La Salle University
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the university in Manila, Philippines, see De La Salle University-Manila. For the university in Ozamiz City, Misamis Occidental, Philippines, see La Salle University-Ozamiz. For the former diploma mill in Louisiana, United States, see LaSalle University (Louisiana). For the former university in Illinois, United States, see La Salle Extension University.
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Latin: Universitas La Salliana |
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| Motto: | VIRTUS SCIENTIA (Virtue, Knowledge) |
| Established: | 1863 |
| Type: | Private |
| Endowment: | $61.6 million[1] |
| President: | Brother Michael J. McGinniss FSC, Ph.D. |
| Faculty: | 210 full-time |
| Undergraduates: | 4,341[2] |
| Postgraduates: | 1,880 |
| Location: | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Campus: | Urban, approximately 130 acres (501,809.4 m²) |
| Colors: | Dark Blue and gold |
| Nickname: | Explorers  |
| Mascot: | The Explorer |
| Athletics: | 23 NCAA Division I varsity teams Go Explorers! |
| Affiliations: | Christian Brothers. (Academic) A10 (Athletic) |
| Website: | http://www.lasalle.edu/ |
La Salle University is a private, co-educational, comprehensive university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. Named for St. Jean-Baptiste de la Salle, the school was founded in 1863 by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. As of 2006 the school had over 6,200 students, about three quarters of whom were undergraduates. Located in northwestern Philadelphia, the university is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church through the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
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[edit] Academics
La Salle offers undergraduate concentrations in nearly 60 academic areas within its College of Professional and Continuing Studies and its three Schools: Arts & Sciences, Business Administration, and Nursing & Health Sciences.
Communication,Nursing, and Education are the largest majors at La Salle.
Several new and distinctive high-tech majors include Integrated Science, Business and Technology (ISBT) and Digital Arts and Multimedia Design (DArt).
The university also offers master's degrees and doctorate degrees in several courses of study. Every undergraduate, regardless of school or major, must complete a strict Core curriculum in order to graduate. Offering sustained study in a broad range of disciplines, the Core curriculum provides students with an opportunity to build a strong educational foundation for the future. Guided by La Salle's heritage as a Catholic university, the core curriculum reflects La Salle's strong commitment to the interdependence of intellectual and spiritual growth. Its aim is to help students find an engaging living as part of an engaged life. As future competitors in a rapidly re-forming world, students need intellectual resources that keep pace with current innovations; as future innovators, students need spiritual resources that guide human beings towards humane reforms.
Undergraduates must complete the three facets of the Special Core Programs, as well as courses within the three Course Objectives.
[edit] Special Core Programs
The Special Core Programs consists of the Doubles Program, First Year Odyssey, and Understanding at Home and Abroad.
- In the Doubles Program, all students are required to enroll in a "Double" during their freshman year. Doubles are thematically linked Core courses in different disciplines. In the Doubles program, students will explore some or all of the topics in these courses under the guidance of two professors. A sense of academic and social community forms.
- The First Year Odyssey is a one-credit program, which introduces students to La Salle University and the city of Philadelphia through activities such as field trips and campus wide programs. Students participate in the First Year Odyssey as part of designated courses or in special First Year Odyssey sections.
- Understanding at Home and Abroad refers to fostering the Christian Brothers' ideals of community, social justice, and compassionate understanding across barriers dividing human beings. Students are required to enroll in one course in the Academic Bulletin designated by the symbol of a "house" (Understanding at Home) and one course designated by the symbol of a "plane" (Understanding Abroad). Some students may fulfill the Understanding at Home or Understanding Abroad requirement through an independent project with the approval of the Department Chair and the Core Director. Faculty and staff will mentor a limited number of such projects.
[edit] Course Objectives
The Course Objectives consist of the Powers, Frameworks of Scientific Understanding, and Patterns of Meaning.
- Powers refers to competencies that enable students to learn, to think, and to communicate. With this course work, students will emerge from the core curriculum possessing a strong set of skills in reading, writing, oral communication, and mathematics. They will also learn how to use computer technology to aid their work in each of these areas. These competencies will be integrated in courses in all areas of the Core, but will be taught directly in courses in writing, public speaking, mathematics, and computer science.
- Frameworks of Scientific Understanding refers to concepts and methods learned in courses in the natural and social sciences. In these courses students will become familiar with the scientific method and sharpen their understanding of the natural processes and the social developments, which shape the world in which we live. The "Frameworks of Scientific Understanding" category includes courses in economics, political science, psychology, sociology, biology, chemistry, geology, and physics.
- Patterns of Meaning refers to a set of capacities students must acquire to engage the moral, aesthetic, and spiritual significance of human events and achievements. Courses in the humanities (religion, philosophy, literature, history, fine arts and foreign languages) will enable students to develop these capacities.
[edit] Course Requirements
All courses in the core may be counted towards any minor or major barring exclusions by the academic departments sponsoring the minor or major. To complete the Core requirements, most School of Arts and Sciences majors must complete a maximum of 19 courses; School of Business Administration majors, a maximum of 16 courses; and School of Nursing & Health Sciences majors, a maximum of 15 courses.
[edit] Athletics
- See also: La Salle Explorers Basketball
- See also: La Salle Explorers football (defunct)
La Salle University's 23 varsity sports teams, known as the Explorers, compete in the NCAA's Division I and are a member of the Atlantic Ten Conference. The name derives from a 1931 mistake made by a sportswriter. The writer thought the university was named after the French explorer Sieur de La Salle, when in fact it is named after St. John-Baptiste de la Salle and was officially chosen in a student contest during the spring of 1932.
La Salle's teams have won two national championships: The 1954 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and the 1980 AIAW Field Hockey Championship. The school also won the 1952 National Invitation Tournament. La Salle's major historic rival has been the Hawks of the Saint Joseph's University, especially in men's basketball. Not only are both schools situated in Philadelphia, but they are also both Catholic, private institutions.
[edit] Campus
The campus is located on the estate of Charles Willson Peale, the Revolutionary War patriot and painter famous for his portraits of the founding fathers, most notably, George Washington. His home is the current office of the University president and is the oldest building currently in use by any university in the nation.
La Salle has an art museum located in the basement of Olney Hall that houses a collection of European and American art from the Renaissance to the present. The museum also owns a number of special collections including rare illustrative Bibles and Japanese prints. The art museum is also home to the “Walking Madonna” one of four by the British artist Dame Elisabeth Frink. Frink created the sculpture in 1981, the other “Walking Madonna” sculptures remain in England, with one in Salisbury and the other in Frink’s garden at her home.
A satellite campus and Conference Center in Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, the La Salle University Bucks County Center, offers graduate courses in various disciplines, undergraduate courses in nursing, and continuing education courses. The Conference Center comprises fifteen instructional rooms with seating capacities ranging from 20 to 40, along with four computer laboratories with 100 workstations.
La Salle also offers M.B.A. and Clinical-Counseling Psychology M.S. classes at the Plymouth Meeting Metroplex Corporate Center in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
[edit] Student life
Students at La Salle are offered many varied opportunities to participate at different degrees and in many different ways. There are several organizations and a student programming center whose mission is primarily to plan activities (games, movie nights, bus trips, etc.) for the students of La Salle University. The Communication Department operates La Salle 56, an educational access cable-television station available to 300,000 subscribers. The university also has a student-run radio station, WEXP along with over 100 other student organizationsin addition to the intramurals, clubs, and NCAA division I sports offered.
[edit] "Day One"
The first day of a student's time at La Salle occurs at the orientation program called Day ONE, which stands for Orienting New Explorers. The day consists of giving essential information to new students and their families, but its primary objective is to build relationships: relationships between the new students and other new students, between the new students and their upper division student hosts, between new students and administration and faculty,and between the students' families and the school.
[edit] Philosophy
Learning, Involvement, Community, Relationships
Learning is the reason why anyone attends La Salle in the first place. Involvement is the mechanism through which learning can happen. Community provides the environment that most strongly promotes involvement. Making strong Relationships is the first step toward forming a community.
[edit] Sessions
During the orientation students make their schedule, get their photo taken for their ID, and participate in discussion sessions about important information. Resident students get a presentation on living on campus and see a residence hall, while commuters see a similar presentation about getting involved while living off campus. The other important aspect of this day in the introduction of The Affirmation, which is read line by line and discussed throughout the different sessions of the day.
[edit] Distinguished accomplishments
- La Salle has graduated 58 students who have been named Fulbright Scholars.[2]
- A nearly perfect 98 percent of La Salle's applicants to medical school who have been recommended by the pre-medical committee have been admitted to medical school.
- La Salle ranks 7th out of 253 schools of its type as the undergraduate point of origin of doctoral degree recipients over a 75-year period.
- La Salle is one of only 19 colleges and universities in the nation to have been invited to participate in the Kemper Scholars Program.
- La Salle graduates have won nine Emmy Awards.
- More than 1,700 La Salle students annually donate more than 100,000 hours of community service in activities including neighborhood cleanups, rebuilding homes, and tutoring.
- La Salle's chapter of Beta Gamma Sigma, the international business honor society, was named the outstanding chapter in the world in 2004.
[edit] Expansion and Master Plan
La Salle has worked with Philadelphia architecture firm H2L2 to assist in the development of a Campus Facilities Master Plan, building upon a previous plan completed by the University in 1985. Key components of the Master Plan are the following: New Science and Technology Building, New Athletic Arena, Student Recreation Center, additional student housing, Dining Hall (completed), Chapel, Fine Arts and Theater Building, parking garage, and additional commercial activity.
Accommodating the above facilities while orchestrating seamless connections between the disparate areas of the campus is one of the Plan's greatest accomplishments. Topography, city streets, and heavy traffic, all initially appeared as impediments to the development of a true campus. Improved vehicular and pedestrian circulation patterns now yield enhanced links to memorable spaces, uniting this Campus into one whole, while satisfying all programmatic requirements.[3].
In the Fall of 2005, the $26 million dollar first phase of this master plan was completed with the construction of Tree Tops Cafe (dining hall) and St. Basil Court (Residence Hall).[4]
St. Basil's houses approximately 430 students. Three of the building's wings feature "suites", in which four students share two bedrooms and one bathroom. The fourth wing's rooms have the traditional one-room for housing two students with communal bathrooms. The facilities have lounges, study rooms, and special purpose rooms. Basil is the only co-educational dorm at La Salle in which both genders may live on the same floor (albeit not in the same room).
A $2.5 million dollar athletic field renovation was completed in the Fall of 2006.[5].
Phase two is the completion of the New Science and Technology Building. The University has revealed that they have already raised $20 million dollars towards the $25 million necessary to complete the facility [1].
Currently, one other project is under construction. A $15 million dollar shopping center and supermarket complex.[6]
In May 2007, the university purchased adjacent Germantown Hospital for $10 million dollars. The 24 acres acquired has become "West Campus", and increased the campus size by 25 percent.[7].
[edit] Noted alumni
For more athletic alumni, see Professional Sports Alumni
- Robert Ames - Near East Chief of the CIA, killed in the 1983 Beirut embassy bombing
- Francis L. Bodine - New Jersey General Assemblyman
- Francis P. Bottorff - commanding officer of Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point
- Peter Boyle - Actor, "Everybody Loves Raymond", Young Frankenstein
- Dr. Francis Braceland, Ph.D - Father of American Industrial Psychology
- Dr. Walter Braden, M. D. - Co-contributor to Dr. Jonas Salk in numerous vaccine developments
- Bill Bradshaw - Temple University Athletic Director
- Jim Brighters - Sports writer, columnist, humorist
- Suzanne Brooks - Poet, Owner of Creative Concepts Systems
- Maj. Gen. William F. Burns - Director of U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, Representative of joint chiefs of staff at Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Negotiations with the Soviet Union
- Dr. William J. Burns - United States Ambassador to Russia
- Dr. John D. Caputo - the Thomas J. Watson Professor of Humanities at Syracuse University and the founder of weak theology.
- Patrick Cronin - Actor, Seinfeld, Home Improvement, Knots Landing
- Tom Curley - President and CEO of the Associated Press. Former President, Publisher, and co-creator of USA Today
- J. Hugh Devlin - Managing Director of Morgan Stanley, co-founder of Barr-Devlin Company and Navesink Foundation
- Daniel W. Hansen - President of PFMS, Director - Foot Locker, Inc.
- Maurice Egan - United States Ambassador to Denmark, negotiated U.S. purchase of the Virgin Islands
- Dwight Evans, Member, Pennsylvania House of Representatives since 1981, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
- James Finnegan- Security Advisor to Presidents Franklin Roosevelt & Harry Truman
- Dan Fitzpatrick - President of Bank of America - Pa
- Charles Fuller - Pulitzer Prize winning playwright
- Tom Gola - Basketball Hall of Famer
- Naomi Halas - Stanley C. Moore professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and professor in Chemistry at Rice University
- Kate M. Harper - Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives since 2001
- Sallyanne Harper - Chief Mission Support Officer and Chief Financial Officer of the US Government Accountability Office (GAO)
- William F. Harrity - National Chairman of the Democratic Party (1892 - 1896)
- Joseph Keenan - Head of Chuck E. Cheese, co-founder of Atari
- Tim Legler - NBA, Current analyst for ESPN's NBA coverage
- James Lynch - Chair and CEO of Sovereign Bank
- Gerald McEntee - President of American Foundation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
- Dr. Phil McGuire, Ph.D. - University of Michigan Author, noted lecturer
- Pat McLoone - Managing Editor of the Philadelphia Daily News
- John McShain - Builder of The Pentagon and the Jefferson Memorial
- Joe Mihalich - Current head coach of Niagara University men's basketball
- Larry Miller - President of the Portland Trailblazers of the NBA, former President of the Jordan Brand
- Glen Naessens - Cast member of "The Real World: Los Angeles" (1993) - Season 2
- Ray Necci - Producer of numerous ESPN productions, including The Mike Tirico Show
- Jeff Neubauer - Current head coach of Eastern Kentucky University men's basketball
- Dennis M. O'Brien - Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
- John Ogden - Traffic Reporter for NBC 10 - WCAU
- Jim Phelan - Basketball player and coach
- Charles Pizzi - President & CEO of the Tasty Baking Company, President & CEO of Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce
- Bill Raftery - ESPN and CBS Sports college basketball analyst
- Gary Smith - sportswriter for Sports Illustrated
- Judy Spires - President of Acme Markets
- Chris Sinclair - President of Anthem Entertainment, and Sinclair Media Inc.
- Robert Toth - Executive Vice President of Avon Products
- John Uelses - First person to ever pole vault 16' (4.88 m) setting the world record in the pole vault.
- Scooter Vertino - Executive Producer of The NBA on TNT
- Rasual Butler - Plays small forward in the NBA for the New Orleans Hornets. Also played for and drafted by the Miami Heat.
[edit] References
- ^ US News & World Report Profile
- ^ a b lasalle.edu: Just the Facts
- ^ La Salle University Master Plan
- ^ La Salle University to Hold Groundbreaking Ceremony for New $26 Million Residence Hall and Dining Facility
- ^ Athletic Fields to Undergo $2.5 Million Facelift
- ^ Supermarket, Shopping Center Plans Announced by La Salle and Partners
- ^ La Salle University Buys Einstein’s Germantown Hospital Property
[edit] External links
- La Salle University
- Official La Salle athletics site
- La Salle University Bucks County Center
- La Salle 56 - Educational Access Cable Television Station
- WEXP La Salle Radio - Student Operated Radio Station
- Aerial perspective photo from Virtual Earth
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