Hobart and William Smith Colleges
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Established | 1822/1908 |
|---|---|
| Type | Private |
| President | Mark Gearan |
| Faculty | 207 |
| Undergraduates | 1928 |
| Postgraduates | 10 |
| Location | Geneva, New York, USA |
| Campus | small town |
| Colors | Orange and Purple/Green and White |
| Mascot | Bart, the Statesmen/WS Herons |
| Website | http://www.hws.edu |
Hobart and William Smith Colleges, located in Geneva, New York, are together a liberal arts institution. The Colleges adhere to a "coordinate system," which retains some elements of the original single-sex institutions, though the student experience is largely co-ed. The Colleges offer Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts in Teaching degrees. Legally, the combined corporation of the two colleges, Hobart College and William Smith College, is The Colleges of the Seneca.
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[edit] History
Hobart College traces its roots to Geneva Medical College, founded in 1789. Hobart College proper was founded in 1822 as Geneva College and renamed in honor of its founder, Episcopal bishop John Henry Hobart, in 1852.
Geneva at the time was a bustling Upstate New York city, with access to the Erie Canal via Seneca Lake. The college branched out to include studies in literature, letters, and the humanities. In 1822, Reverend John Henry Hobart, the Episcopal Bishop of Western New York helped to expand the college, and the college was renamed Hobart Free College (and later, Hobart College).
Toward the end of nineteenth century, Hobart College was on the brink of bankruptcy and suffering through a period of financial uncertainty. It was through the presidency of Langdon Stewardson that the college obtained a new donor, nurseryman William Smith. Smith was not interested in directly giving money to Hobart, however when Stewardson proposed the idea of a coordinate women's college, Smith decided to lend his support to the endeavor. William Smith had befriended several suffragists and other liberal social advocates from nearby Seneca Falls, NY. With their help, he planned a college that would introduce women to many more possibilities and a much broader sense of self than were recognized at the time.
William Smith College was founded in 1908 (the charter was signed in 1906) as a women's college sharing certain facilities and faculty with Hobart College but self-identifying not as a single college but as two “coordinate” institutions.
Beginning in December 2006 and carring on for several years, William Smith College will be engaging in their centennial celebration.
[edit] Campus
Hobart and William Smith Colleges’ campus is situated on 170 acres in Geneva, NY, along the shore of Seneca Lake, the largest of the Finger Lakes.
The campus is notable for the style of Georgian Architecture represented by many of the original buildings, notably Coxe Hall, which houses the President’s Office and other administrative departments.
In the center of the campus, the Warren Hunting Smith Library houses 385,000 volumes, 12,000 periodicals and more than 8,000 VHS and DVD videos.
The surrounding eco-system plays a major role in the Colleges’ curriculum and acquisitions. The Colleges’ owns the 108 acre Hanley Biological Field Station and Preserve on neighboring Cayuga Lake as well as playing host to the Finger Lakes Institute, a non-profit focusing on education and ecological preservation for the Finger Lakes area.
Seneca Lake also plays host to the ‘’William Scandling’’, a 65-foot research vessel used to monitor lake conditions and serve as a platform for student and faculty research.
[edit] The Coordinate System
When many single-sex institutions became co-ed in the 1960s and '70s, both Hobart and William Smith retained their separate identities while integrating many aspects of student life in an arraignment called the “Coordinate System.”
This tradition remains strong to this day. While the colleges share most administrative offices (there is only one President’s Office, for example) they maintain separate deans' offices, athletics programs, student governments and until recently, admissions offices. Even some regulations about student life vary. Hobart College allows fraternities and Greek organizations while William Smith does not allow sororities.
A male graduate receives a degree from Hobart College and a female graduate from William Smith College. Alums are always referred to in the single-sex sense of the word, as “alumnae and alumni” and any reference to the institution is always in the plural. (“colleges”)
Each college celebrates their own traditions. During the academic year, William Smith College celebrates annual events such as Founder's Day and Moving Up Day.
[edit] Academics
Hobart and William Smith Colleges offer degrees in Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, and Master of Arts in Teaching. The colleges follow the semester calender.
The colleges are known for the number of students that study abroad for a semester during the academic year; in recent years, between 40% and 60% of students have spent at least one semester studying off-campus.
[edit] Athletics
Hobart's athletic teams became known as the "Statesmen" in 1936. The first time this was in print was a reference to the statesmen of the League of Nations located in Geneva, Switzerland, and the nickname has endured. The nickname for William Smith's athletic teams comes from a contest held in 1982. Several names were submitted, but "Herons" was selected because of the strong and graceful birds that lived near Odell's Pond. These birds frequently flew over the athletic fields as the teams were practicing.
Hobart's archrival in athletics is Union College in Schenectady, New York.
Hobart and William Smith Colleges compete in NCAA Division III athletics, with the exception of men's lacrosse, which competes in the NCAA Division I. Hobart also fields a very successful sailing team and the college is a member of the Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association. In 2005 Hobart won the Intercollegiate Sailing Association National Championships.
[edit] Notable alumni
- Lauren Bessette, prominent New York City investment banker and sister-in law of John F. Kennedy Jr.
- Elizabeth Blackwell, first woman awarded a Doctor of Medicine degree in the United States, graduated from the medical school of Geneva College in 1849.
- Richard Brown, Queens County District Attorney.
- Chris Carlin, sportscaster for the nationally syndicated radio show Imus in the Morning.
- Harry Coover, the inventor of "super glue".
- Jesse Desper, Assistant Hockey Coach at Williams College.
- Rodney Frelinghuysen, United States Congressman representing New Jersey's 11th congressional district.
- Holman W. Jenkins Jr, Wall Street Journal editorial board member, policy commentator
- Abigail Johnson, heir apparent to Fidelity Investments
- Matthew Ketaineck, sports journalist and ESPN researcher.
- Alan Kalter, actor (notable for being the announcer from The Late Show with David Letterman)
- Matt Lamanna, palentologist responsible for several major discoveries.
- Reynold Levy, President of New York City Lincoln Center.
- Christopher McDonald, actor (Happy Gilmore, Requiem for a Dream, The Perfect Storm)
- Bill Whitaker, CBS News Correspondent for the CBS Evening News.
- George Washington Woodward, US Congressman from Pennsylvania and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
- Andrew Dickson White (transferred to Yale University after one year), co-founder and first president of Cornell University, diplomat, and historian.
- Brock Yates, screenwriter of the film Cannonball Run and editor in chief of Car and Driver magazine
[edit] Notable faculty
- H. Wesley Perkins, Professor of Sociology and the "Father of Social Norms Marketing."
- Michael Dobkowski, Professor of Religious Studies, author of multiple works including "The Tarnished Dream". Official Faculty Bio
- David Weiss, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, author of "The Mensch" and noted poet
- Deborah Tall, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, noted poet and editor of "The Seneca Review". Official Website
- Jack Harris, Professor of Sociology, Researcher on Vietnam and masculinity studies. Official College Bio
- David Ost, Professor of Political Science, author of multiple works, including "The Defeat Of Solidarity: Anger and Politics in Postcommunist Europe. Official College Bio
- Mark Gearan, President of Colleges, former White House Chief of Staff for President William Jefferson Clinton as well as former President of the Peace Corps.
