Huntingdon College
Encyclopedia
Huntingdon College, founded in 1854, is a coeducational liberal arts
college in Montgomery
, Alabama
, United States
. Related to the United Methodist Church
, the college's central hallmarks are faith, wisdom, and service. The college is known for providing a solid academic experience based on good teaching. Excellent programs include the liberal arts and sciences, education, sport sciences, and business/accounting. Placement rates into graduate and professional schools and into employment are, in most cases, twice the national averages.
Huntingdon College was chartered on February 2, 1854, as "Tuskegee
Female College" by the Alabama
State Legislature and Governor John A. Winston
. The first president was Andrew Adgate Lipscomb, a contemporary of Charles Dickens and Harriet Beecher Stowe who was one of the most respected scholars of his time. Dr. Lipscomb laid the foundation of the college as a teaching college rather than a research institution.
In 1872 the name was changed to "Alabama Conference Female College" as the college came under the auspices of the United Methodist Church
. As the college and the South struggled to rebuild following the Civil War, it became clear to college leaders that growth and stability were dependent upon relocation to a more populous city--and they chose the state's capital. A 58-acre (235,000 m²) parcel of land on what was then the outskirts of town and is now the beautiful Old Cloverdale neighborhood of Montgomery was selected in 1908. The design for the landscape of the campus was provided by Frederick Law Olmsted, who had also planned the Biltmore Estate. The college, renamed once again to "Woman's College of Alabama," moved all of its furniture, lab chemicals, and records into Hamner Hall in Montgomery August 24, 1909, but the building burned to the ground that night, destroying the records of the college's first 50 years and all of its belongings. As the students and President William Martin moved to Sullins College in Virginia for that school year, construction commenced on the college's first building, John Jefferson Flowers Memorial Hall. Completed in 1910 and designed by Harvard architect H. Langford Warren, Flowers Hall was designed to emulate the collegiate Gothic architecture of Oxford and Cambridge, England, and of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and set the tone for the pervasive architectural style of campus buildings henceforth.
The college admitted its first male students in the aftermath of World War I, graduating the first male student in 1934. Realizing that the name Woman's College of Alabama no longer fit its student body, the college's final name change came in 1935 when Huntingdon College was adopted in honor of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, a notable supporter of John Wesley and of Methodism
.
Huntingdon today offers approximately 20 academic majors and 14 NCAA-III intercollegiate athletic teams. Since 2004, enrollment has grown by 58% in the traditional day program and 90% overall, through the establishment of the burgeoning Adult Degree Completion Program, now offered in 10 locations across the state. The core curriculum features ACT: The Art of Critical Thinking, beginning with PACT: Practicing the Art of Critical Thinking, is the first semester of enrollment and continuing with critical-thinking-intensive courses throughout the curriculum. An Honors Program, Departmental Honors, Senior Capstone experiences, the Staton Center for Learning Enrichment, and the Center for Career and Vocation are central to academic life at Huntingdon. Long-standing strengths in the pre-medical sciences and pre-law have led to successful graduate placement into professional, medical and law schools, and seminaries. In 2010, the College continued a 14-year tradition of 100% placement among candidates who wished to enter pharmacy schools.
The College is listed as an approved institution by the University Senate of the United Methodist Church.
There are eight Greek organizations on campus, four for women and four for men. There are no fraternity or sorority houses
for residential purposes, but each organization has a chapter room located on campus. Women's sororities include Alpha Omicron Pi
(chapter established 1975), Chi Omega
(chapter established 1976), Alpha Kappa Alpha
(chapter established 1999), and Phi Mu
(chapter established 2008). The first men's fraternity was established in 1977 with a chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon
, and was followed in 1981 by a chapter of Kappa Sigma
. Recently, two more men's fraternities were added to Huntingdon's campus: Kappa Alpha Psi
, spring 2008, and Sigma Nu
, fall 2008.
Other organizations focus on political interests, including College Republicans
and College Democrats
. Service organizations include the Women's Center and the only collegiate chapter of the Exchange Club in the country, while other organizations, such as the Natural Sciences Club and Business Club, have an academic interest as their foundation. Other groups include the Outdoor Recreation Club and the International Students Association.
The Student Government Association can trace its beginnings to 1912 and consists of an executive cabinet, a President's Council, a Student Senate, and a Judicial Board, which considers infringements of the College's Honor Code.
Campus publications are student-run and include The Prelude (literary magazine), Bells and Pomegranates (yearbook), and The Gargoyle (newspaper).
," alleged to be the ghost
of a female student from the early twentieth century who committed suicide inside her room in Pratt Hall. This story is told in Huntingdon alumna Kathryn Tucker Windham
's 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey
.
Liberal arts
The term liberal arts refers to those subjects which in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free citizen to study. Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were the core liberal arts. In medieval times these subjects were extended to include mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy...
college in Montgomery
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Related to the United Methodist Church
United Methodist Church
The United Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination which is both mainline Protestant and evangelical. Founded in 1968 by the union of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church, the UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley...
, the college's central hallmarks are faith, wisdom, and service. The college is known for providing a solid academic experience based on good teaching. Excellent programs include the liberal arts and sciences, education, sport sciences, and business/accounting. Placement rates into graduate and professional schools and into employment are, in most cases, twice the national averages.
History
Tuskegee, Alabama
Tuskegee is a city in Macon County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 11,846 and is designated a Micropolitan Statistical Area. Tuskegee has been an important site in various stages of African American history....
Female College" by the Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
State Legislature and Governor John A. Winston
John A. Winston
John Anthony Winston was the 15th Governor of the U.S. state of Alabama from 1853 to 1857. He was born in 1812 in Madison County, Alabama and became the first native born governor of Alabama. He was a son of William Winston and Mary Cooper of Tuscumbia Alabama...
. The first president was Andrew Adgate Lipscomb, a contemporary of Charles Dickens and Harriet Beecher Stowe who was one of the most respected scholars of his time. Dr. Lipscomb laid the foundation of the college as a teaching college rather than a research institution.
In 1872 the name was changed to "Alabama Conference Female College" as the college came under the auspices of the United Methodist Church
United Methodist Church
The United Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination which is both mainline Protestant and evangelical. Founded in 1968 by the union of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church, the UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley...
. As the college and the South struggled to rebuild following the Civil War, it became clear to college leaders that growth and stability were dependent upon relocation to a more populous city--and they chose the state's capital. A 58-acre (235,000 m²) parcel of land on what was then the outskirts of town and is now the beautiful Old Cloverdale neighborhood of Montgomery was selected in 1908. The design for the landscape of the campus was provided by Frederick Law Olmsted, who had also planned the Biltmore Estate. The college, renamed once again to "Woman's College of Alabama," moved all of its furniture, lab chemicals, and records into Hamner Hall in Montgomery August 24, 1909, but the building burned to the ground that night, destroying the records of the college's first 50 years and all of its belongings. As the students and President William Martin moved to Sullins College in Virginia for that school year, construction commenced on the college's first building, John Jefferson Flowers Memorial Hall. Completed in 1910 and designed by Harvard architect H. Langford Warren, Flowers Hall was designed to emulate the collegiate Gothic architecture of Oxford and Cambridge, England, and of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and set the tone for the pervasive architectural style of campus buildings henceforth.
The college admitted its first male students in the aftermath of World War I, graduating the first male student in 1934. Realizing that the name Woman's College of Alabama no longer fit its student body, the college's final name change came in 1935 when Huntingdon College was adopted in honor of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, a notable supporter of John Wesley and of Methodism
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
.
Huntingdon today offers approximately 20 academic majors and 14 NCAA-III intercollegiate athletic teams. Since 2004, enrollment has grown by 58% in the traditional day program and 90% overall, through the establishment of the burgeoning Adult Degree Completion Program, now offered in 10 locations across the state. The core curriculum features ACT: The Art of Critical Thinking, beginning with PACT: Practicing the Art of Critical Thinking, is the first semester of enrollment and continuing with critical-thinking-intensive courses throughout the curriculum. An Honors Program, Departmental Honors, Senior Capstone experiences, the Staton Center for Learning Enrichment, and the Center for Career and Vocation are central to academic life at Huntingdon. Long-standing strengths in the pre-medical sciences and pre-law have led to successful graduate placement into professional, medical and law schools, and seminaries. In 2010, the College continued a 14-year tradition of 100% placement among candidates who wished to enter pharmacy schools.
Accreditation
Huntingdon College is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Huntingdon’s athletic training program is accredited by the Commission for Accreditation of Athletic Training Educatione (CAATE). The teacher certification program is accredited by the Alabama State Department of Education. The music program is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music.The College is listed as an approved institution by the University Senate of the United Methodist Church.
Rankings
Huntingdon College is ranked by the Princeton Review as one of the best liberal arts colleges in the Southeast and is also ranked as a "Best Value" by the Princeton Review. The College is listed on the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.Student organizations
Fraternity and sorority houses
North American fraternity and sorority housing refers largely to the houses or housing areas that fraternity and sorority members live and work together in...
for residential purposes, but each organization has a chapter room located on campus. Women's sororities include Alpha Omicron Pi
Alpha Omicron Pi
Alpha Omicron Pi is an international women's fraternity promoting friendship for a lifetime, inspiring academic excellence and lifelong learning, and developing leadership skills through service to the Fraternity and community. ΑΟΠ was founded on January 2, 1897 at Barnard College on the campus...
(chapter established 1975), Chi Omega
Chi Omega
Chi Omega is a women's fraternity and the largest member of the National Panhellenic Conference. Chi Omega has 174 active collegiate chapters and over 230 alumnae chapters. Chi Omega's national headquarters is located in Memphis, Tennessee....
(chapter established 1976), Alpha Kappa Alpha
Alpha Kappa Alpha
Alpha Kappa Alpha is the first Greek-lettered sorority established and incorporated by African American college women. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of nine students, led by Ethel Hedgeman Lyle...
(chapter established 1999), and Phi Mu
Phi Mu
Phi Mu is the second oldest female fraternal organization established in the United States. It was founded at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. The organization was founded as the Philomathean Society on January 4, 1852, and was announced publicly on March 4 of the same year...
(chapter established 2008). The first men's fraternity was established in 1977 with a chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon
Sigma Phi Epsilon
Sigma Phi Epsilon , commonly nicknamed SigEp or SPE, is a social college fraternity for male college students in the United States. It was founded on November 1, 1901, at Richmond College , and its national headquarters remains in Richmond, Virginia. It was founded on three principles: Virtue,...
, and was followed in 1981 by a chapter of Kappa Sigma
Kappa Sigma
Kappa Sigma , commonly nicknamed Kappa Sig, is an international fraternity with currently 282 active chapters and colonies in North America. Kappa Sigma has initiated more than 240,000 men on college campuses throughout the United States and Canada. Today, the Fraternity has over 175,000 living...
. Recently, two more men's fraternities were added to Huntingdon's campus: Kappa Alpha Psi
Kappa Alpha Psi
Kappa Alpha Psi is a collegiate Greek-letter fraternity with a predominantly African American membership. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911 at Indiana University Bloomington, the fraternity has never limited membership based on color, creed or national origin...
, spring 2008, and Sigma Nu
Sigma Nu
Sigma Nu is an undergraduate, college fraternity with chapters in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Sigma Nu was founded in 1869 by three cadets at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia...
, fall 2008.
Other organizations focus on political interests, including College Republicans
College Republicans
The College Republican National Committee is a national organization for college and university students who support the Republican Party of the United States...
and College Democrats
College Democrats
The College Democrats of America is the official youth outreach arm of the Democratic Party. It consists of over 100,000 college and university students from across the United States. The organization has served as a way for college students to connect with the Democratic Party and Democratic...
. Service organizations include the Women's Center and the only collegiate chapter of the Exchange Club in the country, while other organizations, such as the Natural Sciences Club and Business Club, have an academic interest as their foundation. Other groups include the Outdoor Recreation Club and the International Students Association.
The Student Government Association can trace its beginnings to 1912 and consists of an executive cabinet, a President's Council, a Student Senate, and a Judicial Board, which considers infringements of the College's Honor Code.
Campus publications are student-run and include The Prelude (literary magazine), Bells and Pomegranates (yearbook), and The Gargoyle (newspaper).
The "Red Lady"
Huntingdon College is the home of the "Red LadyRed Lady of Huntingdon College
The Red Lady of Huntingdon College is a ghost said to haunt the former Pratt Hall dormitory at Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama. Her story is told in Huntingdon alumnus Kathryn Tucker Windham's book 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey....
," alleged to be the ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
of a female student from the early twentieth century who committed suicide inside her room in Pratt Hall. This story is told in Huntingdon alumna Kathryn Tucker Windham
Kathryn Tucker Windham
Kathryn Tucker Windham was an American storyteller, author, photographer, and journalist. She was born in Selma, Alabama and grew up in nearby Thomasville....
's 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey
13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey
13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey is a book first published in 1969 by folklorist Kathryn Tucker Windham and Margaret Gillis Figh. The book contains thirteen ghost stories from the U.S. state of Alabama. The book was the first in a series of seven Jeffrey books, most featuring ghost stories from a...
.
Alumni
| Name | | Known for | | Relationship to Huntingdon College | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elizabeth A. Hight Elizabeth A. Hight Elizabeth A. Hight is a retired United States Navy rear admiral who served as the Vice Director of the Defense Information Systems Agency . She assumed this post in December 2007... |
Rear Admiral, Upper Half | BA 1977 | |
| Leura Garrett Canary | US Attorney | BA 1978 | |
| Harper Lee Harper Lee Nelle Harper Lee is an American author known for her 1960 Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which deals with the issues of racism that were observed by the author as a child in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama... |
author | attended one year | |
| Jeff Sessions Jeff Sessions Jefferson Beauregard "Jeff" Sessions III is the junior United States Senator from Alabama. First elected in 1996, Sessions is a member of the Republican Party... |
US Senator for Alabama | BA 1969 | |
| Kathryn Tucker Windham Kathryn Tucker Windham Kathryn Tucker Windham was an American storyteller, author, photographer, and journalist. She was born in Selma, Alabama and grew up in nearby Thomasville.... |
author/storyteller/photographer/radio personality | BA 1939 |
|
| Joe Durant Joe Durant Joseph Scott Durant is an American professional golfer.Durant was born in Pensacola, Florida. He attended Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama, where he majored in Marketing and graduated in 1987. At Huntingdon, he was a three-time NAIA All-American and won the 1987 NAIA Championship.Durant... |
Golfer - PGA Tour | BA 1987 |