Denison University

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Denison University
Image:DenisonUniversitySeal.gif
Established1831
Type:Private school
Endowment:$614,000,000
President:Dr. Dale T. Knobel
Staff:190 full-time faculty
Undergraduates:2,100
Postgraduates:0
LocationGranville, Ohio, United States
Campus:Rural, 850 acres including a 350-acre biological reserve.
Athletics:23 varsity teams, NCAA Division III, Member North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC),
Colors:Red and White
Mascot:Big Red
Website:www.denison.edu
Image:Dulogo.jpg

Denison University is a highly selective private liberal arts and sciences college in Granville, Ohio, approximately 30 miles (50 km) east of Columbus. Denison was founded in 1831. It has a current enrollment of about 2,000 students. Denison is a member of the Five Colleges of Ohio, the Great Lakes Colleges Association, and the North Coast Athletic Conference.

Denison is listed in Loren Pope's Colleges That Change Lives.

Contents

[edit] History

Founded as Granville College, Denison was subsequently renamed as a means of securing a larger endowment, offering the privilege of naming the institution with a donation of $10,000. A local farmer named Denison (and alternately spelled Dennison on some official documents) elected to donate this considerable sum. Although he ultimately donated only a portion of the total promised (using the excuse that with his recent remarriage, he could no longer afford to surrender such a large amount), the college retained his name. Denison was an exclusively male college at the time of its inception, but has since become coeducational. This began with the Granville Female Seminary, which was founded in 1831 by Charles Sawyer. It was sold to Daniel Shepardson in 1861. It was renamed to Shepardson College for Women and became a part of Denison University in 1900. Founded as a Baptist institution, Denison for many years enjoyed the support of John D. Rockefeller, who sat on the college's board of trustees until the institution mandated that all trustees be Ohio residents. Among Denison's former presidents is William Rainey Harper, who later (with Rockefeller) founded the University of Chicago. A boys' preparatory school, Doane Academy, also coexisted on the hilltop campus for many years; upon closing, the school building became the seat of the college administration.

Denison previously offered some graduate programs, including an early incarnation of the study of neuroscience, leading to a master's degree; however, Denison was made into an exclusively undergraduate institution in the late 1920s. The university offers 48 majors, each leading to a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree. Denison also offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. English, communication, economics, psychology, biology, political science and history are among the school's top majors; however, Denison also offers an array of less traditional majors, such as cinema and queer studies.

Dale T. Knobel is currently serving as Denison's nineteenth president and has been since 1998. He resides in Monomoy Place in Granville, the official home of Denison's presidents.

[edit] About the University

Denison is a strictly residential campus that features a mixture of historic and contemporary buildings. This means that almost all of its 2,000 students must live in university-owned housing, which creates a deeper sense of community. The university maintains that the residence requirement brings the campus together and gives the university a strong sense of community. Housing options include single, double, triple, and quadruple rooms, as well as suites and apartments with kitchens.

However, the Homestead is an alternative student housing option to dormitories and campus apartments. The Homestead is a student-run community with a focus on ecological sustainability. Twelve students live and work together each semester to promote a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. Students living at the Homestead are responsible for cooking weekly meals, sharing chores, attending weekly meetings, and more.

The campus size is about 1,200 acres (4 km²). This includes a 500 acre (1.4 km²) biological reserve just east of campus, where professors of sciences like geology and biology can hold class. Denison's annual operating budget is about $69 million. It also has other funds including endowments that surpass $600 million. Denison has 190 full-time faculty, making the student-to-faculty ratio 11:1.

Denison University is often criticized for lacking diversity. Much of the campus comes from affluent backgrounds and is described by the Princeton Review as being "WASPy" and "very preppy". There have been several issues regarding racial tension surrounding the campus as of late.

Popular hangouts of the students include Brews and Whit's.

Image:Denison univ.jpg
A view of Swasey Chapel from the west

[edit] Degrees and majors

Denison offers three types of degrees: B.A., B.S., and B.F.A. Students can create their own major (called an interdepartmental major) or choose among the following. A few of these subjects are concentrations only and are not offered as majors.

[edit] Athletics

Denison is a member of the NCAA and the North Coast Athletic Conference(NCAC). Denison participates as a Division III institution which prohibits athletic scholarships. Denison has won nine (9) consecutive NCAC All-Sports Championships for a total of ten (10) since the founding of the conference in 1984-85. Denison's other All Sports Championship came in 1985-86, and both the consecutive championships streak and the total of ten represent conference records.

The most successful teams are led by the Men's and Women's Swimming programs. In 2001, the women won the NCAA Division III national championship, unseating perennial champion and local rival Kenyon College. In 2006, the men placed 2nd in the nation; the women finished in 6th. The squash program is also a perennial national contender. Other top ranked programs include lacrosse, soccer, baseball, and softball. The lacrosse and soccer games against Ohio Wesleyan University are the most widely attended "rivalry" games. Also, the Kenyon/Denison swimming rivalry is recognized in small-college sports.

Woody Hayes, later renowned as the head coach at Ohio State University, graduated from Denison in 1935, having served as captain of the football team the previous fall, and served as the university's head football coach from 1946 to 1950.

[edit] Greek life

Denison has six fraternities and six sororities. Fewer students participate in Greek life than did during the early 1990s, but the culture is still relevant, with about 38% of students joining a house. Although 38% of the student body is involved in Greek Life, 2/3 of this is women and only 1/3 of this is men.

The fraternities are:

The sororities are:

During the mid-1990s, in an effort to re-brand the college as more of an academic, and less of a party, institution, the college's trustees elected to make Denison a "non-residential" Greek system. The decision led to student and alumni uproar, with a low-grade riot erupting on the campus' "Fraternity Row" as a result. While sorority members had never been allowed to live in their respective houses, the trustees' decision turned most of the formerly-residential fraternity houses into general college residential halls, and each chapter was given lounge space in the basement of each respective house for official fraternity functions (including chapter).

Since the decision, many of the formerly purely Greek houses were renamed:

  • The Delta Upsilon house became Taylor House, an "honors" residence hall
  • The Delta Chi house became Sunset House
  • The Lambda Chi Alpha house became the Erma and Clark Morrow House, an all-first-year student "living and learning" residence hall
  • The S. S. Chamberlin Lodge of Phi Gamma Delta became the Chamberlin House
  • The Phi Delta Theta house became the Preston House

[edit] Student Organizations

  • Denison Campus Governance Association (DCGA)
  • Denison International Student Association (DISA)
  • Denison Hilltoppers
  • Denison Film Society
  • Students for Unborn Life
  • Students for Choice
  • The Homestead
  • WDUB 91.1 FM
  • Burpee's Seedy Theatrical Company
  • Black Student Union
  • Denison Religious Understanding
  • Denison University Recycling Program (DURP)
  • Denison College Republicans
  • Denison Democrats
  • Women's Emphasis
  • Outlook (LGBT organization)
  • Denison Community Association (Service organization)
  • The Denisonian (weekly student newspaper)
  • BullSheet

[edit] Notable Alumni

Denison has some 28,000 alumni all around the world. Some notable alumni include:

There are 37 Denison Clubs throughout the United States, from Boston to San Diego, from Seattle to Tampa Bay.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Five Colleges of Ohio
Oberlin • Kenyon • Ohio Wesleyan • Denison • Wooster
v • d • e
Great Lakes Colleges Association
Albion • Antioch • Denison • DePauw • Earlham • Hope • Kalamazoo • Kenyon • Oberlin • Ohio Wesleyan • Wooster
v • d • e
Annapolis Group

Chair: Katherine Haley Will, President, Gettysburg College

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v • d • e
North Coast Athletic Conference
Allegheny • Denison • Earlham • Hiram • Kenyon • Oberlin • Ohio Wesleyan • Wabash • Wittenberg • Wooster
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