Lynchburg College

Coordinates: 37°′″N 79°′″W / 37.423242, -79.177608

Lynchburg College is a private college in Lynchburg, Virginia, USA, related by covenant to the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) with approximately 2,400 undergraduate and graduate students. The Princeton Review lists it as of 361 best colleges in the nation, though according to data provided by the Princeton Review, average SAT scores for incoming Lynchburg College students are the third lowest among these 361 schools. The average SAT score is 516 for both reading and math. [1]. U.S. News & World Report ranked Lynchburg in the bottom third (44th of 63) of southern colleges and universities offering a full range of undergraduate programs and master's degrees. 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 [2].

Lynchburg College is listed in Loren Pope's Colleges That Change Lives.

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). 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 graduate study in business and education. Lynchburg College has more than 20,000 alumni.

The Lynchburg College hymn was written by alumnus Paul E. Waters. Its melody was borrowed from JS Bach's "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden" Op. 135a, No. 21.

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 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.[3]

In 2003, Dr. Patty Hale was awarded the Carnegie Foundation award for U.S. Professor of the Year. Dr. Hale then left Lynchburg College in 2006 to become Coordinator of the Graduate Nursing Program at James Madison University.

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

Located in an urban setting, Lynchburg College occupies 214 acres in Lynchburg and has a separate environmental research center on 470 acres, the Claytor Nature Study Center, located about 40 minutes from campus. Most students live on campus and in nearby college-owned houses.

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.

Famous Alumni

External links

• Official site
• List of majors
• Official school paper

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