Eckerd College
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| Established | 1958 |
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| Type | Private, coeducational |
| President | Donald R. Eastman III |
| Faculty | 130 |
| Undergraduates | 1,652 |
| Location | St. Petersburg, Florida, USA |
| Campus | 188 acres, suburban |
| Affiliations | Presbyterian Church (USA) |
| Website | www.eckerd.edu |
Eckerd College is a private 4-year coeducational liberal arts college at the southernmost tip of St. Petersburg, Florida, in the Tampa Bay metropolitan area. The college is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
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[edit] Campus
Eckerd College has a suburban 188-acre campus on Frenchman's Creek and Boca Ciega Bay, about 3 miles from Gulf of Mexico beaches. The campus is near, but separate from, residential and commercial neighborhoods of St. Petersburg. The college is working towards a pedestrian and more environmentally friendly campus, supported by such initiatives as its Yellow Bike program.
The college enjoys several architectural styles, but a common feature is the use of glass and external views to emphasize a connection with the environment. Recent campus additions include the Peter H. Armacost Library (see below), several new residence halls, the Galbraith Marine Science Laboratory, sports facilities, a renovated student center, the renovated Miller Auditorium, and the Franklin-Templeton building. Other campus buildings include those designed and used for classrooms, laboratories, offices, theatrical productions, musical instruction, art exhibits, athletic events, and student services. The just-finished dormitory, Iota, has been constructed to be ecologically friendly.
Dolphins and manatees can sometimes be seen swimming near the college's South Beach area. Campus birdlife includes herons, cranes, egrets, pelicans, wood storks, cormorants, roseate spoonbills, bald eagles, hawks, pileated woodpeckers, and many species of seagulls.
[edit] Students
Eckerd College's webpages report that, as of October 15, 2004, there were 1,652 full-time equivalent students and 130 full-time equivalent faculty members, for a 13:1 student:faculty ratio. The college's students come from nearly every state, with about one-third from Florida. The gender distribution is 44% male and 56% female. The college's Program for Experienced Learners serves about 1,500 non-traditional students, with classes taught largely in the evenings and on weekends. At the May, 2006 commencement, 353 degrees were awarded in the residential program and 190 in the Program for Experienced Learners.
[edit] Academics
Eckerd College awards both Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees. While known for strong programs in Marine Science, Chemistry, Sociology, Literature, and Creative Writing, among other subjects, Eckerd offers majors covering the entire spectrum of the liberal arts. Degree programs in about forty areas are available, along with opportunities for student-designed majors.
From its founding, the college has encouraged responsible innovation in all of its academic programs. For example, Eckerd College was the originator of the 4-1-4 academic calendar, with the "1" representing a so-called Winter Term (also known as a January term) in which each student concentrates on a single project. Before graduation, students in nearly all majors are required to either pass a senior-year comprehensive examination or to complete a senior thesis project. All students must complete a senior seminar course in their final year.
Since Eckerd faculty are encouraged to be, and most are, active scholars, many undergraduate research opportunities are available to students. One such long-running research effort is D.A.R.W.I.N., a computer science project (partnered closely with marine science) to automate dolphin dorsal fin recognition (DARWIN research website). A United States Geological Survey center in St. Petersburg provides further research opportunities.
Eckerd College graduates have received prestigious awards for advanced study through the Rhodes, Marshall, Fulbright, Rotary, and National Science Foundation programs. Phi Beta Kappa (Eckerd is one of the youngest colleges in the country to be awarded a chapter) and Sigma Xi are among the nationally-recognized academic societies at Eckerd College. Eckerd's Ethics Bowl teams have consistently captured awards in intercollegiate competition. Eckerd College is also one of only 40 liberal arts colleges profiled in Loren Pope's Colleges That Change Lives.[1]. Eckerd was recently named one of 13 "Institutions of Excellence in The First College Year" by the Policy Center on the First Year of College.
Supporting the academic program is the recently-opened Peter H. Armacost library, a state-of-the-art facility. Conveniently located near the student center and dormitories, the new library houses the college's book and periodical collections and offers space for individual and group study.
Opportunities for study-abroad are strong at Eckerd College, with students traveling to all seven continents for academic work. For over 30 years the college has maintained the Eckerd College Study Centre in London. Eckerd hosts a significant international student population in its traditional program, and short-term English-immersion courses are held in a dedicated on-campus facility.
[edit] Athletics
Eckerd College is a member of the Sunshine State Conference (NCAA Division II) with athletic teams in basketball, soccer, baseball, volleyball, golf, tennis, sailing, and other sports. In 2000, Eckerd's Men's Volleyball Team won the NIRSA Division II Sports Club Volleyball Championships in Reno, Nevada. In 2006, for the first time in the 24-year history of the Eckerd College Volleyball program, the Tritons qualified for the NCAA South Region tournament (i.e., postseason).
The college's basketball and volleyball teams play in the MacArthur Physical Education Center's gymnasium. An Olympic-sized swimming pool, adjacent to the gymnasium, is open to all students. Eckerd's mascot is the Triton, and the school's colors, teal and white, were adopted by the athletic programs in 2005; the school's colors had been black, red, and white.
In addition to Division II teams, Eckerd students also participate in many club sports such as rugby, lacrosse, and roller hockey. The Eckerd College Men's Lacrosse Team finished the 2006 season ranked #3 in the National Collegiate Club Lacrosse Poll, with a 13-1 record. Since its founding in 2003 the team has captured two state championships, a regional championship, and a third-place national finish.
[edit] Campus life and activities
Eckerd College maintains a regular series of on-campus events for the benefit and enjoyment of campus and community. The music, theatre, and art programs are active in staging concerts, dramatic productions, and artistic shows, respectively, throughout the academic year. On-campus speakers have included Anderson Cooper, Coretta Scott King, Dennis Lehane, Elie Wiesel, Gerald Ford, Helmut Schmidt, Henry Kissinger, James Van Allen, Jared Diamond, Jesse Jackson, Jimmy Carter, Michael Collins, Paul Rusesabagina, Peter Singer, Richard Leakey, Stephen Jay Gould, Stephen King, William Proxmire, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, and Yevgeny Yevtushenko.
Over fifty different clubs and organized activities are available for Eckerd College students, funded and authorized by Eckerd's student government, the Eckerd College Organization of Students (ECOS). ECOS has an operating budget of nearly a half-million dollars that it distributes to student-run clubs and organizations. Among these clubs and organizations are a student newspaper, The Triton, a radio station (WECX), an on-campus television station (EC-TV), a student programming board, Palmetto Productions, sports clubs, cultural clubs, and various academic-related clubs, such as those for anthropology (The Bipedal Society), art, biology, chemistry, philosophy, law, and foreign languages.
Among the service clubs are campus chapters of Amnesty International and Circle K. The Alliance for Concerned Individuals (ACI) was founded in the spring of 2003 as the non-partisan successor to an anti-war club, entitled EC Iraq Awareness, to promote activism and awareness on campus. Eckerd College also hosts the EC Coalition for Community Justice (ECCCJ), a new group seeking to raise campus housekeepers' wages.
Eckerd's Waterfront Program is a center of watersport activities, such as sailing, skiing, kayaking, and fishing. An award-winning student group, EC-SAR (Eckerd College Search and Rescue), assists the U.S. Coast Guard in rescue operations throughout the Tampa Bay area.
About 80% of Eckerd students live in on-campus dormitories that are either co-educational or all-female; there are no all-male dorms since Dalton '04-'05. Eckerd College has a total of ten dormitory complexes, each with a name from the Greek alphabet. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, and Kappa complexes offer traditional dorm-style housing. Omega and Nu complexes house upperclassmen, and are organized around suites on each floor. An on-campus hotel facility was recently converted for student use, and is now called Sigma complex. An eleventh dorm complex, Iota, is under construction and slated to open on Friday September 1, 2006 (according to the college's website).
A long-standing, unusual feature of Eckerd College is that a few residence halls are set aside as "pet dorms" for students wishing to bring small animals to campus. Other special residence halls include "Wellness Houses", that promote healthy living, and service-learning dormitories, for students interested in monthly community service projects. Smoking is not permitted inside Eckerd College dormitories.
[edit] History
Eckerd was founded as Florida Presbyterian College after World War II as part of national growth in post-secondary education driven by returning GIs entering college and the anticipated baby boom of children. The United Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian Church (US) worked together to start the college, receiving a charter from the Florida legislature in 1958 and opening in 1960. In 1971, Jack Eckerd donated $12.5 million to the college, the largest single gift it had received to that date. The following year the institution's name was changed to Eckerd College to recognize Mr. Eckerd's support. A covenant relationship is still maintained with the Presbyterian Church (USA).
The past presidents of the college are William Kadel (1958 - 1968), Billy Wireman (1968 - 1977), Jack Eckerd (1977, Interim President), Peter Armacost (1977 - 2000), and Eugene Hotchkiss (2000 - 2001, Interim President). Dr. Donald R. Eastman III has served as President since July 1, 2001.
In the 1980s, during the tenure of President Armacost, the college embarked on an extensive development program for land owned adjacent to its main campus. This development included the construction of waterfront homes and a retirement center. Financial irregularities related to these projects were discovered by the Board of Trustees in the spring of 2000, resulting in President Armacost's retirement, the loss of a significant fraction of Eckerd's endowment, and, eventually, loss of the partially-developed land adjacent to the campus. The Board of Trustees pledged to bring the endowment back to its original level and, according to the college's website, has done so.
In May, 2006, Miles Collier, the chair of Eckerd's Board of Trustees, announced a $25-million gift to the college. Details can be found in this news story.
For a more in-depth history of Eckerd College, please see the external link below.
[edit] Noted alumni
- Dorothy Allison. Graduated 1971. Writer.
- James W. Hall [2]
- Dennis Lehane. Graduated 1988. Writer.
- Brian Sabean. Graduated 1978. General manager of the San Francisco Giants.
[edit] Noted faculty
- Sterling Watson Writer (alumnus)
- Dennis Lehane Writer in Residence (alumnus)
- Peter Meinke Writer (retired faculty member)
- Jamsheed Marker Diplomat in Residence
- Elie Wiesel Writer, Philosopher, and Political Activist (teaches only during Winter Term)
[edit] External links
- Eckerd College webpage
- Eckerd College history
- Eckerd College's Peter H. Armacost Library
- Eckerd College athletics
- Eckerd College London Study Centre
- Eckerd College's Program for Experienced Learners
- D.A.R.W.I.N. (Computer Science Research) webpage
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