Furman University is a private, coeducational, non-sectarian university in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. Furman is the oldest, largest and most selective private institution in South Carolina and
is one of the top liberal arts colleges in the United States.
[citation needed] Founded in 1826, Furman enrolls approximately 2,550 undergraduate and 525 graduate students on its 750 acre (3 km²) campus. Its current president is David Shi, who graduated
from Furman in 1973.
Furman is best known for its chemistry, history,
music, religion, political
science, and psychology departments. The psychology, computer science, and chemistry
departments have earned high marks among professional organizations spanning the sciences (social, applied, and basic), notable
for a liberal arts institution of Furman's size [citation needed].
Furman University students have an unusually high acceptance rate into graduate schools. Approximately two-thirds of Furman
students will earn graduate degrees. More of Furman University’s graduates have gone on to earn Ph.D. degrees in recent years
than any other private liberal arts college in the South, according to a survey conducted by the University of Chicago's National Opinion
Research Center. [2].
Furman University emphasizes "engaged" learning in which professors encourage undergraduate students to author articles,
participate in internships, and volunteer in their respective fields of study. The Furman Advantage program funds research
projects between professors and students. Furman receives funds annually from The Duke
Endowment for general operating support and for special projects and programs. The center of engaged learning is the Max
and Trude Heller Service Corps, formerly CESC, one of the nation's largest collegiate service-learning organization.
History
Furman was founded in 1826 as a Men's Academy and Theological Institute in Greenville, South Carolina. The original school building from that campus is located on the
current Greenville campus today. In 1933, students from the Greenville Women's College began
attending classes with Furman students. Shortly thereafter, the two schools merged to form the present institution. Furman began
construction on its new campus, just five miles north of downtown Greenville, in 1956. Classes on
the new campus began in 1958. Now a private, non-religiously affiliated university, Furman was
founded by, and affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention [3] and the Southern Baptist
Convention until separating in the 1991 - 1992 school
year.
Rankings
Furman was ranked no. 15 in the Washington Monthly's Top US Liberal Arts
Colleges Rankings based on its production of research valuable to society and its commitment to national service. [4].
Furman has been ranked no.4 in U.S. News Best Undergraduate Research Programs along with MIT, Stanford and Michigan. [5]. The university's engaged
learning academic program, which promotes problem-solving, project-oriented, experience-based education, has received high praise
from The Princeton Review, Peterson's Competitive Colleges , The Fiske Guide to Colleges and The College
Board College Handbook . In terms of input, meaning the quality of the students the institution attracts, Furman was ranked
no. 30 in the SSRN's U.S Colleges and Universities Preference Rankings (based on the choice to enroll of high-achieving students
in US) [6] The
Chronicle of Higher Education also ranked Furman no. 32 in the nation for the percentage of National Merit Scholars in its
2005-2006 freshman class .[7] Furman is a member of the ficticious "Magnolia League" which attempts to create the southern equivalent of the
Ivy League.(http://www.magnolialeague.com)
Campus
A 40-acre (0.1-km²) lake is at the center of the
750-acre (3-km²), wooded campus. Many academic buildings and student residences stand around the lake, including the Bell Tower.
The Bell Tower figures highly in school insignias and is a replica (within 1/16th of an inch) of the tower that once existed on
the men's campus in downtown Greenville. Today, the campus is anchored by its newly expanded 128,000 square foot (12,000 m²)
James B. Duke Library. Informally known as "The
Country Club of the South," Furman was named one of the 362 most beautiful places in America by the American Society of Landscape Architects. The fall 1997 issue of Planning for
Higher Education names Furman as a benchmark campus for its landscaping as well. To add to the campus's extensive merit for
aesthetic beauty, the 1996 Fisk Guide to Colleges referred to Furman's campus as a "shining jewel." Also, the 1997 Princeton
Review ranked Furman fifth in its list of beautiful campuses, this based on student ratings of campus beauty. Students are
required to live on campus all four years. However, during a student's senior year, s/he may be eligible to live off campus
through a lottery. There are two residence complexes (called Lakeside and South Housing), as well as four housing cabins which
make up Bell Tower Housing. Most juniors and all seniors live in North Village Apartments, located near the Bell Tower.
Athletics
Furman competes in NCAA Division I athletics as the
Paladins. The university is a member of the Southern
Conference. In 1988 Furman won the NCAA I-AA National Football Championship. Furman also appeared in the 1985 and 2001
NCAA I-AA National Football Championship game, but lost (to Georgia Southern
and Montana, respectively). Furman, Colgate and Lehigh remain the only private
universities that have appeared in the I-AA Football Championship game, and Furman is the only private school to win it. Over the
past few years, Furman's football team has been consistently ranked in the top 3 spots in the NCAA I-AA polls, and recently
climbed to no. 1 in the nation in the latest Sports Network polls [8]. The Paladins
have also claimed 12 Southern Conference football titles, more than any school in league history.
The men's soccer team has been ranked as high as no. 3 in the nation and has produced a share of professional players [9].
Former star Clint Dempsey was the only American player to score a goal at the
2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany [10]. Few collegiate
woman golf programs have produced more outstanding professionals than Furman, which boasts 11 former Lady Paladins on the LPGA
tour, including two Hall of Fame inductees (Betsy
King and Beth Daniel). Furman men's tennis coach Paul Scarpa is only the fourth
college tennis head coach in history to reach 700 wins. He is currently the winningest active coach in the NCAA's and has coached
108 All-Southern Conference players. Furman's Rugby Club team has also proved notable in recent years, winning the East Coast
Collegiate Championship five out of the last six years[11].Started in 1998 by John Roberts, the club continues to excel in Division III rugby in the southeast with many
accolades. Furman is the only liberal arts college to be ranked in Sports Illustrated Top 100 America's Best Sports Colleges
[12]and
has 32 former student-athletes competing at the professional level- the most of any Southern Conference member school.
Notable alumni
- Charles Townes - Nobel
Prize-winner in Physics, inventor of the maser, laid theoretical groundwork for invention
of laser
- John B. Watson - Father of behaviorism
(Psychology)
- Hans Einstein - the foremost authority on the lung disease Valley Fever
- Herman Lay - Founder of the Lay's Corporation, later creating the largest-selling snack
food company in the US, the Frito-Lay corporation
- Amy Grant - The Best-Selling Contemporary Christian/Pop artist in the world, 6-time
Grammy Award-winner
- Keith Lockhart - Current conductor of the Boston Pops
- Victoria Jackson - Former cast member of Saturday Night Live
- Ben Browder - Three-time Saturn Awards winner
for Best Actor on Television on Farscape
- Marshall Frady - Emmy Award-winning journalist and
biographer[13]
- John Michael McConnell - Has served as director of the National Security
Agency and currently serves as Director of National
Intelligence
- Keelan Parham - Cartoonist, author of Let's Toon Caricatures,
owner of Caricature Connection, a major caricature concession in theme parks
- Richard Riley - Former Governor of South
Carolina and U.S. Secretary of Education under the Clinton administration
- Mark Sanford - Current Governor of South Carolina
- Betsy Byars - children's author, winner of the Newbery
Medal, a National Book Award, an Edgar
Award and the Regina Medal
- George Singleton - Novelist
- Pamela DeLargy - Manager of the U.N. Population Fund’s Humanitarian Response Unit
- Maurice Bloomfield - Austrian-born U.S. philologist and Sanskrit scholar.
- CT Weeks - Michael Kors top modeling agent. Currently touring in France with Tyra Banks
upcoming new show France's Top Model.
- Wilton E. Hall - newspaper publisher and United States Senator from South Carolina from
1944 to 1945
- Clement Haynsworth - Former United States judge and an unsuccessful nominee for
the United States Supreme Court
- Baron Hill - Indiana congressman
- Alexander Stubb - Finnish politician and
Member of the European Parliament with the National Coalition Party
- Nick Theodore - Lieutenant Governor of
South Carolina from 1987 to 1995
- Roger C. Peace - United States Senator
from South Carolina
- Joseph H. Earle - member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1878
to 1882, a member of the South Carolina Senate from
1882 to 1886, South Carolina attorney general from 1886
to 1890 and a United States Senator from
South Carolina in 1897
- William H. Perry - United
States Representative from South Carolina.
- Donald Todd - Executive Producer and Writer - Brother's Keeper, ABC and Consulting
Producer Ugly Betty
- Jay Bocook - Renowned Composer and Arranger - Work Featured at 1984 Olympic Games.
- Erik Huffman - Contestant on the CBS show, Survivor: China
- Dr. Ronald D. Vaughan - Pastor of Berea First Baptist Church
Athletes
- Betsy King - LPGA Tour, World Golf Hall of Fame, 34 career victories
- Beth Daniel - LPGA Tour, World Golf Hall of Fame, 32 career victories
- Dottie Pepper - Former LPGA Tour champion; current
NBC and Golf Channel commentator
- Brad Faxon - eight time winner on the PGA Tour, played
on two Ryder Cup teams
- Bruce Fleisher - won the U.S. Amateur in 1968, professional golfer
on the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour
- Scott Nelson - 4 year soccer letterman, 31 career goals at Furman, drafted 56th by
Houston Dynamo in 2007 draft
- Sherri Turner - Professional golfer, won the 1988 LPGA Championship
- Sarah Johnston - FUTURES Tour golf player and
contestant in The Big Break VI[14]
- Sam Wyche - Former NFL head coach; led Cincinnati
Bengals to Super Bowl XXIII
- Stanford Jennings - Former NFL
player for the Cincinnati Bengals, scored a touchdown in Super Bowl XXIII; current New Balance sales executive
- Ingle Martin - NFL player, QB for
Green Bay Packers
- David Whitehurst - Former quarterback for the Green Bay Packers
- John Keith - NFL player for
San Francisco 49ers[15]
- Cam Newton - NFL player, Defensive Back
for Carolina Panthers[16]
- Orlando Ruff - NFL player for Cleveland
Browns
- Luther Broughton - former NFL
tight end
- Bear Rinehart - South Carolina Player-of-the-Year Award 2002 and Singer/Guitarist of
NeedToBreathe[17].[18]
- Brian Bratton - NFL player, rookie free
agent for the Atlanta Falcons in 2005, now a receiver for
Baltimore Ravens assigned to the Cologne Centurions of NFL Europe [19]
- Frank Selvy - Former NBA
All-Star; holds record for the most points in any NCAA Division
1 basketball game
- Rushia Brown - WNBA
professional player, most recently for the Charlotte Sting[20]
- Clint Dempsey - Professional footballer, 2004 MLS Rookie of the Year and member of the United States men's national soccer team, only US player to score a goal in the
2006 World Cup, currently plays midfield for
Fulham of the English Premier League
- Ricardo Clark - Professional footballer for the Houston Dynamo, 2003 MLS Rookie of the Year
runner-up
- John Barry Nusum - Professional soccer
player for the Virginia Beach Mariners and Philadelphia Kixx
- Sergei Raad - Professional footballer player for the Kansas City Wizards
- Ned Caswell - Former ITF No. 1 ranked player in the world Men's 35s[21]
- Tom Mastny - Pitcher for Cleveland
Indians
- Angel Martino - Olympic Gold Medalist in swimming
- David Hugh Segal - Olympic Bronze Medalist in track and field
- Jason L. Pagan - World Record Holder - Bench Press - 183 lb Weight Class.[22]
- Derek Waugh - head men's basketball coach at Stetson University.
- Andy Kidd- Former all-conference selection for Furman soccer team and current head coach of
varsity soccer team at Episcopal High School in Jacksonville, Florida.
Notable faculty
- Judy Bainbridge - English
- Jay Bocook - Music
- Mike Bressler - IR
- Charles Brewer - Psychology
- Jim Edwards - Philosophy
- Gilles Einstein - Psychology
- Mark Kilstofte - Music, winner of the American Academy in Rome's Rome Prize for
2002-2003 [23]
- Lon Knight - Chemistry
- Hayden Porter - Computer Science
- Rich Prior- Classics, author of 501 Latin Verbs
- Chris Blackwell - Classics, author of Mythology for Dummies (co-authored with his wife, Amy Hackney Blackwell).
- Albert Blackwell - Religion
- Bingham Vick, Jr. - Music
- William Thomas - Music
- Jim Guth - Political Science, focusing on Religion and Politics
Majors and concentrations
Social Organizations
- Sororities:
- Fraternities:
- Sisterhoods:
Points of interest
- Furman University Asian Garden
- The amphitheatre, which features concerts and other performances. Site of the annual Black Swan Music Festival, and has been
the place of concerts by artists such as Guster, Nickel Creek, Howie Day, and Robert Randolph and
the Family Band.
- The bunched arrowhead viewing platform.
- The Bell Tower- The Burnside Carillon - 59 bell carillon by Van Bergen
- Eugene Stone III Soccer Stadium - one of the finest soccer stadiums
in South Carolina. Its opening featured Brazil national football team legend Pelé.
External links
Coordinates:
34°55′33″N, 82°26′8″W
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