Lycoming College

Lycoming College
Motto Ἀλήθεια (Truth)
Type Private coeducational liberal arts college
Established 1812
Affiliation United Methodist Church
Endowment $207 Million[1]
President Kent C. Trachte
Academic staff
 90
Undergraduates 1400
Postgraduates 0
Location Williamsport, Pennsylvania, USA
Campus Suburban
Colors Blue and Yellow (or Gold)
Athletics NCAA Division III
Middle Atlantic Conference
athletics.lycoming.edu
Nickname Warriors
Website www.lycoming.edu

Lycoming College is small undergraduate liberal arts college located in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Founded in 1812, Lycoming College is one of the 50 oldest colleges in America. Lycoming College is affiliated with the United Methodist Church but operates as an independent institution.

History

The origins of Lycoming College date back to 1812 and the founding of the "Williamsport Academy for the Education of Youth in the English and other Languages, in the Useful Arts, Science and Literature". At the time, Williamsport's population was approximately 350 persons. Attendance was by subscription, although a state grant ensured that a number of poor children would be taught free of charge. The institution also has educated both genders from its inception.

By 1847, Williamsport had a public school system in place. Rev. Benjamin H. Crever, a Methodist preacher based in Milton, heard the Academy was for sale. Upon his recommendation, the Baltimore Conference purchased the school which opened in the fall of 1848 as the Williamsport Dickinson Seminary, a preparatory school for Dickinson College, another Methodist school.

Rev. Crever is considered to be the founder of Lycoming College as he was the one to transition the high school into its collegiate beginnings. After turning the Williamsport Academy into an institution of higher learning, Crever moved on to serve as a chaplain in the Civil War and founded a total of four schools. Only Lycoming College remains as his educational legacy.

By 1921, the Seminary had gained a reputation for excellence, when Dr. John W. Long took office as its ninth president. Under Long, the institution added junior college courses and, in 1929, became the first accredited junior college in Pennsylvania.

In 1947, the institution, again under Dr. Long, became a four-year college of the liberal arts and sciences. In 1948, it officially changed its name to Lycoming College, taking the name from that of the local county. The name "Lycoming" comes from the Native American word lacomic meaning "great stream." In 1949, the College conferred its first baccalaureate degrees.

Dr. James E. Douthat became the 14th president in 1989. Under his leadership, the College's enrollment grew by 27 percent, and its endowment and other funds under management increased from 17 million to more than 185 million. Since his arrival, the campus has been involved in strategic planning process to continually evaluate student needs and adapt the colleges programs to those needs. Under his leadership, the college saw the establishment and implementation of a new faculty governance structure, a major capital campaign to build the endowment, improved facilities, and the adoption of a revised curriculum for the College that responds to changing skill set needs.

Dr. Kent C. Trachte became Lycoming’s 15th president in 2013. Continuing the tradition of liberal arts degree, small classroom settings, and strong mentoring by professors. Building on tradition, with an eye to the future. Continue to adapt programs to meet industry needs.

Rankings and recognition

In 2013 Forbes ranked 925 private colleges and universities for financial strength and operational soundness, and Lycoming was ranked 112 (top 12%), ahead of such highly regarded institutions as Georgetown (181), Villanova (190), New York University (194), Boston University (198), and Duquesne (458).

In 2014, Lycoming was recognized as a Tier 1 institution by U.S. News & World Report in its 2014 edition of "America’s Best Colleges." According to U.S. News, the nation’s 248 liberal arts colleges emphasize undergraduate education and award at least 50 percent of their degrees in the arts and sciences. It also ranks Lycoming 32nd in the nation among liberal arts and sciences institutions in graduation rate, when comparing actual graduation rate with the predicted rate.

In 2014, Lycoming was recognized as one of the best institutions of higher learning in the Northeast by Princeton Review. The education services company selected Lycoming as one of 226 institutions it profiles in the "Best in the Northeast" section of its 2014 Best Colleges: Region by Region feature.

In 2015, The Chronicle of Higher Education named Lycoming as one of the best colleges in the nation to work for. The college took honors in two categories, collaborative governance and confidence in senior leadership. The Chronicle’s "2015 Great Colleges to Work For" survey is one of the largest and most respected workplace-recognition programs in the country. It recognizes the colleges that get top ratings from their employees on workforce practices and policies. In 2015, around 281 institutions participated; 86 institutions were recognized as a "2015 Great College to Work For."

Academics

Majors and programs

Lycoming College confers both Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees in more than 36 major fields of study offered and more than 50 minors, including: Accounting, Actuarial Mathematics, American Studies, Archeology and Culture of the Ancient Near East, Art History, Art (Studio), Astronomy, Astrophysics, Biblical Languages, Biology, Business Administration, Chemistry, Corporate Communication, Computer Science, Creative Writing, Criminal Justice, Digital Communication, Economics, Education, Engineering, English, Environmental Science, French, German, History, International Studies, Literature, Mathematics, Music, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Pre-Health, Pre-Law, Pre-Medicine, Pre-Ministry, Psychology, Religion, Sociology/Anthropology, Spanish, Theater, and Women's and Gender Studies.[2]

Interdisciplinary program

With the Lycoming College interdisciplinary program, students have the opportunity to design their own programs of study. By combining courses from more than one department, students become active participants in creating their own majors with support from faculty advisor(s) and a panel of faculty members from each of the sponsoring departments.

Special academic programs

The Lycoming Scholars Program is a special program designed to meet the needs and aspirations of highly motivated students of superior intellectual ability. Lycoming Scholars participate in special, semester-long, interdisciplinary seminars on topics chosen by the faculty and students on the Scholars Council.

Lycoming offers a number of paid and unpaid internship opportunities including: the Williamsport Internship Summer Experience, the Philadelphia Center, Washington Semester Program, and Semester of the United Nations.

Pre-law, medicine and health advising to help students gain the necessary skills and tools to pursue these professions.

Lycoming College’s cooperative program with Duke University's Environmental Science & Forestry program allows qualified students to earn the baccalaureate and master's degrees in five years, spending three years at Lycoming and two years at Duke.

Lycoming’s accelerated MBA program with the College of Business at Rochester Institute of Technology allows students to waive 6 foundation courses in the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) MBA program so that it is possible to complete and MBA in one calendar year.

Campus

Buildings

Twenty-three buildings sit on Lycoming's 42-acre campus. Most buildings have been constructed since 1950 in a pre-Georgian style, some having been refinished since. The most recently constructed building is the Lynn Science Center, adjacently connected to the Heim Science Center and holding the Detwiler Planetarium. A 12-acre athletic field and football stadium lie a few blocks north of the main campus.

Lycoming's campus consists of academic facilities that include Wendle Hall, Fine Arts, Communications, Heim Science Center, Clarke Music Building, Honors Hall and the Lynn Science Center which opened in the Fall of 2015.

Unique facilities include Detwiler Planetarium, Mary L. Welch Theatre, Snowden Library, a digital media lab, an electronic music studio, HOPE Early Learning Center, a radio station, greenhouse and Wertz which holds the cafeteria.[3]

Students live in eight residence halls: Skeath, Asbury, East, Wesley, Rich, Williams, Crever, and Forest. They can also choose to live in seven different apartment buildings and the Douthat Commons.[4]

Athletic facilities include Lamade Gymnasium, the Keiper Recreation Center, an outdoor intramural field and the Shangraw Athletic Complex with football, soccer, lacrosse and softball fields.

The Lycoming College Art Gallery is located at 25 West Fourth Street in downtown Williamsport.

Athletics

Today, Lycoming fields men’s and women’s teams in basketball, cross country, lacrosse, soccer, swimming, and tennis, men’s teams in football, golf and wrestling, and women’s teams in softball and volleyball. Lycoming is a member in the Middle Atlantic Conference, with the basketball, lacrosse, soccer, tennis, golf, softball and volleyball teams competing in the MAC Commonwealth.

The Warriors have won 40 Middle Atlantic Conference titles, with football and wrestling winning 15 each, men’s soccer, women’s swimming, volleyball and men’s basketball two each and men’s tennis and softball each winning one.

Lycoming College celebrated its 125th year of varsity athletics in 2015, as a baseball team was first formed at Dickinson Seminary in 1890. Football followed soon after in 1895 along with track and field and basketball made it to the Seminary in 1907, just 16 years after the sport was invented in 1892. The athletic program at Dickinson Seminary and Dickinson Seminary & Junior College remained small, although tennis, swimming and girls’ basketball did begin and stop to compete during the 1920s and ’30s.

After World War II, with the school’s move to a four-year institution, Lycoming College chose a new nickname – Warriors – for all of their athletic teams based on a survey given in the Williamsport Sun newspaper. In 1948-49, the athletic program officially adopted the Warriors moniker and an Indian head logo was designed. The logo was dropped in 2004 as the NCAA encouraged athletic programs to remove American Indian mascots. In 2013, a new graphic identity was announced for the athletic department, utilizing a sword as the primary athletic department logo. Later that fall, a mascot for use at athletic events – Lycos the Warrior, portrayed as a wolf – was unveiled at the college’s Homecoming.

By 1952, Lycoming was an established four-year college and was invited to join the Middle Atlantic Conference.

Notable alumni

The following have attended Lycoming College or its predecessor institutions:

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lycoming College.

Coordinates: 41°14′44″N 77°00′00″W / 41.2456°N 77.0001°W / 41.2456; -77.0001

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