 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
| Rooney | |
|---|---|
| University | Roanoke College |
| Conference | Old Dominion Athletic Conference |
| Description | Anthropomorphic hawk |
| Origin of name | Roanoke Maroons |
| First seen | 2009 |
Rooney is the costumed hawk mascot of Roanoke Maroons in Salem, Virginia. Officially, Rooney is considered a "Maroon-tailed Hawk" which is "indigenous" to the Salem, Virginia area.
Rooney was created in 2009 after the submission of more than 350 suggestions by students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends of the College. From these suggestions, officials narrowed the options to six. These officials consisted of two groups: the Mascot Team, composed of various students, administrators, and alumni, and a professional company who works with mascots and logos. Other options in the final six included Rowie, an anthropomorphic version of the Shenandoah freshwater octopus (Virginia's state cephalopod), and Abe the Ape, based on the indigenous Appalachian highland gorilla. Public comment was also critical in creating the mascot as the process continued. [1] Rooney's last name was officially listed as "Sneed" in some official college pamphlets from January 2010-April 2012, but has not been publicly mentioned since.
In 2017, a generous donation to the college lead to the creation of a 14-foot-tall Rooney topiary that stands between Kerr Stadium and Maxey Hall. Since its creation it has been surrounded by campus legends claiming it to be haunted. While college officials have denied this, the legends were inflamed when the topiary began dying after a campus visit from Barry C. Knestout, Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond. [2]
Ever since Roanoke decided upon Rooney as the mascot in 2009, students who have portrayed the bird will wear the costume's feet at graduation to reveal their identity to other students and faculty members. Infamously, in 2015 this tradition was how college officials discovered that no one knew who had been in the Rooney suit for the last four years, prompting an investigation which remains open. [3]
Historically, Roanoke College has been known as the Maroons and officials ensured that this will not change due to Rooney's creation.
Roanoke College is a private liberal arts college in Salem, Virginia. It has approximately 2,000 students who represent approximately 40 states and 30 countries. The college offers 35 majors, 57 minors and concentrations, and pre-professional programs. Roanoke awards bachelor's degrees in arts, science, and business administration and is one of 280 colleges with a chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.
Colgate University is a private college in Hamilton, New York. The liberal arts college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and operated under that name until 1823, when it was renamed Hamilton Theological and Literary Institution, often called Hamilton College (1823–1846), then Madison College (1846–1890), and its present name since 1890.
Saint Joseph's University is a private Jesuit university in Philadelphia, Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The university was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1851 as Saint Joseph's College. Saint Joseph's is the seventh oldest Jesuit university in the United States and the sixth largest university in Philadelphia. It is named after Saint Joseph. It merged in 2022 with the University of the Sciences. In 2023, Saint Joseph's University announced it would acquire Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences. This will expand Saint Joseph's University by adding a campus in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and expanding the size of the student body especially with students studying nursing and health.
The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) is a public art school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It grants a high school diploma, in addition to both undergraduate and graduate degrees. Founded in 1963 as the North Carolina School of the Arts by then-Governor Terry Sanford, it was the first public arts conservatory in the United States. The school owns and operates the Stevens Center in Downtown Winston-Salem and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC) is a public community college in Oneida County, New York. It is part of the State University of New York system. MVCC was founded in 1946 as the first community college established in New York State and currently consists of the main campus in Utica and a branch campus in Rome.
Chief Illiniwek was the mascot of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), associated with the university's intercollegiate athletic programs, from October 30, 1926, to February 21, 2007. Chief Illiniwek was portrayed by a student to represent the Illiniwek, the state's namesake, although the regalia worn was from the Sioux. The student portraying Chief Illiniwek performed during halftime of Illinois football and basketball games, as well as during women's volleyball matches.
The HokieBird is the official mascot of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia.
McMurry University is a private Methodist university in Abilene, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1923 and named after William Fletcher McMurry. The university offers forty-five majors in the fields of fine arts, humanities, social and natural sciences, education, business, and religion, and nine pre-professional programs, including nursing, dentistry, medicine, pharmacy, veterinary, and law.
The Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) is a private osteopathic medical school on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, with branch campuses in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Auburn, Alabama, and Monroe, Louisiana. VCOM also recently added Bluefield University to its list of campuses. Founded in 2002, VCOM graduated its first class of 139 students in June 2007.
Ferrum College is a private college in Ferrum, Virginia. The college was established in 1913 as the Ferrum Training School for primary and secondary education to serve the mountain communities of rural Southwest Virginia.
Mid-Atlantic Christian University (MACU) is a private Christian university in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. It is supported by Christian churches and churches of Christ, which is part of the Restoration Movement. MACU awards bachelor's degrees, associate degrees, and certificates. MACU started as Roanoke Bible College with the primary goal of preacher training to serve the Church of Christ/Christian Churches of eastern North Carolina and Virginia.
Willamette University College of Medicine is a former school of medicine that was part of Willamette University. Founded in 1867 as the first medical school in Oregon, the school relocated between Portland and the main university campus in Salem several times. The school was merged with the University of Oregon's medical school in Portland in 1913. In 1974, the school was separated from the University of Oregon and later renamed the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). Today, the school is a fully independent institution, operating under the direction of the Oregon State System of Higher Education. OHSU is now Oregon's only public medical school/health center and one of just 125 in the nation.
The Saint Joseph's Hawks are the athletic teams that represent Saint Joseph's University of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Hawks compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference and of the Philadelphia Big 5. The school also has intramurals and extramurals, the latter of which compete within the City 6. The school is mostly known for its men's basketball team. The Hawk became the school's mascot in 1929. It first flapped its wings at a basketball game in 1956 in a win over La Salle University. The Saint Joseph's school colors are crimson and gray.
Jefferson College of Health Sciences was a private health sciences college in Roanoke, Virginia. Officially chartered as a college in 1982, Jefferson College is the oldest hospital-based college in Virginia. In 2019, the college merged with Radford University to become Radford University Carilion.
Denver Boone was the official mascot of the University of Denver (DU) from 1968 to 1998. He was designed by a Walt Disney Company artist and named by a DU student. Having been retired and replaced by the DU administration in 1998, he was revived by DU students and alumni in 2009 and appeared at campus events as an unofficial mascot until 2018 until the character was banned from the DU Campus as part of a selectively-enforced university mask ban. After 2018, Denver Boone still appears at selected off-campus sporting, cultural and charity events in Denver and around the nation.
Reveley, also known as the Griffin, is the mascot of The College of William & Mary. A mythical creature with the head of an eagle and the body of a lion, it was announced as William & Mary's mascot by President Taylor Reveley April 6, 2010. The Griffin mascot beat out the other four finalists: a King and Queen, a Phoenix, a Pug, and a Wren. The college hadn't had an official mascot since the late 1970s. It was named Reveley in 2018 to honor university president Taylor Reveley upon his retirement.
The Roanoke Maroons are the athletic teams that represent Roanoke College, located in Salem, Virginia, a suburban independent city adjacent to Roanoke, Virginia.
The College of Science at Virginia Tech contains academic programs in eight departments: biology, chemistry, economics, geosciences, mathematics, physics, psychology, and statistics, as well as programs in the School of Neuroscience, the Academy of Integrated Science, and founded in 2020, an Academy of Data Science. For the 2018-209 academic year, the College of Science consisted of 419 faculty members, and 4,305 students, and 600 graduate students. The college was established in July 2003 after university restructuring split the College of Arts and Sciences, established in 1963, into two distinct colleges, the other half becoming the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. Lay Nam Chang served as founding dean of the College of Science from 2003 until 2016. In 2016, Sally C. Morton was named dean of the College of Science. Morton served in that role until January 2021, when she departed for Arizona State University and Ronald D. Fricker—senior associate dean and professor in the Department of Statistics—was named interim dean of the College. In February 2022, Kevin T. Pitts was named the third official dean of the College of Science.
The College of Natural Resources and Environment at Virginia Tech contains academic programs in forestry, fisheries, wildlife sciences, geography, and wood science. The college contains four departments as well as a graduate program in the National Capital Region and a leadership institute for undergraduates.
The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine is a public medical school of Virginia Tech and located in Roanoke, Virginia. The medical school is associated with the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute. Formed as a public–private partnership with the Carilion Clinic, the medical school grants the Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree to its graduates. Initially a private institution from 2008 to 2018, the medical school became an official college of Virginia Tech in 2018.
