Denison University

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Denison University
Image:DenisonUniversitySeal.png
Established: 1831
Type: Private school
Endowment: $642.8 million[1]
President: Dale T. Knobel
Staff: 190 full-time faculty
Undergraduates: 2,100
Postgraduates: 0
Location: Granville, Ohio, United States
Campus: Rural, 850 acres (3.4 km2) plus a 350-acre (1.4 km2) biological reserve.
Athletics: 23 varsity teams, NCAA Division III, Member North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC),
Colors: Red and White
Mascot: Big Red
Website: www.denison.edu

Denison University is a private, residential liberal arts and sciences college in Granville, Ohio, approximately 30 miles (50 km) east of Columbus. Denison was founded in 1831. It has a current enrollment of about 2,000 students. Denison is a member of the Five Colleges of Ohio, the Great Lakes Colleges Association, and the North Coast Athletic Conference.

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

Contents

[edit] History

Originally called "Granville Literary and Theological Institution"[1] Denison University was founded by Ohio Baptist Education Society in 1831. When it finally moved to a hill overlooking the city it changed its name to Denison University, renamed as a means of securing a larger endowment, offering the privilege of naming the institution with a donation of $10,000. A local farmer named William S. Denison (and alternately spelled Dennison on some official documents) elected to donate this considerable sum. Although he ultimately donated only a portion of the total promised (using the excuse that with his recent remarriage, he could no longer afford to surrender such a large amount), the college retained his name. Denison was an exclusively male college at the time of its inception, but has since become coeducational. This began with the Granville Female Seminary, which was founded in 1832 by Charles Sawyer. It was sold to Daniel Shepardson in 1861 and renamed Young Ladies' Institute. Finally in 1900 it was renamed for a third time to the Shepardson College for Women and became a part of Denison University. Founded as a Baptist institution, Denison for many years enjoyed the support of John D. Rockefeller, who sat on the college's board of trustees until the institution mandated that all trustees be Ohio residents. Among Denison's former presidents is William Rainey Harper, who later (with Rockefeller) founded the University of Chicago. A boys' preparatory school, Doane Academy, also coexisted on the hilltop campus for many years; upon closing, the school building became the seat of the college administration.

Denison previously offered some graduate programs, including an early incarnation of the study of neuroscience, leading to a master's degree; however, Denison was made into an exclusively undergraduate institution in the late 1920s. The university offers 48 majors, each leading to a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree. Denison also offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. English, communication, economics, psychology, biology, political science and history are among the school's top majors; however, Denison also offers an array of less traditional majors, such as cinema.

Dale Thomas Knobel is currently serving as Denison's nineteenth president and has been since 1998. He resides in Monomoy Place in Granville, the official home of Denison's presidents.

[edit] About the university

Denison is a strictly residential campus that features a mixture of historic and contemporary buildings. This means that almost all of its 2,000 students must live in university-owned housing. Housing options include single, double, triple, and quadruple rooms, as well as suites of six, eight, and nine persons and apartments with kitchens.

However, the Homestead is an alternative student housing option to dormitories and campus apartments. The Homestead is a student-run community with a focus on ecological sustainability. Twelve students live and work together each semester to promote a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. Students living at the Homestead are responsible for cooking weekly meals, sharing chores, attending weekly meetings, and more.

The campus size is about 1,200 acres (4 km²). This includes a 500 acre (1.4 km²) biological reserve just east of campus, where professors of sciences like geology and biology can hold class. Denison's annual operating budget is about $69 million. It also has other funds including endowments that surpass $600 million. Denison has 190 full-time faculty, making the student-to-faculty ratio 10:1. In 2008, 5,313 students applied to Denison University, lowering the acceptance rate to 38%.

Over the past several years, Denison University has made great strides in attracting a diverse student population, and multicultural students now represent 20 percent of the current first-year class. The college's students, faculty and staff were honored in 2008 by the State of Ohio for "promoting understanding, racial unity and the appreciation of diversity."

Popular hangouts of the students include Brews (burgers) and Whit's (frozen custard).

A view of Swasey Chapel from the west

[edit] Student body

The following is information taken of the 2008 first year students.[2]

  • 34% in-state students, 66% out-of-state students.
  • 56% Women, 44% Men
  • <1% American Indian/Alaskan Native
  • 3% Asian/Pacific Islander
  • 5% Black/Non-Hispanic
  • 2% Hispanic
  • 82% White/Non-Hispanic
  • 4% Non-Resident Alien
  • 4% Race/ethnicity unreported
  • 53% in top 10th of graduating class
  • 82% in top quarter of graduating class
  • 98% in top half of graduating class
  • 39% had high school GPAs of 3.75 and higher
  • 22% had high school GPAs between 3.5 and 3.74
  • 16% had high school GPAs between 3.25 and 3.49
  • 18% had high school GPAs between 3.0 and 3.24
  • 5% had high school GPAs between 2.5 and 2.99

[edit] Degrees and majors

Denison offers three types of degrees: B.A., B.S., & the B.F.A Students can create their own major (called an interdepartmental major) or choose among the following. A few of these subjects are concentrations only and are not offered as majors.

[edit] Athletics

Denison is a member of the NCAA and the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC). Denison participates as a Division III institution which prohibits athletic scholarships. Denison has won nine (9) consecutive NCAC All-Sports Championships for a total of ten (10) since the founding of the conference in 1984-85. Denison's other All Sports Championship came in 1985-86, and both the consecutive championships streak and the total of ten represent conference records.

The most successful teams are led by the Men's and Women's Swimming programs. In 2001, the women won the NCAA Division III national championship, unseating perennial champion and local rival Kenyon College. In 2006 and again in 2007, the men placed 2nd in the nation; the women's and men's teams each finished in 3rd in the nation in 2008. Plans are currently underway to expand Denison's athletic facility to include a new state of the art natatorium. The squash program is also a perennial national contender. Other top ranked programs include lacrosse, soccer, baseball, softball, and women's tennis. The Denison women's tennis team finished their 2008 season ranked 3rd in the country. Also, for the first time in school history their #1 doubles team made it all the way to the championship match in the individual national competition. The women's softball team had a record breaking season in the spring of 2008 also. They advanced farther in the NCAA tournament than any other team has since softball became a varsity sport at Denison in 1997. They competed in the regional final against Muskingum College in Glassboro, NJ. and in the final D3 season rankings the softball team was ranked 22nd in the nation. The lacrosse and soccer games against Ohio Wesleyan University are the most widely attended "rivalry" games. Also, the Kenyon/Denison swimming rivalry is recognized in small-college sports.

Woody Hayes, later renowned as the head coach at Ohio State University, graduated from Denison in 1935, having served as captain of the football team the previous fall, and served as the university's head football coach from 1946 to 1950.

[edit] Fight song

"Denison Marching Song"

So let us cheer, cheer, cheer, for Denison.
And then our spirit we will show.
For ev'ry one will cheer to help our men go crashing through the foe.
Come, let us fight fight with all our might.
Hurrah for the Red and White!
So cheer cheer for old D.U.
Three cheers for Denison!

[edit] Greek life

Denison has six fraternities and six sororities. Fewer students are currently participating in Greek life than they have historically. In the 1980s, over 60% of the student body belonged to a Greek organization. Currently, Greek participation by students is about 40%. Although 40% of the student body is involved in Greek Life, more women participate than men.

During the mid-1990s, in an effort to re-brand the college as more of an academic, and less of a party, institution, the college's trustees elected to make Denison a "non-residential" Greek system. The decision led to student and alumni uproar, with a low-grade riot erupting on the campus' "Fraternity Row" as a result. While sorority members had never been allowed to live in their respective houses, the trustees' decision turned most of the formerly-residential fraternity houses into general college residential halls, and each chapter was given lounge space in the basement of each respective house for official fraternity functions (including chapter). The change to a non-residential Greek system, combined with a reduction in the number of fraternities, accounts for most of the reduction in the student Greek participation between the current and historic levels.

The fraternities are:

The sororities are:

Many of the former residential Fraternity Houses have been renamed and are currently used for student housing.

  • The Delta Upsilon house became Taylor House, an "honors" residence hall
  • The Delta Chi house became Sunset House
  • The Lambda Chi Alpha house became the Erma and Clark Morrow House, an all-first-year student "living and learning" residence hall
  • The S. S. Chamberlin Lodge of Phi Gamma Delta became the Chamberlin House
  • The Phi Delta Theta house became the Preston House

[edit] Student organizations

[edit] Notable alumni

Denison has some 28,000 alumni all around the world. Some notable alumni include:

[edit] Rankings

  • 52 Best Liberal Arts College in the US (2008) [3]
  • 48 Best Liberal Arts College in the US (2006) [4]

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ "College and University Endowments Over $250-Million, 2007", Chronicle of Higher Education (2008-08-29), pp. 28. 
v • d • e
Five Colleges of Ohio
Oberlin • Kenyon • Ohio Wesleyan • Denison • Wooster
v • d • e
Great Lakes Colleges Association
Albion • Antioch • Denison • DePauw • Earlham • Hope • Kalamazoo • Kenyon • Oberlin • Ohio Wesleyan • Wabash • Wooster
v • d • e
Annapolis Group

Chair: Katherine Haley Will, President, Gettysburg College

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v • d • e
North Coast Athletic Conference
Allegheny • Denison • Earlham • Hiram • Kenyon • Oberlin • Ohio Wesleyan • Wabash • Wittenberg • Wooster
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