Paine College
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Paine College | |
|---|---|
| Image:Paine seal violet.jpg | |
| Motto: | "Rejoicing In Hope" |
| Established | 1882 |
| Type: | Private |
| President: | Dr. Curtis E. Martin, Interim |
| Undergraduates: | 800+ |
| Location | Augusta, Georgia, USA |
| Campus: | Urban |
| Mascot: | Lions |
| Colors: | Purple and White |
| Website: | http://www.paine.edu |
Contents |
[edit] Mission
The mission of Paine College is to provide a liberal arts education of the highest quality that emphasizes academic excellence, ethical and spiritual values, social responsibility, and personal development. Paine College prepares men and women for positions of leadership and encourages them to serve the African American community, the nation, and the world. Paine College strives to develop self-sufficient and productive citizens, committed to intellectual pursuits and aesthetic appreciation in a global society.
[edit] History
Paine College was founded by the leadership of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, now United Methodist Church, and the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, now Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. Paine was the brainchild of Bishop Lucius Henry Holsey, who first expressed the idea for the College in 1869. Bishop Holsey asked leaders in the ME Church South to help establish a school to train Negro teachers and preachers so that they might in turn appropriately address the educational and spiritual needs of the people newly freed from the evils of slavery. Leaders in the ME Church South agreed, and Paine Institute came into being.
On November 1, 1882, the Paine College Board of Trustees, consisting of six members, three from each Church, met for the first time. They agreed to name the school in honor of the late Bishop Robert Paine of the MECS who had helped to organize the CME Church. In December, the Trusthis is shllajlfatees selected Dr. Morgan Callaway as the first President of the College and enlarged the Board from six to 19 members, drawing its new membership from communities outside of Georgia so that the enterprise might not be viewed as exclusively local.
Bishop Holsey traveled throughout the Southeast seeking funds for the new school. On December 12, 1882, he presented the Trustees of Paine Institute with $7.15 from the Virginia Conference and $8.85 from the South Georgia Conference. In that same month, Bishop Atticus Haygood, a minister of the ME Church South, gave $2,000 to support President Callaway through the first year. Thus, a $2,000 gift from a white minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church South and $16 raised by a CME minister – penny by penny from former slaves - became the financial basis for the founding of Paine College.
In 1883, a Charter of Incorporation for The Paine Institute was granted, and the Trustees elected Dr. George Williams Walker as its first teacher. In January 1884, classes began in rented quarters in downtown Augusta.
On December 28, 1884, the Reverend George Williams Walker was elected President of Paine Institute following the resignation of Reverend Callaway. In 1886, the College moved to its present site.
The year 1888 was a very significant one for Paine College. Reverend Moses U. Payne, an MECS minister from Missouri, gave $25,000 to Paine for the endowment. Also in 1888, Trustee W. A. Candler presented a resolution to the Trustees authorizing President Walker to employ Dr. John Wesley Gilbert to become the first Black member of the faculty. Dr. Gilbert was Paine’s first student and first graduate. He furthered his education at Brown University and Athens, Greece. Since that time, the faculty has been interracial and international. President Walker died in 1910 after having headed Paine for twenty-six years.
The Paine Institute began with a high school component and gradually developed a college department. In 1901 the first four-year degrees were granted at The Paine Institute. Initially, advanced students received special instruction on an individual basis, but by 1903 sufficient college-level work was provided to justify changing the school’s name to The Paine College. Paine continued its high school department until 1945, because there was no public secondary school for Blacks in Augusta until that year.
Under the leadership of President Edmund Clarke Peters, 1929-1956, Paine College was accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools as a Class “B” institution in 1931 and then as a Class “A” institution in 1945.
President E. Clayton Calhoun served as President from 1956 to 1970. During his leadership, Paine was approved by the University Senate of The Methodist Church in 1959, and the College was admitted to full membership in the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 1961.
Dr. Lucius H. Pitts was elected President of Paine College in 1971. He was the first alumnus and first Black President of the College. He died in his office in 1974. Dr. Julius S. Scott, Jr. served as President of the College on two separate occasions: 1975 to 1982 and 1988 to 1994. Paine alumnus, Dr. William Harris, served during the period of 1982 to 1988. In 1994, Dr. Shirley A. R. Lewis became Paine College’s first female president.
Paine College is a full-fledged liberal arts institution offering courses and major programs in five divisions: Business Administration, Education, Humanities, Natural Sciences and Mathematics and Social Sciences. The College remains a small, predominantly Black, coeducational, church-related school, gratefully related to its founding denominations and open to all.
[edit] The Campus
Paine College has a 57-acre campus located in the heart of Augusta, Georgia. Most of the College buildings, including residence halls, classroom buildings, and the library, are located in the main campus area. The athletic field, gymnasium, tennis court, and the chapel/music building are included in the rear campus area.
[edit] Notable Alumni
- Dr. William H. Harris, Past President of Paine College, Texas Southern University and Alabama State University
- Dr. Mack Gipson, Jr., 1st African American to obtain a Ph.D. in Geology and consultant to NASA
- Frank Yerby, Internationally acclaimed author and film writer
- Dr. Shirley McBay, 1st African-American Dean at M.I.T
- Bishop Nathaniel Linsey, Senior Bishop of the CME Church
- Ruth B. Crawford, Dir. of Shiloh Community Center and designer of the Paine College flag
- Michael Thurmond, Attorney and 1st African-American elected as State Labor Commissioner (GA)
- Dr. Lucius Pitts, 1st African-American president of Paine College
- Dr. Elias Blake, Past President of Clark College, advocate for HBCUs, helped develop Upward Bound program
- Micah Troy, Hip hop musician (BKA "Pastor Troy")
[edit] Paine College Presidents
- Morgan Callaway 1882-1884
- George Williams Walker 1884-1911
- John D. Hammond 1911-1915
- D.E. Atkins 1915-1917
- Albert Deems Betts 1917-1923
- Ray S. Tomlin 1923-1929
- E.C. Peters 1929-1956
- E. Clayton Calhoun 1956-1970
- Lucius H. Pitts 1971-1974
- Julius S. Scott, Jr. 1975-1982
- William H. Harris 1982-1988
- Julius S. Scott, Jr. 1988-1994
- Shirley A.R. Lewis 1994-2007
- George C. Bradley 2007-present
[edit] The Paine College Ideal
To love truth and to seek it above material things;
To ennoble and be ennobled by common fellowship;
To keep the energies of life at full tide;
To cultivate an appreciation of the beautiful;
To work well and play with zest;
To have an open, unprejudiced mind;
To find joy in work well done;
To be an earnest disciple of Him who brings the abundant life;
To work diligently for a better understanding of the White and Black races.
Such is the spirit and ideal of Paine College.
To all who share this spirit and are eager for the pursuit of high things,
We offer a hearty welcome.
[edit] External links
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference |
|---|
| Albany State • Benedict • Clark Atlanta • Fort Valley State • Kentucky State • Lane • LeMoyne–Owen† • Miles • Morehouse • Paine† • Stillman • Tuskegee † non-football member |
