Randolph College is a private liberal arts and sciences college in Lynchburg, Virginia. Founded in 1891 as Randolph-Macon Woman's College, it was renamed on July 1, 2007, when it became coeducational.
The college offers 30 majors, 44 minors, pre-professional programs in law, medicine, veterinary medicine, engineering, and teaching, and dual degree programs in engineering and nursing. Bachelor of arts, bachelor of science and bachelor of fine arts degrees are offered. Randolph offers master of arts in teaching and master of education degrees. The college also operates a study abroad program, Randolph College Abroad: The World in Britain, at the University of Reading.
Randolph is an NCAA Division III school competing in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC). The college fields varsity teams in six men's and eight women's sports. The coed riding team competes in both the ODAC and the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association.
Notable alumni include author Pearl S. Buck, who won the Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize, former U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln, and CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley.
Randolph is a member of The Annapolis Group of colleges in the United States, the Council of Independent Colleges in Virginia, and the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges.
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History
The college was founded by William Waugh Smith, then-president of Randolph-Macon College, under Randolph-Macon's charter after he failed to convince R-MC to become co-educational. Randolph-Macon Woman's College has historic ties to the United Methodist Church. After many attempts to find a location for Randolph-Macon Woman's College, the city of Lynchburg donated 50 acres for the purpose of establishing a women's college. In 1916, it became the first women's college in the South to earn a Phi Beta Kappa charter. Beginning in 1953, the two colleges were governed by separate boards of trustees.
Main Hall, built in 1891, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
In August 2006, only a few weeks into the academic year, Randolph-Macon Woman's College announced that it would adopt coeducation and change its name. Former Interim president Ginger H. Worden argued (in a September 17, 2006 editorial for The Washington Post) that,
today, the college is embarking on a new future, one that will include men. Yet that original mission, that dedication to women's values and education, remains. The fact of the marketplace is that only 3 percent of college-age women say they will consider a women's college. The majority of our own students say they weren't looking for a single-sex college specifically. Most come despite the fact that we are a single-sex college. Our enrollment problems are not going away, and we compete with both coed and single-sex schools. Of the top 10 colleges to which our applicants also apply, seven are coed. Virtually all who transfer from R-MWC do so to a coed school. These market factors affect our financial realities.
The decision to go co-ed was not welcomed by everyone. Alumnae and students organized protests which were covered by local and national media. Many students accused the school of having recruited them under false pretenses, as the administration did not warn new or current students that they were considering admitting men. Lawsuits were filed against the school by both students and alumnae.
It was renamed Randolph College on July 1, 2007, when it became coeducational. The last class to have the option to receive diplomas from Randolph Macon Woman's College graduated on May 16, 2010. Randolph College is named after John Randolph of Roanoke, Virginia. Randolph (1773-1833) was an eccentric planter and politician who, in his will, released hundreds of slaves after his death and once fought a duel with Henry Clay.
Presidents
- Bradley Bateman, 2013-
- John E. Klein, 2007-2013
- Ginger H. Worden '69 (Interim President), 2006-2007
- Kathleen Gill Bowman, 1994-2006
- Lambuth M. Clarke, 1993-1994
- Linda Koch Lorimer, 1987-1993
- Robert A. Spivey, 1978-1987
- William F. Quillian, Jr., 1952-1978
- Theodore H. Jack, 1933-1952
- N. A. Pattillo, 1931-1933
- Dice Robins Anderson, 1920-1931
- William A. Webb, 1913-1919
- William Waugh Smith, 1891-1912
Maps Randolph College
Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College
Randolph College's Maier Museum of Art features works by outstanding American artists of the 19th and 20th centuries. The College has been collecting American art since 1920 and the Maier now houses a collection of several thousand paintings, prints, drawings, and photographs in the College's permanent collection.
The Maier hosts an active schedule of special exhibitions and education programs throughout the year. Through its programs, internships, museum studies practicums, and class visits, the Maier Museum of Art provides valuable learning opportunities for Randolph students and the community at large.
Art controversies
In 2007, Randolph College announced that it would sell four paintings from its collection. The announcement resulted in an injunction filed to stop the sales as well as protests from art associations, including the Virginia Association of Museums, the Association of Art Museum Directors and the College Art Association. The lawsuit was dropped.
In 2008, the college sold Rufino Tamayo's Trovador for a record-breaking $7.2 million. In 2013, Randolph College entered into an agreement with the National Gallery, London for the purchase of George Wesley Bellows' Men of the Docks, for $25.5 million and established an academic partnership between the two institutions. The other paintings sold at a later date are Edward Hicks' Peaceable Kingdom, and Ernest Hennings' Through the Arroyo (which remains on campus through a loan).
In the spring of 2011, Randolph College was censured by the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), of which Randolph College is not nor has ever been a member, for its proposed deaccessioning of four centerpieces within its collection. The college responded by asserting that its art collection is a college asset held for the purpose of enhancing student learning. In 2014, the AAMD issued sanctions forbidding its member institutions from loaning artwork to or otherwise collaborating with the Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College. The censure has sparked discussion over the differences between standalone museums and collections held by private non-profit entities like colleges and universities.
Special programs
Randolph College Abroad: The World in Britain
Since 1968, the college has hosted a study abroad program at the University of Reading, England. Each year as many as 35 students are selected for the program. Commonly taken during the junior year, students may choose to enroll for the full academic year or for the fall or spring semester only. Students live in one of three Randolph-owned houses across the street from the University of Reading campus.
The American Culture program
A minor in American Culture offers Randolph College students the opportunity to study American society and culture by drawing upon resources, techniques, and approaches from a variety of disciplines. The American Culture program also accepts visiting students from other American colleges and universities for a one-semester intensive study of a particular theme or region, including literature, art, history, and travel components.
Notable people
Faculty
- Gary Dop, poet
- Louise Jordan Smith, painter
- Rudy Rucker (1980-1982), mathematician, computer scientist, science fiction author and one of the founders of the cyberpunk literary movement
Alumnae
References
External links
- Official website
- Official athletics website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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