Cornell College

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Cornell College
Motto	DEUS ET HUMANITAS (God and Humanity)
Established	1853
Type	Private
Endowment	$68.7 Million[1]
President	Leslie H. Garner, Jr.
Faculty	119
Undergraduates	1,155[2]
Location	Mount Vernon, Iowa, USA
Campus	rural, 129 acres (522,044 m²)
Colors	Purple & White
Nickname	Rams
Affiliations	United Methodist Church
Website	cornellcollege.edu

This article is about the liberal arts college in Mount Vernon, Iowa. For the unaffiliated Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York, see Cornell University.

Cornell College is a private liberal arts college in Mount Vernon, Iowa. Originally called the Iowa Conference Seminary, the school was founded in 1853 by Reverend Samuel M. Fellows. Four years later, in 1857, the name was changed to Cornell College, in honor of iron tycoon William Wesley Cornell, who was a distant relative of Ezra Cornell (founder of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York). Cornell College was recently ranked by Forbes as one of the top 25 Liberal Arts Colleges in the US. Cornell College also has the top 16th theater program in the country as well.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Athletics 3 Greek Life 4 Academic Statistics 5 Applicant Statistics 6 Student Statistics 7 Notable alumni 8 Notable faculty 9 Notable staff 10 Lecturers, speakers, and performers 11 External links 12 References

Overview

Cornell students study one course at a time (commonly referred to as "the block plan" or "OCAAT"). Since 1978, school years have been divided into nine "blocks" of three-and-a-half weeks each (usually followed by a four-day "block break" to round out to four weeks), during which students are enrolled in a single class; what would normally be covered in a full semester's worth of class at a typical university is covered in just seventeen-and-one-half Cornell class days. Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado; Quest University in Squamish, British Columbia; Tusculum College in Tusculum, Tennessee; Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa; and The University of Montana - Western are the only other colleges operating under this academic calendar.

From the beginning, Cornell has accepted women into all degree programs. In 1858, Cornell was host to Iowa's first female recipient of a baccalaureate degree, Mary Fellows, a member of the first graduating class from Cornell College. She received a bachelor's degree in mathematics. In 1871, Harriette J. Cooke became the first female college professor in the United States to become a full professor with a salary equal to that of her male colleagues.

Athletics

Cornell College fields 19 intercollegiate athletic teams, all of which compete in NCAA Division III sports. It is a member of the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.^[1]

Cornell has achieved its greatest success in wrestling. Cornell wrestlers have won eight individual national titles, and in 1947, the wrestling team won the NCAA Division I and AAU national championships. Sixty-Two Cornell wrestlers have been named NCAA All-Americans, and seven have been elected to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. Seven wrestlers have also been in the Olympics.^[2]

Twenty-five Cornell students have earned NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships, awarded annually to students in their final year of eligibility who excel both athletically and academically. Cornell ranks in the top 15 Division III colleges in recipients of this award.^[1]

Cornell's football rivalry with Coe College dates to 1891, making it the oldest intercollegiate rivalry west of the Mississippi. Coe currently holds the lead in the series, 60-51-4.

Cornell's mascot is a Ram. In 1949 the Royal Purple, the school's yearbook, offered a $5 prize for someone who could come up with a new mascot to replace either the "Purples" or "Hilltoppers." A sophomore came up with the idea for the ram.^[3]

Greek Life

Cornell College has 15 unique non-national Fraternities and Sororities.

• Alpha Chi Epsilon "AXEs
• Alpha Sigma Pi "ARROWs"
• Beta Omicron "OWLS"
• Delta Phi Delta "Delphis"
• Delta Phi Rho "Delts"
• Phi Kappa Nu "Newts"
• Phi Lambda Xi "Phi-Lambs"
• Phi Omega "Phi-Os"
• Gamma Tau Pi "Gammas"
• Kappa Delta Chi "KDChis"
• Kappa Theta "Thetas"
• Mu Lambda Sigma "Milts"
• Rho Zeta Omicron "The Rhozes"
• Sigma Porifera Omega "Sponges"
• Sigma Tau "Taus"

Academic Statistics

• Student Faculty Ratio: 11:1
• Total Faculty: 97 (88 with PhDs)
• Most Popular Majors: Economics, English, Psychology
• Most Frequent Class size: 10-19^[4]

Applicant Statistics

• Average GPA of applicants: 3.44
• Middle 50% ACT: 24-29
• Middle 50% SAT: 1070 - 1330 (on 1600 scale)^[5]
• Percent of applicants admitted: 45%

Student Statistics

• Enrollment: 1,083
• Male/Female: 49/51
• In-state/Out-of-state: 29/71

^[6]

Notable alumni

• John Q. Tufts late 1800s—Congressman from Iowa's 2nd Congressional district (1875-1877)
• Leslie M. Shaw 1874 -- Governor of Iowa, U.S. Secretary of Treasury
• Charles Atherton Cumming 1880—American painter
• Robert G. Cousins 1881—U.S. Congressman from Iowa (1893-1909)
• William W. Mccredie 1885—Judge, U.S. Congressman from Washington (1909-1911) and Baseball Executive
• Edgar J. Helms 1889—Founder of Goodwill Industries
• Burton E. Sweet 1895—U.S. Congressman from Iowa (1915-1923) and unsuccessful Senate Candidate (1922, 1924)
• Lester J. Dickinson 1898—U.S. Congressman (1919-1931) and Senator from Iowa (1931-1937)
• Walter Thornton 1899 -- Major League Baseball player
• Erwin Kempton Mapes 1909—renowned scholar of Spanish-American Literature
• Lee Alvin DuBridge 1922—President of the California Institute of Technology, science advisor to U.S. President Richard Nixon
• Hubert Stanley Wall 1924—mathematician
• Winifred Van Etten 1925—Best selling novelist
• Leo Beranek 1936—Co-founder of Bolt, Beranek and Newman
• James Daly 1941 -- Emmy Award-winning actor[1]
• Maryann Mahaffey 1946 -- Detroit City Council member
• Nancy Price (author) 1946—Author, Sleeping with the Enemy
• Don E. Fehrenbacher 1948 -- Pulitzer Prize for History winner
• Dale O. Thomas 1948—Wrestler and coach
• Herbert L. Hoover, adopted nephew of the former President, retired businessman, and inventor of patented lace stitching technique (did not graduate).
• Don Weiss 1949—Sports writer and NFL executive known as Mr. Super Bowl
• Richard Cross 1957—opera singer
• William Taylor 1961—Chairman of the FDIC
• Mike Conklin 1969—Feature writer and columnist, Chicago Tribune
• David Hilmers 1972 -- Astronaut and medical doctor
• Michael J. Graham 1975—President of Xavier University
• Richard Kirkham 1977—Philosopher
• Chris Carney 1981—Congressman from Pennsylvania's 10th Congressional district
• Alan Krugman 1985—CEO of Sprehe-feinkost, a German frozen food company.

Harry Kalas Philadelphia Phillies noted broadcaster 1954-1955

Notable faculty

• Joseph M. Bachelor -- author
• Charles Atherton Cumming -- American Artist
• Glenn Cunningham -- Silver Medalist 1500 meters run, 1936 Olympics
• Robert Dana -- Poet Laureate of Iowa
• Charles Wesley Flint, President (1915-1922), Methodist bishop
• Bruce Frohnen -- academic
• Jim Leach -- former Republican congressman, taught as a visiting professor.
• David Loebsack -- Congressman from Iowa's 2nd District
• Marty Condon -- Biologist; published on cover of Science
• Carol Zerbe Enns -- Work on feminist theory in Psychology.
• Rev. Richard Thomas
• Craig Allin—Political Scientist -- a leading scholar in the field of Environmental Politics

Notable staff

• Matt Hoover -- Second season winner of NBC's "The Biggest Loser"
• Lisa Stone -- Head Coach, University of Wisconsin Women's Basketball

Lecturers, speakers, and performers

Despite Cornell's small size and location in a small town, many nationally and internationally prominent speakers and performers have visited Cornell, including the following:

External links

• Cornell College web site
• 2002 article about the Cornell-Coe rivalry
• gallery of Cornell College photographs 1974 - 1978

References

1. ^1 endowment  "The Power of Endowment". Cornell College. http://www.cornellcollege.edu/campus_offices/president/paper8.shtml. Retrieved April 8 2006. 
2. ^{2 enrollment}  "Cornell College at a Glance". U.S. News and World Report. http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/directory/brief/drglance_1856_brief.php. Retrieved April 8 2006. 

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Coordinates: 41°55′34″N 91°25′33″W / 41.92611°N 91.42583°W / 41.92611; -91.42583