Lynchburg College

The relevance of particular information in (or previously in) this article or section is disputed. The information may have been removed or included by an editor as a result. Please see discussion on the talk page considering whether its inclusion is warranted.(October 2008)

Coordinates: 37°23′54″N 79°10′52″W / 37.398468°N 79.18101°W / 37.398468; -79.18101 (Lynchburg College)

Lynchburg College is a private college in Lynchburg, Virginia, USA, related by covenant to the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) with approximately 2,500 undergraduate and graduate students. The Princeton Review lists it as one of the 368 best colleges in the nation.^[1] U.S. News & World Report ranks Lynchburg 33rd in the top tier of southern master's universities.^[2] The College Board puts the College's average SAT scores for the middle 50% of incoming freshman at 460 - 570 math and 450 - 550 for writing ^[3].

LC is also one of only 40 colleges nationwide cited in Colleges That Change Lives and is also profiled in The Templeton Guide: Colleges That Encourage Character Development. In conjunction to these accolades, Lynchburg College was the first institution in the United States to train nuclear physicists and engineers for the NS Savannah project under order of President Eisenhower, to aid in the development and operation of the world's first nuclear powered ship. [1] More recently the institution has spent well over 30 million dollars in construction and renovation of many buildings on its campus. Such projects were the result of the Centennial Campaign lead by the current President of the College, Dr. Kenneth Garren.

History

Lynchburg College was founded in 1903 by Dr. Josephus Hopwood as a selective, independent, coeducational, and residential institution, which has a historical and current relationship to the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Hopwood was president of Milligan College in Tennessee when a group of ministers and businessmen approached him about establishing a college in Lynchburg. A key to the founding was that Westover Hotel, a failed resort, was available for sale. When Hopwood agreed to serve, they purchased the resort for $13,500, resulting in Lynchburg's current campus.

The College has maintained its original commitment to a liberal arts education. Beginning with 11 faculty and 55 students, the College has grown to 159 full-time faculty and 2,400 undergraduate and graduate students. The College offers 35 majors, 43 minors, two dual-degree programs, the Westover Honors Program, and offers graduate degrees in Masters of Arts, Masters of Business Administration, Masters of Education, and Masters of Science in Nursing. Lynchburg College has more than 20,000 alumni.

The Lynchburg College hymn was written by alumnus Paul E. Waters. Its melody was taken from JS Bach's "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden" Op. 135a, No. 21. The college fight song includes the phrase, "Hornet Born and Hornet Bred and when I did I'll be Hornet dead."

In the fall of 1994,a few months after Intel had introduced its Pentium microprocessor, Dr. Thomas R. Nicely, from Lynchburg College, was doing computations related to the distribution of prime numbers and discovered the Pentium FDIV bug. Dr. Nicely left Lynchburg College in 2000.

In 1997, Dr. Leonard Edelman was denied tenure by then-Dean of the College and he filed a lawsuit against the college for religious and gender discrimination. However, the filing was made beyond the allowable limit as provided for by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Edelmen filed a petition for re-consideration, and his lawsuit went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The court ruled against his extension request, and not on the merit of his tenure-denial claim.[2]

Community outreach remains a tradition of the College, through initiatives of its eight Centers of Lynchburg College and the SERVE program, through which 30,000 volunteer hours are contributed annually by students, faculty, and staff.

Campus and Campus Life

Lynchburg College is located in Lynchburg, Virginia, about 180 miles southwest of Washington D.C., in the Central Virginia foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It occupies 214 acres (0.87 km²) in Lynchburg and has a separate environmental research center on 470 acres (1.9 km²), the Claytor Nature Study Center, located about 40 minutes from campus. Most students live on campus and in nearby college-owned houses.

Greek Life

Fraternity and Sorority Life has been a part of the Lynchburg College Community since 1992. All official Greek houses are located on Vernon Street, and are currently owned by the college. Listed below are the chapters of the social fraternities and sororities that compose Greek life at LC.

Fraternities

Sororities

National Pan-Hellenic Council Fraternities and Sororities

Administration

Dr. Kenneth R. Garren began his tenure as the tenth president of Lynchburg College in 2001. A former vice president and dean of Roanoke College, Garren led Lynchburg College through its 2003 centennial celebration and initiatives such as a strategic plan, campus facilities master planning, building projects (including Elliot & Rosel Schewel Hall), and restoration work on College Lake. Recently, the college finished a multimillion dollar renovation on Shellenberger Field.

Notable alumni

References

• NS Savannah

External links

• Official site
• List of majors
• Official school paper