Furman University
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Furman University |
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| Established | 1826 |
| Type | Private |
| Endowment | US$478.8 million [1] |
| President | David Shi |
| Faculty | 272 |
| Undergraduates | 2,600 |
| Postgraduates | 500 |
| Location | Greenville, South Carolina, United States |
| Campus | Suburban 750 acre (3 km²) |
| Athletics | 17 varsity teams |
| Nickname | Paladins |
| Website | www.furman.edu |
Furman University is a private, coeducational, non-sectarian, liberal arts university in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1826, Furman enrolls approximately 2,600 undergraduate and 500 graduate students on its 750 acre (3 km²) campus. Its current president is David Shi, who graduated from Furman in 1973. Furman is the oldest, largest and most selective private institution in South Carolina.
The university is primarily focused on undergraduate education (only two departments, education and chemistry, offer graduate degrees). Furman University emphasizes "engaged" learning in which professors encourage undergraduate students to author articles, participate in internships, and volunteer in their respective fields of study. The Furman Advantage program funds research projects between professors and students. Furman receives funds annually from The Duke Endowment for general operating support and for special projects and programs.
Furman is best known for its chemistry, history, music, religion, political science, and psychology departments. The psychology, computer science, and chemistry departments have earned high marks among professional organizations spanning the sciences (social, applied, and basic), notable for a liberal arts institution of Furman's size.
Furman University students have an unusually high acceptance rate into graduate schools. Approximately 70% of pre-medical students gain entrance to medical school, and 99% of pre-law students gain entrance to law school. Approximately two-thirds of Furman students will earn graduate degrees. More of Furman University’s graduates have gone on to earn Ph.D. degrees in recent years than any other private liberal arts college in the South, according to a survey conducted by the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center. [2].
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[edit] History
Furman was founded in 1826 as a Men's Academy and Theological Institute in Edgefield, South Carolina. The original school building from that campus remains on the current Greenville campus today. In 1933, students from the Greenville Women's College began attending classes with Furman students. Shortly thereafter, the two schools merged to form the present institution. Furman began construction on its new campus, just five miles north of downtown Greenville, in 1956. Classes on the new campus began in 1958. Now non-sectarian, the school was affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention [3] and the Southern Baptist Convention until the 1991-1992 school year.
[edit] Rankings
Furman was ranked no. 15 in the Washington Monthly's Top US Liberal Arts Colleges Rankings based on its production of research valuable to society and its commitment to national service. [4] Furman has one of the largest undergraduate research programs in the country and is ranked no. 4 by US News Best Undergraduate Research Programs along with MIT, Stanford and Michigan. [5] The university's engaged learning academic program, which promotes problem-solving, project-oriented, experience-based education, has received high praise from The Princeton Review, Peterson's Competitive Colleges , The Fiske Guide to Colleges and The College Board College Handbook . In terms of input, meaning the quality of the students the institution attracts, Furman was ranked no. 30 in the SSRN's U.S Colleges and Universities Preference Rankings (based on the choice to enroll of high-achieving students in US) [6] The Chronicle of Higher Education also ranked Furman no. 32 in the nation for the percentage of National Merit Scholars in its 2005-2006 freshman class .[7]
[edit] Campus
A 30-acre (0.1-km²) lake is at the center of the 750-acre (3-km²), wooded campus. Many academic buildings and student residences stand around the lake, including the Bell Tower. The Bell Tower figures highly in school insignias and is a replica (within 1/16th of an inch) of the tower that once existed on the men's campus in downtown Greenville. Today, the campus is anchored by its newly expanded 128,000 square foot (12,000 m²) James B. Duke Library. Known as "The Country Club of the South," Furman was named one of the 362 most beautiful places in America by the American Society of Landscape Architects. The fall 1997 issue of Planning for Higher Education names Furman as a benchmark campus for its landscaping as well. To add to the campus's extensive merit for aesthetic beauty, the 1996 Fisk Guide to Colleges referred to Furman's campus as a "shining jewel." Also, the 1997 Princeton Review ranked Furman fifth in its list of beautiful campuses, this based on student ratings of campus beauty.
Students are required to live on campus all four years. However, during a student's senior year, s/he may be eligible to live off campus through a lottery. There are two residence complexes (called Lakeside and South Housing), as well as four housing cabins which make up Bell Tower Housing. Most juniors and all seniors live in North Village Apartments, located near the Bell Tower.
[edit] Athletics
Furman competes in NCAA Division I athletics as the Paladins. The university is a member of the Southern Conference. In 1988 Furman won the NCAA I-AA National Football Championship. Furman also appeared in the 1985 and 2001 NCAA I-AA National Football Championship game, but lost (to Georgia Southern and Montana, respectively). Furman, Colgate and Lehigh remain the only private universities that have appeared in the I-AA Football Championship game, and Furman is the only private school to win it. Over the past few years, Furman's football team has been consistently ranked in the top 3 spots in the NCAA I-AA polls, and recently climbed to no. 1 in the nation in the latest Sports Network polls [8]. The Paladins have also claimed 12 Southern Conference football titles, more than any school in league history.
The men's soccer team has been ranked as high as no. 3 in the nation and has produced a share of professional players [9]. Former star Clint Dempsey was the only American player to score a goal at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany [10]. Few collegiate woman golf programs have produced more outstanding professionals than Furman, which boasts 11 former Lady Paladins on the LPGA tour, including two Hall of Fame inductees (Betsy King and Beth Daniel). Furman men's tennis coach Paul Scarpa is only the fourth college tennis head coach in history to reach 700 wins. He is currently the third-winningest active coach in the NCAA's and has coached 108 All-Southern Conference players. Furman's Rugby Club team has also proved notable in recent years, winning the East Coast Collegiate Championship three out of the last four years[11].Started in 1998 by John Roberts, the club continues to excel in Division III rugby in the southeast with many accolades. Furman is the only liberal arts college to be ranked in Sports Illustrated Top 100 America's Best Sports Colleges [12]and has 32 former student-athletes competing at the professional level- the most of any Southern Conference member school.
[edit] Notable alumni
- Charles Townes - Nobel Prize-winner in Physics, inventor of the maser, laid theoretical groundwork for invention of laser
- John B. Watson - Father of behaviorism (Psychology)
- Hans Einstein- the foremost authority on the lung disease Valley Fever
- Herman Lay- Founder of the Lay's Corporation
- Amy Grant - Contemporary Christian/Pop artist, attended for 2 years and then transferred to Vanderbilt
- Keith Lockhart - Current conductor of the Boston Pops
- Victoria Jackson - Former cast member of Saturday Night Live
- Ben Browder - Three-time Saturn Awards winner for Best Actor on Television on Farscape
- Marshall Frady- Emmy Award-winning journalist and biographer[13]
- Betsy Byars- children's author, winner of the Newbery Medal, a National Book Award, an Edgar Award and the Regina Medal
- John Michael McConnell - Has served as director of the National Security Agency and currently serves as Director of National Intelligence
- Richard Riley - Former Governor of South Carolina and U.S. Secretary of Education under the Clinton administration
- George Singleton- Novelist
- CT Weeks - Michael Kors top modeling agent. Currently touring in France with Tyra Banks upcoming new show France's Top Model.
- Pamela DeLargy - Manager of the U.N. Population Fund’s Humanitarian Response Unit
- Mark Sanford - Current Governor of South Carolina
- Wilton E. Hall- newspaper publisher and United States Senator from South Carolina from 1944 to 1945
- Clement Haynsworth - Former United States judge and an unsuccessful nominee for the United States Supreme Court
- Baron Hill - Indiana congressman
- Alexander Stubb - Finnish politician and Member of the European Parliament with the National Coalition Party
- Nick Theodore- Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina from 1987 to 1995
- Roger C. Peace- United States Senator from South Carolina
- Joseph H. Earle- member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1878 to 1882, a member of the South Carolina Senate from 1882 to 1886, South Carolina attorney general from 1886 to 1890 and a United States Senator from South Carolina in 1897
Athletes
- Betsy King - LPGA Tour, World Golf Hall of Fame, 34 career victories
- Beth Daniel - LPGA Tour, World Golf Hall of Fame, 32 career victories
- Dottie Pepper - Former LPGA Tour champion; current NBC and Golf Channel commentator
- Brad Faxon - eight time winner on the PGA Tour, played on two Ryder Cup teams
- Bruce Fleisher - won the U.S. Amateur in 1968, professional golfer on the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour
- Sherri Turner - Professional golfer, won the 1988 LPGA Championship
- Sarah Johnston - FUTURES Tour golf player and contestant in The Big Break VI[14]
- Sam Wyche - Former NFL head coach; led Cincinnati Bengals to Super Bowl XXIII
- Stanford Jennings - Former NFL player for the Cincinnati Bengals, scored a touchdown in Super Bowl XXIII; current New Balance sales executive
- Ingle Martin - NFL player, QB for Green Bay Packers
- David Whitehurst - Former quarterback for the Green Bay Packers
- John Keith - NFL player for San Francisco 49ers[15]
- Cam Newton - NFL player, Defensive Back for Atlanta Falcons[16]
- Orlando Ruff - NFL player for Cleveland Browns
- Luther Broughton - former NFL tight end
- Bear Rinehart - South Carolina Player-of-the-Year Award 2002 and Singer/Guitarist of NeedToBreathe[17].[18]
- Brian Bratton - NFL player, rookie free agent for the Atlanta Falcons in 2005, now a receiver for Baltimore Ravens assigned to the Cologne Centurions of NFL Europe [19]
- Frank Selvy - Former NBA All-Star; holds record for the most points in any NCAA Division 1 basketball game
- Rushia Brown - WNBA professional player, most recently for the Charlotte Sting[20]
- Clint Dempsey - Professional footballer, 2004 MLS Rookie of the Year and member of the United States men's national soccer team, only US player to score a goal in the 2006 World Cup, currently plays midfield for Fulham of the English Premier League
- Ricardo Clark - Professional footballer for the Houston Dynamo, 2003 MLS Rookie of the Year runner-up
- John Barry Nusum - Professional soccer player for the Virginia Beach Mariners and Philadelphia Kixx
- Sergei Raad - Professional footballer player for the Kansas City Wizards
- Ned Caswell - Former ITF No. 1 ranked player in the world Men's 35s[21]
- Tom Mastny - Pitcher for Cleveland Indians
- Angel Martino - Olympic Gold Medalist in swimming
- Jason L. Pagan - World Record Holder - Bench Press - 183 lb Weight Class. [22]
[edit] Notable faculty
- Jay Bocook - Music
- Charles Brewer - Psychology
- Gilles Einstein - Psychology
- Mark Kilstofte - Music, winner of the American Academy in Rome's Rome Prize for 2002-2003 [23]
- Lon Knight - Chemistry
- Hayden Porter - Computer Science
- Rich Prior- Author of 501 Latin Verbs
- Jim Guth - Religion and Politics
- Kevin Treu-Computer Science
[edit] Majors and concentrations
- Accounting
- Ancient Greek and Roman Studies (concentration)
- Art
- Asian/African Studies
- Biology
- Business Administration
- Chemistry
- Classics
- Communication Studies
- Computer Science
- Computer Science—Mathematics
- Computing—Business
- Earth and Environmental Sciences
- Economics
- Education (Early Childhood, Elementary, Secondary, and Special)
- English
- Environmental Studies (concentration)
- French
- German
- Greek
- Health and Exercise Science
- History
- Latin
- Latin American Studies (concentration)
- Mathematics
- Mathematics-Economics
- Modern Languages
- Music (Church, Education, Performance, and Theory)
- Neuroscience
- Philosophy
- Physics
- Political Science
- Pre-engineering (dual degree)
- Psychology
- Religion
- Sociology
- Spanish
- Theatre Arts
- Urban Studies
- Women's and Gender Studies (concentration)
[edit] Social Organizations
- Sororities:
- Fraternities:
- Sisterhoods:
- Gamma Omega Sigma
[edit] Points of interest
- Furman University Japanese Garden
- The amphitheatre, which features concerts and other performances. Site of the annual Black Swan Music Festival, and has been the place of concerts by artists such as Nickel Creek, Howie Day, and Robert Randolph and the Family Band.
[edit] External links
- Furman University website
- Furman University athletics website
- Furman University admissions
- The Paladin
- Furman University Webshots
- James B. Duke Library
- Greenville, South Carolina
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