| Westminster College | |
|---|---|
| Motto | "Pro Christo et Libertate" |
| Established | 1875 |
| Type | Private |
| Endowment | $46.1 million[1] |
| President | Michael S. Bassis |
| Academic staff | 253[2] |
| Undergraduates | 2,168[3] |
| Postgraduates | 719[3] |
| Location | Salt Lake City, Utah, United States |
| Campus | Urban |
| Athletics | NAIA division 1 |
| Colors | Purple and Gold |
| Mascot | Griffin |
| Website | westminstercollege.edu |
Westminster College is a private liberal arts college located in the Sugar House neighborhood of Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The college comprises four schools: the School of Arts and Sciences, the Bill and Vieve Gore School of Business, the School of Education, and the School of Nursing and Health Sciences. It is the only accredited liberal arts college in the state of Utah.
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The school was founded in 1875 as the Salt Lake Collegiate Institute, a prep school under the supervision of the First Presbyterian Church of Salt Lake City.
At that time, members of many Protestant Christian denominations flocked to Salt Lake City in order to try to convert people who belonged to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Westminster is the only remaining vestige of a trend in the late 19th century in which the Protestants set up private primary and secondary schools and offered free tuition to children in order to try to convert them from Mormonism.
College level classes were first offered in 1897 as Sheldon Jackson College. It was given that name after a Presbyterian minister and its primary benefactor, Sheldon Jackson. High school level classes ceased to be offered in 1945. Westminster severed its ties to the Presbyterian church in 1974.
The college changed its name to "Westminster College" in 1902 to better reflect a more general Protestant education. The name is derived from the Westminster Confession of Faith, a Presbyterian confession of faith, which, in turn, was named for a London suburb where it was devised. Today, students from all religious persuasions (or none) are welcome.
The college is also no longer antagonistic toward The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. About 40 percent of its students are LDS, approximately the same percentage as for the general population of Salt Lake City. The school also proposed abandoning its traditional crest emblem, a shield emblazoned with the term "Pro Christo et Libertate." After students actively protested the administrative effort, however, the school crest was preserved.
Westminster was the first accredited two year junior college in Utah. It became a liberal arts institution in 1949.
Originally located in downtown Salt Lake City, the college moved to its present campus on 27 acres (0.11 km2; 0.04 sq mi) in the Sugar House neighborhood of the city.
The current president of Westminster College is Dr. Michael S. Bassis, who was appointed in 2002.
Westminster College is the only private, non-denominational, comprehensive liberal arts college in Utah and one of the very few in the Intermountain West. Admissions statistics advertise a student-faculty ratio of 11:1. Peterson's Guide to Competitive Colleges includes Westminster College in the top 10 percent of 3,600 public and private colleges and universities nationwide. U.S. News & World Report consistently ranks Westminster in the top tier of Master's universities in the West and as an excellent educational value. In the 2009 edition, Westminster was ranked 19th, up four places from the previous year. Additionally, Westminster was recognized as a great value, ranking 13th on the list of "Great Schools, Great Prices" in this category.[4]
The Princeton Review included Westminster College in its annual guide of "The 368 Best Colleges" for 2008, and has also ranked the College 18th in the nation for "best quality of life."
Westminster College is a comprehensive college blending liberal arts studies with professional programs. The college comprises four schools: the School of Arts and Sciences, the Bill and Vieve Gore School of Business, the School of Education, and the School of Nursing and Health Sciences. The college operates on a fall and spring semester system with a mini term in May and eight-and twelve-week summer terms.
Westminster offers 34 undergraduate majors conferring BA and BS degrees (not including pre-med, pre-law, and pre-dental programs). In addition to a number of post-baccalaureate certificate programs in various fields, Westminster also offers 12 graduate degrees: Master of Business Administration (MBA), Master of Business Administration in Technology Management (MBATM), Master of Arts in Community Leadership (MACL), Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT), Master of Education (MEd), Master of Public Health (MPH), Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), Master of Science in Nursing Education (MSNEd), Master of Science in Nurse Anesthesia (MSNA), Master of Professional Communication (MPC), Master of Science in Professional Counseling (MSPC), and Master of Arts in Community Leadership (MACL).[2]
Westminster College recently launched a new program within the Gore School of Business focusing on training students to be entrepreneurs. The Center for New Enterprise will offer graduate and undergraduate degrees as well as community education programs in entrepreneurship.
Westminster College is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. Programs throughout the college are accredited as well.[2]
Westminster's Campus is known for its natural beauty and elegant architecture. Located on 27 acres (0.11 km2; 0.04 sq mi) in the middle of a long-established community, the campus has been designed to blend in with the neighborhood.
It is located in Sugar House, Salt Lake City, a beautiful neighborhood with much to do. A block away from Sugar House Park, which is one of the largest in Salt Lake City, outdoor activities are very common place. The Nerf Club heads down there every week to do battle.
There is only one meal location on campus, but within the Sugar House neighborhood there are many places conveniently located close to campus. Westminster students can use their student IDs to get discounts at many of these places.
On campus are two gyms each equipped with a basketball court, weight room, and studio.
The larger of the buildings, the Health Wellness and Athletics Center (HWAC), also has an indoor pool, three story rock climbing wall, and racket ball court. The facilities are home to the Indoor Soccer Club and Swim Club.
The Martial Arts Club and Boxing Club meet downstairs twice a week in Payne Gymnasium.
The Associated Students of Westminster College or ASWC is the student government and activity board on campus. They provide services such as activities, student advocacy, and over sixty different clubs and organizations.
Westminster has several intercollegiate academic teams.
The Ethics Bowl Team has ranked constantly in the national top four over the past few years.
The Mock Trial Team is the best in the state and hosts its own invitational. They compete in AMTA.
The Debate Team is a new addition to the school and competes in NPDA style debate, as well as other speech events.
The Moot court Team is likewise new.
The school newspaper is a bi-weekly called "The Forum". There is also a nationally recognized literary journal known as Ellipsis. The Estonian, Westminster's student yearbook, was last published in 1987.
Prior to 1979, Westminster's athletic teams were called the "Parsons," and the school was a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Football, basketball, and other team sports were offered at the intercollegiate level. That year, however, a financial crisis at the school caused it to discontinue its intercollegiate athletic program.
Beginning in the 1990s, Westminster gradually began to restore an intercollegiate athetic program, and the school's mascot is now the griffin. Today the school competes in the Frontier Conference of the NAIA's division one athletics for most sports, men's and women's alpine skiing and snowboard teams compete in the United States Ski Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association (USCSA), men's lacrosse competes at the MCLA Division II level in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Conference (RMLC), and women's lacrosse competes in the US Lacrosse Women's Division Intercollegiate Associates (WDIA) in the Rocky Mountain Women's Lacrosse League (RMWLL). Westminster athletic offerings include:
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Men's sports |
Women's sports |
In the 2006-2007 academic year, Westminster began fielding a men's lacrosse following the completion of a new athletic field on campus. The Westminster men's lacrosse won the 2008 Division II MCLA National Championship held in Irving, Texas at Texas Stadium with a 17-10 win over Grand Valley State.[5] The program won the first national championship in the school's 130 year history, in only its second year. The Men's Basketball team has had notable success as the Griffins have gone 216-99 (.684) overall while proving even more dominant in Frontier Conference play with a 105-33 (.761) mark on their way to six of the last eight Frontier Conference titles while earning a spot in the NAIA National Tournament eight times.
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