| Brenau University | |
|---|---|
| Motto | As Gold Refined By Fire |
| Established | 1878 |
| Type | Private |
| Endowment | $23.2 million[1] |
| President | Dr. Ed Schrader |
| Academic staff | 108 |
| Undergraduates | 1700 |
| Postgraduates | 800 |
| Location | Gainesville, GA, US |
| Campus | Urban |
| Colors | Gold and Black |
| Mascot | Golden Tiger |
| Website | www.brenau.edu |
Brenau University is a private university in Gainesville, Georgia, USA, that was founded in 1878 as Georgia Baptist Female Seminary, though it has never been affiliated with the Baptist Church. The total enrollment of Brenau University tops 2,500 students in its four schools (Education, Fine Arts and Humanities, Health Sciences, and Business and Mass Communication). It offers programs through its historic Women’s College, Accelerated High School Academy, and co-educational graduate and undergraduate programs (offered online, during the evenings and weekends). In 2011, it was ranked as the twelfth best value for colleges in the South by U.S. News.[2]
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Brenau was founded in 1878 as a private institution for the education of women. W.C. Wilkes, the institution’s first administrator, is credited with building many of the historic buildings that still stand today.
In 1900 H. J. Pearce purchased the institution and renamed it Brenau, a linguistic blend formed from the German word brennen, “to burn”, and the Latin aurum, “gold”. Its motto is “As Gold Refined by Fire”. Brenau College remained privately owned until 1911 when a board of trustees assumed stewardship of the college, as remains the case today. In 1928, Brenau created a female, residential, college-preparatory school serving grades 9 through 12, and in the late 1960s, Brenau began offering evening and weekend classes to both men and women through what is known today as The Evening And Weekend College.
Brenau College became Brenau University in 1992 by a vote of the Board of Trustees, a name change that reflected the comprehensive programs of study, the diverse student body, new and stricter employment criteria for professors, and the scope of available graduate programs.
In 2002, Brenau’s Online College was formed using internet technology to reach students who because of professional or personal responsibilities are unable to attend classes on campus. Associate, baccalaureate, master’s, and certification programs as well as individual classes are available in this format. Online classes are open to all Brenau students.
The institution is led by Dr. Ed Schrader, its ninth president, who has held the position since January 2005. Brenau is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools [3] and several subject-specific accrediting organizations.
The Women’s College of Brenau University continues the rich tradition of education for women, serving both residential and commuter students. The mission of the university is reflected in the strong emphasis on the broad-based liberal arts education supporting its 30-plus majors, which prepare graduates for their many future roles. The Women’s College is recognized for its outstanding instruction in the fine arts and for its programs to develop leadership skills as well as for its comprehensive nationally-recognized learning disabilities programs.
Brenau Academy was formed in 1928 when Pearce told his wife that some of the first-year college students were having trouble with their course work. She began a program to help prepare young women for college which evolved quickly into the Brenau Academy, now the only female, college preparatory, residential school for grades 9-12 in the state of Georgia. The Academy has several key features which make it unique. Students of the Academy form strong, often lifelong, bonds of friendship. The small student body guarantees a "clique" free experience and a small student teacher ratio. Individualized attention from teachers and a strong program in place to help those with learning disabilities continues the college preparatory traditions begun in 1928. A new development at the Academy is that young women can complete the first two years of college concurrently with finishing high school. This year's commencement exercises will be considered the school's final "rose ceremony" following traditional exercises.
In the late 1960s, Brenau began offering evening classes to male students at the junior and senior levels. As the number of evening students grew from 17 in 1969 to 1,466 in fall 2003, the structure of the program evolved and is known today as the Evening and Weekend College. Students earn bachelor's and master's degrees in teacher education, business administration, accounting, nursing, psychology, public administration, interior design, and occupational therapy.
The teacher education program also offers an educational specialist degree. Men and women of non-traditional age attend classes after work and on weekends on the main campus and at five off-campus sites throughout Georgia.
Since 2002, college students of all ages have been able to earn degrees from Brenau University via the internet. The mission of the Online Studies department is to serve students who may be working, traveling, disabled, geographically isolated from institutions of higher education, or homebound while caring for children or other family members.
Brenau University's Online MBA was named a GetEducated.com Best Buy for affordability and quality in the Online MBA, Regionally Accredited category in fall 2007.[4]
The Women’s College continues as the heart of the university with approximately 900 students from 20 states and 23 other countries. Fifteen percent are from minority groups (not including international students) and 17% are older than 25. There are 8 national sororities on campus.
In the 2007-08 academic year, online and evening and weekend degree program students totaled 1700, 80% female and 20% male. Minority students make up 32% of this population, and the majority of enrollees are more than 25 years old. The Academy has an enrollment of 80 students, and begins each year at capacity.
In 2008, a 12 month, full time co-educational MBA program was launched in Gainesville. Students from different parts of the world study together for 1 year. Most select the Project Management concentration.
Brenau University is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and participates in the Southern States Athletic Conference where its teams play as the “Golden Tigers”.
The University's world-renowned tennis program has attracted athletes from across the world. Coached for over 10 years by Bill Rogers, the team earned numerous conference and reigonal titles, as well as two National Championships, in 1999 and 2002.[5] Gordon Leslie assumed the position of head coach in 2005 after Rogers left to pursue other opportunities.
Long neglected in favor of academic programs and fine arts, a new emphasis on developing the athletics department was clear in 2002 when Mike Lochstampfor began his first year as head coach of the Brenau University soccer team. Lochstampfor came to Brenau after serving as the Director of both the Men’s and Women’s Soccer programs at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta. In 2004, Brenau’s soccer team advanced to the conference tournament for the first time in many years and even received, at one point in the season, regional recognition for the first time ever.
Also in 2002, another boost to campus athletics came when Lila Harste was named head coach of the cross-country team, and in 2004 Brenau’s softball team played their inaugural season. Leading the team was new head coach Devon Thomas, Georgia Athletics Coaches Association “Coach of the Year” in 1999, 2002 and 2004 and North Georgia “All Area Coach of the Year” in 1999, 2002 and 2004.
The 2005-2006 academic year saw a new volleyball team hit the courts with another new member of the University staff, Loren Hauck, as head coach. Brenau further plans to add swimming in 2006, and has already hired Jim Young to coach the team. Attempts are also under way to move the crew team to varsity status.
Perhaps most significant is the hire of Gary Bays as head coach of the new Golden Tigers collegiate basketball team, to be launched in 2006. Former women’s basketball coach for Florida’s Warner Southern College, Bays was named NAIA Region XIV Athletic Director of the Year for 2005, and joined Brenau in October 2005 with plans to put both varsity and junior varsity teams on the court in the 2006-2007 academic year.
Greek life at Brenau University has a long and prosperous tradition; established in 1909, it is one of the oldest Greek systems in the United States. Brenau is one of only three women’s colleges in the United States that has Greek life, and with eight sororities active on campus, Brenau has the most chapters. The other women’s colleges with Greek systems are Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri and Spelman College in Atlanta.
Of the eight chapters active at Brenau, two are NPHC (National Pan-Hellenic Council) and six are NPC (National Panhellenic Conference) sororities. For the six NPC chapters “formal recruitment” follows Panhellenic’s recruitment guidelines and occurs annually at the beginning of the academic year, while the NPHC or historically African American Greek organizations hold their recruitment separate from the formal process. These sororities follow NPHC recruitment guidelines, with membership intake for Alpha Kappa Alpha and Delta Sigma Theta at the discretion of the individual organization.
Every woman at Brenau who is a member of a sorority becomes a member of the campus’ Greek Council, the governing body over all sororities on campus, both NPC and NPHC. The Greek Council sponsors social and other events throughout the year including the Greek Sing, Greek Week, and the Greek Gala.
The sorority chapters active on campus and their founding dates are:
Brenau’s 50-acre (200,000 m2) main campus is located in Gainesville, Georgia, approximately 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Atlanta, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Brenau University maintains evening and weekend satellite programs at the main campus in Gainesville and at these additional Georgia locations: Augusta, Kings Bay, and North and South Atlanta - Norcross and Fairburn.
Brenau University Galleries, located on the campus of Brenau University in Gainesville, feature one of the finest university art collections held by an educational institution in the state of Georgia.
Until 1985, when John S. Burd became president of the university, Brenau lacked a designated art gallery; student and faculty work was displayed in various buildings across the campus. Recognizing the need for a gallery, Burd converted a small chapel outside the balcony of the University’s Pearce Auditorium into the “President’s Gallery”. Director of visual arts Mary Jane Taylor became the first gallery director and began expanding the frequency and breadth of art exhibitions on campus throughout the late 1980s. Burd also initiated the creation of Brenau’s permanent art collection in 1986. The first important acquisition during this period was a still life painted by the American artist William Merritt Chase. The collection today consists of over 1,100 pieces and is periodically exhibited on campus.
Highlights include early oil paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Paul Cézanne; watercolors by Eugène Delacroix; artifacts from the pre-Columbian period of American history; an oil painting by Anna Elizabeth Klumpke; sculptures by Jean Arp, Maria Artemis, Clyde Connell, and William King; a gouache by Amelia Peláez; and one of the largest collections of prints anywhere by Jasper Johns.
In 1990, Brenau’s neoclassical library building, originally built in 1914, was redesigned to house the Simmons Visual Arts Center. The second art gallery director, Jean Westmacott, was appointed by the university that year and Brenau held its inaugural art exhibition, featuring Jasper Johns’s prints from the Leo Castelli Collection, at the Simmons Visual Arts Center in March 1991. This exhibition also launched an outreach program focusing on art education. Gallery tours and hands-on workshops for children have become a regular feature of this educational curriculum. Since the opening of the Simmons Center, the university has hosted a wide range of art exhibits, including the work of Brenau’s faculty and students as well as the work of nationally and internationally acclaimed artists. The works of Benny Andrews, Beverly Buchanan, Lamar Dodd, Nancy Graves, William King, Roy Lichtenstein, Marisol, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, Donald Saff, Frank Stella, and Neil Welliver have appeared in the university’s galleries. The Brenau galleries have also featured such group exhibitions as the women artists from the Vogel Collection.
In March 2002, the Burd Performing Arts Center opened and gave the university a new home for visual art on campus. The center’s gallery is known as the Leo Castelli Gallery, in honor of the New York art dealer and university trustee responsible for several major art acquisitions and exhibitions by the Brenau University Galleries. The gallery's primary function is to house long-term exhibitions of art from the permanent collection of the university.
In 2010, Brenau University entered a three-year partnership with the Atlanta High Museum of Art. The collaboration will help deepen Brenau's commitment to the arts as part of its curriculum, and will allow Brenau students to have access to lectures, exhibits, and other special programs at the High.[6]
Brenau University houses the Eleanor Dare Stones, as was a proponent for by Brenau College Professor Haywood Pearce Jr[7].
In late 1895, a meeting of the Gainesville, Ga., townspeople discussed the need for a new auditorium. Dr. A.W. Van Hoose and Dr. Haywood Jefferson Pearce, president of Brenau University from 1893-1943, asked the community to lend Brenau US$10,000 without interest for five years for the construction of an auditorium. The funds were raised in a short period, and the contract for the construction was signed April 1, 1896.
The auditorium was completed within only a year and dedicated on May 21, 1897, as “the largest of its kind in the South.” Nearly 67 years later on March 26, the auditorium was dedicated in honor of Pearce.
In 1978, the building was named to the National Register of Historic Places, along with others on the Brenau campus. Three years later, it was closed for renovations, reopening in the spring of 1984. “It’s difficult to imagine Brenau University without Pearce Auditorium. In fact, it is hard to imagine Gainesville without Pearce Auditorium,” said John W. Jacobs, Jr., chairman of the Brenau board of trustees, as he began the centennial observance of the dedication of Pearce Auditorium.
In addition to its wide usage by such local groups as The Arts Council, the Gainesville Theatre Alliance, the Gainesville Ballet, the Gainesville Symphony Orchestra and others, Pearce Auditorium has been the site of many famous speakers. Helen Keller, Will Durant, Ted Shawn, Ruth St. Dennis, Martin Luther King, Sr., Letitia Baldrige, Robert Peters, Williams Warwick, Dan Rather, Jane Fonda and Maria von Trapp all have spoken or performed in Pearce. The Arts Council has welcomed additional guests in recent years as part of its Pearce Series, including the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the New York City Opera, the Joffery II Ballet, the Vienna Boys Choir, Ramsey Lewis, Dave Brubeck, Herbie Mann, Chuck Mangione, Steve Allen and Loretta Switt.
During the 1970s, James and Francis Mathis started collecting artifacts from the early days of those who settled in Northeast Georgia. A number of items were soon displayed at Gainesville’s Home Federal Savings Bank. As others in the community started to express an interest in remembering the past, a nucleus began to be formed with plans to start a museum.
The City of Gainesville made available to the group a vacant fire station building downtown. Volunteers then began collecting objects that would relate to the history of this area. The Georgia Mountain History Museum was underway. School children, tourists, and home-folks were soon attracted to the museum.
By the early 1990s, it was realized that the future of the museum had to include its own building in a more accessible location. The turning point came in 1995 when Brenau University President John Burd committed a tract of campus property for the History Museum, the White Path Cabin, and a blacksmith shop donated by Hoyt Herrin. Volunteers started soliciting the community for contributions and, after some years of stop and go, architectural plans were finally completed and all stood in readiness for its grand opening, held in May 2004.
The Brenau University Learning and Leisure Institute offers non-credit classes for mature adults looking to stimulate their thinking and expand their knowledge. A variation on common Elderhostel programs, BULLI is made available to and oriented towards adults in the Northeast Georgia community who are seeking academically oriented continuing education.
Firespark! is the 2-week co-educational summer program for students in grade 9 through 12 from all over the world who are gifted in theatre, dance, music, visual art, and mass communications. Student admission is based on essays, recommendations by current educators and auditions when applicable, and classes are led by working arts professionals who also reside on campus during the program.
The programs offered at Firespark! are all goal oriented, with students working towards appearing in performances within their field of study staged before their peers. Students who are visual-arts focused are featured in a gallery showing at the program’s conclusion, while mass media students are heard on Brenau’s WBCX-FM.
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