Cherokee County, South Carolina, United States, in the Upstate region of South Carolina. Gaffney is known as the "Peach Capital of South Carolina". The population was 12,539 at the 2010 census, with an estimated population of 12,609 in 2019. It is the principal city of the Gaffney, South Carolina, Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Cherokee County and which is further included in the greater Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, South Carolina Combined Statistical Area.
Simpsonville is a city in Greenville County, South Carolina, United States. It is part of the Greenville, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 23,354 at the 2020 census, up from 18,238 in the 2010 census. Simpsonville is part of the "Golden Strip", along with Mauldin and Fountain Inn, an area which is noted for having low unemployment due to a diversity of industries including H.B. Fuller, KEMET, Sealed Air and Milliken. It is the 23rd-most populous city in South Carolina.
Spartanburg is a city in and the seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city had a population of 38,732 as of the 2020 census, making it the 11th-most populous city in the state. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) groups Spartanburg and Union counties together as the Spartanburg, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Greer is a city in Greenville and Spartanburg counties in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 35,308, making it the 14th-most populous city in South Carolina. Greer is included in the Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is part of the Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, SC Combined Statistical Area in Upstate South Carolina.
Coker University is a private university in Hartsville, South Carolina. It was founded in 1908 and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Coker's sports teams, nicknamed the Cobras, compete in NCAA Division II.
The University of South Carolina Upstate is a public university in Valley Falls, South Carolina, with a Spartanburg postal address. Founded in 1967 and formerly known as University of South Carolina Spartanburg, the institution changed its name in the summer of 2004. It offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees for students in the Upstate and surrounding areas. It is part of the University of South Carolina System and home to approximately 5,200 students and 340 full-time faculty. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
Wofford College is a private residential liberal arts college in Spartanburg, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1854, it is one of the few four-year institutions in the southeastern United States founded before the American Civil War that still operates on its original campus. The 175-acre (71 ha) campus is a national arboretum.
The Upstate, historically known as the Upcountry, is a region of the U.S. state of South Carolina, comprising the northwesternmost area of the state. Although loosely defined among locals, the general definition includes the 10 counties of the commerce-rich I-85 corridor in the northwest corner of South Carolina. This definition coincided with the Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, SC Combined Statistical Area, as first defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in 2015. In 2023, the OMB issued its most updated definition of the CSA that coincides again with the 10-county region.
Spartanburg Methodist College (SMC) is a private college in Saxon, South Carolina, United States, with a Spartanburg postal address. The college is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and enrolled 1,128 students for the 2024 fall semester.
Spartanburg High School is a public high school in Spartanburg, South Carolina, United States. It is part of Spartanburg County School District 7.
Conference Carolinas, formerly known as the Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference (CVAC) or the Carolinas Conference, is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) primarily at the Division II level. It is also considered as one of the seven Division I conferences for men's volleyball. Originally formed in 1930, the league reached its modern incarnation in 1994. Member institutions are located in the southeastern United States in the states of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. The Conference Carolinas membership currently consists of 15 small colleges or universities, 13 private and two public.
Fatemeh Pahlavi was the Iranian-born tenth child of Reza Shah Pahlavi, and half-sister of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. She was a member of the Pahlavi dynasty.
Walter Percival Crabtree was an American architect who worked in Connecticut. Some of his works are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Crabtree was a native of Rochester, New York. He "received architectural training at Holyoke, Massachusetts, later moving to New Britain, where he was employed in the office of W.H.Cadwell, a well-known local architect", from 1901 to 1904. He worked on his own in New Britain from 1905 to 1928, and then in Hartford from then to 1942. He designed numerous business block buildings and private houses in New Britain and Hartford as well as in the surrounding areas.
Bon Haven, also known as The Cleveland House, was an historic house located in Spartanburg, Spartanburg County, South Carolina. It was built about 1884, and was a two-story, brick Second Empire style dwelling with 1920s Neo-Classical style additions. It featured a mansard roof, central tower and massive Ionic order columns and portico. Its builder, John B. Cleveland, was a founder and trustee of Converse College, a trustee of Wofford College, and played a role in the establishment of Spartanburg's city school system. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
Sutton Stracke is an American socialite, businesswoman and television personality. She is known for appearing on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
Dexter Edgar Converse (1829–1899) was a textile entrepreneur who was co-founder and namesake of Converse University. Converse was native of Vermont who had moved to Spartanburg prior to the American Civil War and had become a successful pioneer in the cotton mill industry, and served as the head of the Converse University's first board of directors and was among the school's founders and substantial donors.