Tori Haring-Smith | |
---|---|
12th President of Washington & Jefferson College | |
In office January 1, 2005 –August 1, 2017 | |
Preceded by | G. Andrew Rembert (acting) Brian C. Mitchell |
Succeeded by | John C. Knapp |
Personal details | |
Born | Chicago,Illinois |
Spouse | Robert Haring-Smith |
Children | Whitney Haring-Smith |
Alma mater | Swarthmore College University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
Profession | Writer |
Tori Haring-Smith is an American academic and the former president of Washington &Jefferson College.
Haring-Smith received a bachelor's degree from Swarthmore College and doctoral and master's degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As an undergraduate,she received a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to study abroad.
Haring-Smith was a professor of theatre and writing at Brown University for 16 years. During her time at Brown,she funded,established,and administered the Rose Writing Fellows Program,a cross-curricular writing and speaking initiative. She later served as chair of the Department of Performing and Visual Arts at the American University in Cairo.
She returned to the United States to serve as Executive Director of the Thomas J. Watson Foundation,and then served as Vice-President for Educational Affairs and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Willamette University in Salem,Oregon.
Haring-Smith was named as the 12th president of Washington &Jefferson College on October 17,2005. She is also the first woman to serve as president of the college. [1] During her tenure at Washington &Jefferson College,Haring-Smith began a policy of offering "Good Neighbor" scholarships to eligible students from the seven southwestern Pennsylvania counties closest to the college and twice visited the White House to discuss college affordability issues. [2] She also launched Washington &Jefferson's Magellan Project,which provides scholarships for students to pursue independent projects abroad during the summer. [3] [4] When Haring-Smith retired,the Magellan Project had spent $1 million to fund 500 student trips. [4] During her final year,the College was also recognized as a top producer of Fulbright scholars. [5]
Haring-Smith led a capital campaign that raised more than $100 million for Washington &Jefferson College to support students,faculty and update campus facilities. [2] The college also shifted to buying 50% of its energy from wind farms. [2]
As president of the college,Haring-Smith specifically criticized the U.S. News &World Report rankings system,noting that the "financial resources" portion of the rankings formula favors colleges that have higher tuition,even without providing any educational benefits,saying that this has harmed the college's ranking because it charged $5,000 to $7,000 less in tuition than its peer institutions. [6] She also questioned the "peer assessment" portion of the rankings and suggested that college presidents are rarely aware of educational improvements in their peer institutions;she noted that Washington &Jefferson College's ranking has remained the same for a number of years,even while the college made significant improvements in acceptance rates and overall selectivity,added academic programs,and constructed additional buildings. [6] Haring-Smith's criticism of the rankings spurred Bob Morse,the founder of the U.S. College Rankings system to respond to the criticisms directly in an article. [7] She signed the "Presidents Letter",a nationwide movement asking fellow college presidents to decline participation in the U.S. News &World Report reputation survey,a subjective evaluation where college administrators score their competition. [8]
She retired from Washington &Jefferson College on June 30,2017. [2]
Tori Haring-Smith is married to Robert H. Haring-Smith,and together they have one son,Whitney Haring-Smith. [9] Whitney and his wife,Abigail Seldin,cited Tori Haring-Smith as their inspiration for starting College Abacus,a company that provided financial aid estimates for prospective college students. [10]
Abigail Adams was the wife and closest advisor of John Adams,the second president of the United States,and the mother of John Quincy Adams,the sixth president of the United States. She was a founder of the United States,and was both the first second lady and second first lady of the United States,although such titles were not used at the time. She and Barbara Bush are the only two women in American history who were both married to a U.S. president and the mother of a U.S. president.
The George Washington University is a private federally-chartered research university in Washington,D.C. Originally named Columbian College,it was chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress and is the first university founded under Washington,D.C.'s jurisdiction. It is one of the nation's six federally chartered universities.
The Fulbright Program,including the Fulbright–Hays Program,is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations,cultural diplomacy,and intercultural competence between the people of the United States and other countries through the exchange of persons,knowledge,and skills. Via the program,competitively-selected American citizens including students,scholars,teachers,professionals,scientists,and artists may receive scholarships or grants to study,conduct research,teach,or exercise their talents abroad;and citizens of other countries may qualify to do the same in the United States.
Washington &Jefferson College is a private liberal arts college in Washington,Pennsylvania. The college traces its origin to three Presbyterian missionaries in the 1780s:John McMillan,Thaddeus Dod,and Joseph Smith. Early schools grew into two competing academies,with Jefferson College located in Canonsburg and Washington College located in Washington. The two colleges merged in 1865 to form Washington &Jefferson College. The 60-acre (24 ha) campus has more than 40 buildings,with the oldest dating to 1793. The college has a strong history of competing literary societies,dating back before the union of Jefferson and Washington Colleges. The athletic program competes in NCAA Division III. Nearly all students live on campus and roughly one third are members of fraternities or sororities.
Criticism of college and university rankings refers to critiques of various rankings publications among faculty and administrators in institutions of higher education in both the United States and Canada,as well as in media reports.
Liberal arts colleges in the United States are undergraduate institutions of higher education in the United States that focus on a liberal arts education. The Encyclopædia Britannica Concise defines liberal arts as a "college or university curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing general intellectual capacities,in contrast to a professional,vocational,or technical curriculum". Generally,a full-time,four-year course of study at a liberal arts college leads students to earning the Bachelor of Arts or the Bachelor of Science.
WNJR is a non-commercial FM radio station broadcasting a freeform radio format. Licensed to Washington,Pennsylvania,it serves Greater Pittsburgh's Southwest suburbs. The station is owned by Washington &Jefferson College.
The Washington &Jefferson Presidents are the intercollegiate athletic teams for Washington &Jefferson College. The name "Presidents" refers to the two presidential namesakes of the college:George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. W&J is a member of the Presidents' Athletic Conference,the Eastern College Athletic Conference,and play in Division III of the National Collegiate Athletic Association in both men's and women's varsity sports. During the 2005–2006 season,34 percent of the student body played varsity-level athletics.
The Clark Family Library, formerly U. Grant Miller Library is the academic library for Washington &Jefferson College,located in Washington,Pennsylvania. The library traces its origins back to a donation from Benjamin Franklin in 1789. The Archives and Special Collections contain significant holdings of historical papers dating to the college's founding. The Walker Room contains the personal library of prominent industrialist John Walker,complete with all of his library's fixtures and furniture,installed exactly how it had been during Walker's life.
The history of Washington &Jefferson College begins with three log cabin colleges established by three frontier clergymen in the 1780s:John McMillan,Thaddeus Dod,and Joseph Smith. The three men,all graduates from the College of New Jersey,came to present-day Washington County to plant churches and spread Presbyterianism to what was then the American frontier beyond the Appalachian Mountains. John McMillan,the most prominent of the three founders because of his strong personality and longevity,came to the area in 1775 and built his log cabin college in 1780 near his church in Chartiers. Thaddeus Dod,known as a keen scholar,built his log cabin college in Lower Ten Mile in 1781. Joseph Smith taught classical studies in his college,called "The Study" at Buffalo.
The relationship between the City of Washington,Pennsylvania,and Washington &Jefferson College spans over two centuries,dating to the founding of both the city and the college in the 1780s. The relationship between the town and college were strong enough that the citizens of Washington offered the college a $50,000 donation in 1869 in a successful attempt to lure the Washington &Jefferson College trustees to select Washington over nearby Canonsburg as the consolidated location of the college. The relationship was strained through the latter half of the 20th century,however,as the college pursued an expansion policy that clashed with the residential neighborhood. The college's frustrations grew after preservationists unsuccessfully attempted to pass laws prohibiting the college from demolishing certain buildings that were listed on the East Washington Historic District. Relations were so bad that residents and college officials engaged in a shouting match at a meeting. Local preservationists also unsuccessfully tried to block the demolition of Hays Hall,which had been condemned.
The traditions of Washington &Jefferson College are a key aspect of the culture of Washington &Jefferson College. One of the oldest traditions at Washington &Jefferson College were the "Freshman Rules",a system of rules and restrictions on freshmen. Failure by freshmen to follow these rules would subject them to beatings by upperclassmen or other punishments doled out by the "Freshman Court". During the 1870s and 1880s,the students engaged in organized athletic competitions,pitting the freshman versus sophomore classes in the "Olympic Games" that involved elaborate opening ceremonies and the smoking of a Pipe of Peace." Another form of physical contest between the freshman and sophomore classes were the annual "color rush," where the teams fought over control over strips of fabric,the "pole rush," where the teams battled to raise a flag up a flagpole,and the "cane rush" where the teams fought over control over a ceremonial cane. These contests generally devolved into outright gang violence.
A college cost calculator,in the United States,is an online tool allowing students and their parents to calculate how much college is likely to cost. Numbers are input into the online calculator,and if done properly,it gives an estimate of the likely expenses for that student attending that particular college.
The Pet House, also known as Monroe Hall,is a residence hall at Washington &Jefferson College that allows students to live with their family pets. It has been identified as part of a growing trend of pet-friendly dormitories across the United States.
Melvin B. "Mel" Bassi was an American lawyer,public official,and banker in Washington County,Pennsylvania.
U.S. News &World Report Best Colleges Ranking is an annual set of rankings of colleges and universities in the United States,which was first published by U.S. News &World Report in 1983. It has been described as the most influential institutional ranking in the country.
Abigail Pamela Seldin is an American philanthropist,higher education expert,and edtech entrepreneur. She is Chief Growth Officer at Scholarship America and co-founder of the Seldin/Haring-Smith Foundation,having previously served as its CEO. She is known for founding College Abacus,a net price calculator aggregator company,which she sold to Educational Credit Management Corporation. In 2020,she founded SwiftStudent,a free financial aid tool for students.
Constance M. Carroll is an American education leader and advisor. She served as the chancellor of the San Diego Community College District from 2004 to 2021.
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