This article needs additional citations for verification .(April 2023) |
Motto | Sous les lois de Minerve nous devenons tous frères et soeurs (French) |
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Motto in English | Under the laws of Minerva, we all become brothers and sisters |
Type | Private liberal arts college |
Established | February 25, 1795 |
Academic affiliations | |
Endowment | $498 million (2023) [2] |
President | David R. Harris |
Academic staff | 211 [3] |
Undergraduates | 2,200 [3] |
Location | , U.S. 42°49′02″N73°55′48″W / 42.81722°N 73.93000°W |
Campus | Urban: 120 acres (49 ha), including 8 acres (3.2 ha) of formal gardens |
Colors | Union garnet [4] |
Nickname | Garnet Chargers |
Sporting affiliations | NCAA Div I – ECAC Hockey Div III – Liberty League |
Website | www |
Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia College. In the 19th century, it became known as the "Mother of Fraternities", as three of the earliest Greek letter societies were established there. [5] [6] [7] Union began enrolling women in 1970, after 175 years as an all-male institution. The college offers a liberal arts curriculum across 21 academic departments, including ABET-accredited engineering degree programs.
Chartered in 1795, [8] Union was the first non-denominational institution of higher education in the United States, and the second college established in the State of New York.
From 1636 to 1769, only nine institutions of higher education were founded permanently in Colonial America. [a] Most had been founded in association with British religious denominations devoted to the perpetuation of their respective Christian denominations. [9] Union College was to be founded with a broader ecumenical basis.
Only Columbia University, founded in 1754 as King's College, [10] had preceded Union in New York. Twenty-five years later impetus for another institution grew. [11] As democratic cultural changes rose and began to become dominant, [12] old ways, in particular the old purposes and structure of higher education, began to be challenged. [13]
Schenectady had been founded and populated by people originating from the Netherlands. With about 4,000 residents, [14] it was the third largest city in the state, after New York City and Albany. The local Dutch Reformed Church began to show an interest in establishing an academy or college under its auspices there. In 1778, it invited the Rev. Dirck Romeyn of New Jersey to visit. [15] Returning home, he authored a plan in 1782 for such an institution and was summoned two years later [16] to come help found it.
The Schenectady Academy was established in 1785 as the city's first organized school. [17] It immediately flourished, reaching an enrollment of about 100 within a year. By at least 1792 it offered a full four-year college course, as well as one of elementary and practical subjects taught mainly to girls. [18] Attempts to charter the academy as a college with the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York were initially rejected, [14] but in 1794 the school reapplied as "Union College", a name chosen to reflect the resolution of its founders that the school should be free of any specific religious affiliation. [19] The resulting institution was awarded its charter on February 25, 1795 – still celebrated by the college as "Founders' Day". [20]
In 1836, the year of its founding, the Union College Anti-Slavery Society claimed 51 members. It published its Constitution and Preamble, with an address to students—not just those of Union—calling on them to join the abolitionist cause. [21]
Union College was sometimes called Schenectady College in this period. [22]
Union chose the modern language French—France was then the most revolutionary of countries—rather than Latin for its motto. The resulting tone of the entire seal is both historically aware and distinctly modern in outlook. [23]
The head of the Roman goddess Minerva (Greek goddess Athena) appeared in the center of an oval. Surrounding it in French was "Sous les lois de Minerve nous devenons tous frères" (English: Under the laws of Minerva, we all become brothers). [24] This was expanded to "et soeurs" (English: "and sisters") in 2015. [25]
Minerva was originally patroness of the arts and crafts, [26] but had over time evolved to become an icon of the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment. By the late 18th century she had indeed come to represent all of those qualities that might be wished for in a rational, virtuous, prudent, wise, and "scientific" man. [27]
In 2023, the college changed the school's nickname from "Dutchmen" and "Dutchwomen" to "Garnet Chargers" as part of a branding update. Garnet has been the school's official color for 150 years, and the name "chargers" is a reference to "Schenectady's legacy as a leader in electrical technologies." [28]
Union College has had nineteen presidents since its founding in 1795. The school has the distinction of having had the longest serving college or university president in the history of the United States, Eliphalet Nott (62 years). [29] [30]
The current president is David R. Harris (2018–present). [31]
During the first half of the 19th century, students in American colleges would have encountered a very similar course of study, a curriculum with sturdy foundations in the traditional liberal arts. [32] But by the 1820s all of this began to change. [33]
Although Latin and Greek remained a part of the curriculum, new subjects were adopted that offered a more readily apparent application to the busy commercial life of the new nation. Accordingly, French was gradually introduced into the college curriculum, sometimes as a substitute for Greek or Hebrew. [34]
One approach to modernization was the so-called "parallel course of study" in scientific and "literary" subjects. [35] This offered a scientific curriculum in parallel to the classical curriculum, for those students wishing a more modern treatment of modern languages, mathematics, and science, equal in dignity to the traditional course of study. [36]
Union College commenced a parallel scientific curriculum in 1828. Its civil engineering program, introduced in 1845, [37] was the first of its kind at an American liberal arts college. [38] So successful were Union's reform efforts that by 1839 the college had one of the largest faculties in American higher education and an enrollment surpassed only by Yale. [39]
After Union College received its charter in 1795 the college began conducting classes on the upper floor, while a grammar school continued to be conducted on the lower. [40] It soon became clear that this space would prove inadequate for the growing college. Construction soon began on a three-story building, possibly influenced by Princeton's Nassau Hall, [41] that was occupied in 1804. Two dormitories were constructed nearby.
Eliphalet Nott became college president that year, [42] and envisioned an expanding campus to accommodate a growing school. In 1806 a large tract of land was acquired to the east of the Downtown Schenectady, on a slope up from the Mohawk River and facing nearly due west. In 1812 French architect Joseph-Jacques Ramée was then hired to draw up a comprehensive plan for the new campus. [43] Construction of two of the college buildings proceeded quickly enough to permit occupation in 1814. [44] The Union College campus became the first comprehensively planned college campus in the United States. [45]
Nott Memorial : Designed by Edward Tuckerman Potter (class of 1853), this building derived from the central rotunda in the original Ramée Plan. While it was probably intended to be a chapel in its original conception, the Nott Memorial's primary purpose when finally built was aesthetic. It served as the library until 1961 when Schaffer Library was built. Its design bears some resemblance to the Radcliffe Camera at Oxford University. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 [46] and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986. [47] The building was restored between 1993 and 1995 and today is the centerpiece of the campus. [48]
North and South College: The first college buildings using Ramée's plans, the pair were started in 1812 and occupied in 1814. Serving as dormitories, both buildings included faculty residences at each end until well into the 20th century. [49]
Memorial Chapel: Memorial Chapel was constructed between 1924 and 1925 to serve as the central college chapel and to honor Union graduates who lost their lives serving during wartime. The names of Union alumni who died in World War I and World War II appear on its south wall, flanked by portraits of college presidents. [50]
Schaffer Library : Schaffer Library, erected in 1961, was the first building constructed at Union for the sole purpose of housing the college library. Trustee Henry Schaffer donated the majority of funds needed for its construction as well as for a later expansion between 1973 and 1974. The original building was designed by Walker O. Cain of McKim, Mead and White and built by the Hamilton Construction Company. Additional interior work supported by the Schaffer Foundation was done in the 1980s. After structural problems with the 1973–1974 addition developed, a major project to renovate and expand the library was undertaken in the late 1990s. Designed by the firm of Perry, Dean, Rogers, and Partners, the renovation provided space for College Media Services, Writing Center, and a language lab. [51]
Jackson's Garden: Begun in the 1830s by Professor Isaac Jackson of the Mathematics Department, Jackson's Garden comprises 8 acres (3.2 ha) of formal gardens and woodlands. Sited where Ramee's original plans called for a garden, it initially featured a mix of vegetables, shrubs, and flowers – some of which were grown from seeds sent by botanists and botanical enthusiasts from around the world. As early as 1844 it drew the admiration of visitors such as John James Audubon, and evolved into a sweeping retreat for both students and faculty. [52]
"The Trustees of Union College", a corporate body, has owned the college and been the college's designated legal representative throughout its history. [53] The Board consists of alumni, faculty, students, the president of the college, and others. The governor of the state of New York is also an ex officio member. The Board appoints the president of the college upon vacancy of the position. [54]
The Student Forum represents the principal form of student government at Union College. The purpose of the Student Forum is to formulate policies in areas involving the student body. The student body is represented by a president, vice-president of administration, vice-president of finance, vice-president of academics, vice-president of campus life, and vice-president for multicultural affairs. The entire Student Forum includes these officers together with two student trustees and 12 class representatives. [55]
Union College belongs to the Liberty League, ECAC Hockey, the Annapolis Group, the Oberlin Group, the Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges (CLAC), and the New York Six Consortium. [56] Union is also a component of Union University, which also includes Albany Medical College, Albany Law School, the Dudley Observatory, and the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. [57]
The Union College radio station, WRUC 89.7, dates from a student project in the fall of 1910, but did not become "live" until 1912. [58] The Union College radio station was among the first wireless transmitters in the country to broadcast regularly scheduled programs. [59] The weekly Concordiensis , the principal newspaper of Union College since 1877, is the thirteenth oldest student newspaper in the United States and the oldest continuously published newspaper in Schenectady. [60]
Most undergraduates are required to complete a minimum of 36 term courses in all programs except engineering, which may require up to 40 courses (in two-degree programs, nine courses beyond the requirements for the professional degrees), and students in the Leadership in Medicine program, which requires around 45–50 courses. [61] The most popular majors, by number out of 488 graduates in 2022, were: [62]
Academic rankings | |
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Liberal arts | |
U.S. News & World Report [63] | 45 |
Washington Monthly [64] | 85 |
National | |
Forbes [65] | 148 |
For the Class of 2027 (enrolling fall 2023), Union College received 9,484 applications and accepted 4,175 (44%). [66] The middle 50% range of SAT scores of enrolled freshmen was 1300-1470 for math + reading, while the middle 50% range of the ACT composite score was 30-33. [66] The average high school grade point average (GPA) was 3.40. [66]
Undergraduate research at Union College had its origin in the first third of the 20th century when chemistry professor Charles Hurd began involving students in his colloid chemistry investigations. Since then, undergraduate research has taken hold in all disciplines at the college, making this endeavor what has been termed "the linchpin" of the Union education. By the mid-1960s several disciplines at Union had established a senior research thesis requirement, and in 1978 the college began funding faculty-mentored student research in all disciplines. This was followed by the creation of funded summer research opportunities, again in all disciplines at the college, in 1986. [67]
Union College makes available a variety of opportunities for formal study outside the United States, the most popular of which are the Terms Abroad Programs. [68] Currently, Terms Abroad are offered for residence and study on nearly every continent, some in cooperation with Hobart and William Smith Colleges. In the 2009–2010 school year, programs were offered in 22 countries or regions around the world. [69]
Every year Union College also offers a variety of mini-terms (three-week programs during the winter break or at the beginning of the summer vacation). In the 2009–2010 school year, mini-terms were offered in 11 regions or countries (including the United States). [70]
Opened in 1961, Schaffer Library currently makes available onsite about 750,000 books in print as well as electronic formats. The two largest historical, electronic collections are Early English Books Online (EEBO) and Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO). The library's print and rare book collections are especially strong in 18th and 19th-century literature, the Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment. Of particular note is the almost complete preservation of the college's first library, acquired between 1795 and 1799. [71]
Union College belongs to several regional and national consortia that improve access to materials not owned by the college. [72]
The modern fraternity system at American colleges and universities is generally determined as beginning at Union College with the founding of Kappa Alpha (1825), Sigma Phi (1827), and Delta Phi (1827). [73] [74] [75] [76] [77] Three other surviving national fraternities – Psi Upsilon (1833), Chi Psi (1841), and Theta Delta Chi (1847) – were founded at Union in the next two decades. [78] [79] [80] [81] On account of this fact, Union has been called "The Mother of Fraternities". [6] [7] [82]
In the fall of 2021, 33% of the college's female students belonged to a sorority and 24% of its male students belonged to a fraternity. [83] In 2010, some 50% of Union's sophomores, juniors, and seniors were members of its twelve Greek-letter organizations. [82]
The eight current fraternities at Union are members of the North American Interfraternity Conference, and as such come under the supervision of the Interfraternity Council (IFC). [84] They are: Alpha Delta Phi, Chi Psi, Kappa Alpha, Sigma Chi, Sigma Phi, and Theta Delta Chi. [85] [81] [86] A chapter of the co-ed community service oriented fraternity Alpha Phi Omega also exists on campus. [87] Among dormant fraternities with active alumni, Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity maintained a chapter on campus from 1888 to 1997. [88] [81] The College Panhellenic Council (CPC) is the governing body for member sororities, of which the National Panhellenic Council (NPC) is the parent organization. [84] There are four CPC sororities at Union: Delta Phi Epsilon, Gamma Phi Beta, Sigma Delta Tau, and Alpha Delta Lambda. [85] [81] [89] The Multicultural Greek Council (MGC) is the governing body for organizations under the supervision of the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), National Association of Latino Fraternal Organizations (NALFO), or for any local organizations that fall under the category. [84] These organizations are Alpha Phi Alpha, Phi Iota Alpha, Iota Phi Theta, Lambda Pi Chi, and Omega Phi Beta. [85] [90] [81]
Before 2004, in an effort to provide an alternative social environment to that offered by the Greek organizations, the Union College administration began recovering occupancy of independent fraternity houses. [74] [82] This initiative was, and remains, a controversial step by the college. [91] A non-residential "house system" was created and funded, establishing buildings to serve as intellectual, social, and cultural centers for resident and non-resident members. All incoming students are randomly assigned to one of the seven Minerva Houses. An Office of Minerva Programs was created to coordinate and supervise Minerva activities. [92]
The Mandeville Gallery presents an annual Art Installation Series in partnership with the Schaffer Library. [93] The Art Installation Series features contemporary artists who visit campus and create a site-specific installation piece for the library's Learning Commons. [94]
The Wikoff Student Gallery, on the third floor of the Nott Memorial, is dedicated to showing work by current, full-time Union College students. [95]
The college owns over 3,000 works of art and artifacts which comprise its Permanent Collection, most of which are available for use by faculty and students in support of teaching and research. [96]
The Department of Music sponsors lectures, performances, recitals, and workshops by visiting artists at numerous campus venues, including the Taylor Music Center and Memorial Chapel. Union College jazz, choral and orchestral groups, a taiko ensemble, and three student a cappella groups perform regularly. The college's chamber music series performs at the Memorial Chapel. [97]
The Department of Theater and Dance offers several major theatrical productions as well as staged readings, student performances, guest appearances, and other shows throughout the school year. [98]
Intercollegiate competition is offered in 26 sports; for men, in baseball, basketball, crew, cross-country, football, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, swimming, tennis, and indoor and outdoor track; and for women, in basketball, crew, cross-country, field hockey, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, indoor and outdoor track, and volleyball. Originally a founding member of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), Union today participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the Liberty League, ECAC Hockey and the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC). Men's and women's ice hockey compete at the NCAA Division I level; all other sports compete at the NCAA Division III level. [99]
All club sports are administered through the student activities office. The most active and popular clubs are baseball, bowling, fencing, golf, ice hockey, karate, rugby, skiing, volleyball, and ultimate frisbee. An extensive intramural program is offered in a wide range of sports along with noncredit physical education classes as part of the wellness program. [99]
Facilities include the Frank L. Messa Rink at the Achilles Center, the David Breazzano Fitness Center, the Travis J. Clark Strength Training Facility, the David A. Viniar Athletic Center, and Frank Bailey Field. [99]
Union has hosted the two longest games in NCAA Men's Hockey History, losing both by identical 3-2 scores: The longest game in NCAA hockey history was played on March 12, 2010. Quinnipiac University defeated Union College, 3–2, in the ECAC Hockey League Quarter-Finals after 90:22 of overtime. Greg Holt scored the winning goal just after 1:00 am local time. The second-longest game in NCAA hockey history was played on March 5, 2006. Yale University defeated Union College, 3–2, in the ECAC Hockey League first-round playoff game after 81:35 of overtime. David Meckler scored the winning goal with Yale shorthanded. [100]
The Union football team went undefeated during the 1989 regular season, going 10–0. They lost to Dayton in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl for the NCAA Division III Football Championship, 17–7. [101]
a ^ Harvard University, The College of William and Mary, Yale University, Princeton University, Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, Brown University, Rutgers University, and Dartmouth College. [9]
b ^ Washington College, Washington and Lee University, Hampden–Sydney College, Transylvania University, Dickinson College, St. John's College, University of Georgia, College of Charleston, Franklin & Marshall College, University of Vermont, Williams College, Bowdoin College, Tusculum College, University of Tennessee, University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) and Union College. [112]
Wilmington College is a private college in Wilmington, Ohio. It was established by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in 1870 and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. The college is still Quaker-affiliated and has seven core Quaker values. In fall 2018, the college set an enrollment record, bringing in 450 new students for the academic year, totaling 1,103 students on Wilmington's main campus, and 139 students at Wilmington's two Cincinnati branches at Blue Ash and Cincinnati State.
Phi Iota Alpha (ΦΙΑ), established on December 26, 1931, is the oldest Latino fraternity in existence, and works to motivate people, develop leaders, and create innovative ways to unite the Latino community. The organization has roots that stem back to the late 19th century to the first Latin American fraternity, and the first Latin American student organization in the United States. The brotherhood is composed of undergraduate, graduate, and professional men committed towards the empowerment of the Latin American community by providing intensive social and cultural programs and activities geared towards the appreciation, promotion and preservation of Latin American culture.
Clarkson University is a private research university with its main campus in Potsdam, New York. Clarkson has additional graduate program and research facilities in the New York Capital District. It was founded in 1896 and has an enrollment of about 4,600 students studying toward bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in each of its schools or institutes: the Institute for a Sustainable Environment, the School of Arts & Sciences, the David D. Reh School of Business, the Wallace H. Coulter School of Engineering, and the Earl R. and Barbara D. Lewis School of Health Sciences. The university is classified as an R2 research institution.
Eliphalet Nott, was a famed Presbyterian minister, inventor, educational pioneer, and long-term president of Union College, Schenectady, New York.
Delta Phi (ΔΦ) is a fraternal society established in Schenectady, New York, on November 17, 1827. Its first chapter was founded at Union College, and was the third and final member of the Union Triad. In 1879, William Raimond Baird's American College Fraternities characterized the fraternity's membership as being largely drawn from the old Knickerbocker families of New York and New Jersey.
Kappa Kappa Gamma (ΚΚΓ), also known simply as Kappa or KKG, is a collegiate sorority founded at Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois, United States.
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. (ΦΒΣ) is a historically African American fraternity. It was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C., on January 9, 1914, by three young African-American male students with nine other Howard students as charter members. The fraternity's founders, A. Langston Taylor, Leonard F. Morse, and Charles I. Brown, wanted to organize a Greek letter fraternity that would exemplify the ideals of Brotherhood, Scholarship and Service while taking an inclusive perspective to serve the community as opposed to having an exclusive purpose. The fraternity exceeded the prevailing models of Black Greek-Letter fraternal organizations by being the first to establish alumni chapters, youth mentoring clubs, a federal credit union, chapters in Africa, and a collegiate chapter outside of the United States. It is the only fraternity to hold a constitutional bond with a historically African-American sorority, Zeta Phi Beta (ΖΦΒ), which was founded on January 16, 1920, at Howard University in Washington, D.C., through the efforts of members of Phi Beta Sigma.
The National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) is a collaborative umbrella council composed of historically African American fraternities and sororities, commonly called the Divine Nine, and also referred to as Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLOs). The NPHC was formed as a permanent organization on May 10, 1930, on the campus of Howard University, in Washington, D.C., with Matthew W. Bullock as the active Chairman and B. Beatrix Scott as Vice-Chairman. NPHC was incorporated under the laws of the State of Illinois in 1937.
Alpha Epsilon Phi is an American sorority and a member of the National Panhellenic Conference. It was the second Jewish sorority formed in the United States.
The Mother of Fraternities usually refers to Union College in Schenectady, New York, U.S., or Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, U.S, both of which founded many early collegiate fraternities.
Sigma Iota (ΣΙ) was the first Latin American–based Greek lettered inter-collegiate fraternity in the United States. It was established in 1911. Sigma Iota merged with Phi Lambda Alpha fraternity to form Phi Iota Alpha on December 26, 1931.
High school fraternities and sororities, also called secondary fraternities and sororities, were inspired by and modeled after Greek-letter organizations which became prevalent in North American colleges and universities during the nineteenth century. In some respects, these fraternities and sororities are designed to better prepare individuals for college-level fraternities.
The North American fraternity and sorority system began with students who wanted to meet secretly, usually for discussions and debates not thought appropriate by the faculty of their schools. Today they are used as social, professional, and honorary groups that promote varied combinations of community service, leadership, and academic achievement.
The term Triad is used to designate certain historic groupings of seminal college fraternities in North America.
Iota Alpha Pi (ΙΑΠ) was an international collegiate sorority operating in the United States and Canada from March 3, 1903 to July 1971, when it ceased operations. It was then restarted when Alpha chapter was rechartered at Hunter College in October 2023. As of November 2024, the Alpha chapter has been suspended by Hunter College.
Joseph-Jacques Ramée was a French architect, interior designer, and landscape architect working within the neoclassicist idiom. He was a student of the architect and landscape architect François-Joseph Bélanger. In his lifetime, he worked in France, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, and the United States. He also published books on landscaping with his own numerous garden designs as examples. Ramée is known for his work at Union College, in Schenectady, New York, where in 1812 he designed the first comprehensively planned college campus in America
Fraternities and sororities at the University of Virginia include the collegiate organizations on the grounds of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. First founded in the 1850s with the establishment of several fraternities, the system has since expanded to include sororities, professional organizations, service fraternities, honor fraternities, and cultural organizations. Fraternities and sororities have been significant to the history of the University of Virginia, including the founding of two national fraternities Kappa Sigma (ΚΣ) and Pi Kappa Alpha (ΠΚΑ).
In North America, fraternities and sororities are social clubs at colleges and universities. They are sometimes collectively referred to as Greek life or Greek-letter organizations, as well as collegiate fraternities or collegiate sororities to differentiate them from traditional not (exclusively) university-based fraternal organizations and fraternal orders that have historically acted as friendly societies or benefit societies to certain groups unlike the ones mentioned in this article.
Omicron Kappa Epsilon (ΟΚΕ), commonly known as TheFraternal Society, is a North American fraternity founded at Union College in 1834. It is the sixth oldest social fraternity still in existence in the United States. The society's only active chapter is at Hope College, where it is the oldest fraternity on campus.