GREENVILLE COLLEGE

'Greenville College' is located in Greenville, Illinois, a small (population 6,955) southern Illinois city, located 45 miles from St. Louis, Missouri on Interstate 70. The college is a liberal arts four-year school that is affiliated with the Free Methodist Church, a church with an evangelical foundation.

Contents

History

Code of conduct

Campus

Hogue Hall

Notable alumni

Faculty

See also

Further reading

References

External links

History

Greenville College was founded in 1855 as an all-female Baptist school, 'Almira College', which was begun by the Rev. John Brown White.^[1] White named the school after his friend Stephen Morse's wife, Almira Blanchard Morse, who donated the initial $6,000 that allowed the school to open. GC history professor Donald Jordahl has written that Almira College was "one of the earliest extensions westward of an eastern idea favorable toward female education, an early step in the women's suffrage and liberation movement."
The school was re-named as 'Greenville College' in 1892, when it was sold to the Central Illinois Conference of the Free Methodist Church and became co-educational. Throughout much of the school's history, the main areas for study were in primary and secondary education, with a strong secondary area in preparing students for careers in the fields of medicine and the sciences.
The current student body contains over 1,000 students; most are from various Christian denominations. The college currently offers undergraduate degrees in over 50 different programs of study and graduate degrees in education.
In 1992, Greenville College celebrated its 100th anniversary and was featured on NBC's ''Today Show''. In 2006, the college was again featured prominently in a ''Today Show'' story about the rapid growth of Christian colleges and universities.
Greenville College is a member of the Christian College Consortium and the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.
The College's original mascot was the Gremlins but changed in the early 20th century to the Panthers. Greenville's athletic colors are Orange and Black, which contrast with its academic/marketing colors which are Green and Gold (an issue that seems to be ongoing). All of its athletics teams compete in the NCAA's Division III St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and Illini-Badger Football Conference.

Code of conduct

Students attending Greenville College are expected to adhere to a lifestyle that is codified and asks that the student agree to certain principles that the school calls "Christ-honoring." Students can neither drink alcohol nor use tobacco products and are to avoid all use of illicit drugs. These principles are highlighted in a document known as the Lifestyle Statement which most students must sign in order to attend the college.

Campus

Nearly 800 students live on campus in a variety of residence halls including Walter Joy Hall, Janssen Hall, Burritt Hall, Holtwick Hall, Blakenship Apartments, Tenney Hall, Kinney Hall, and Ellen J. Mannoia Hall (formerly College Ave. Apartments). An additional, 101-bed, as-yet-unnamed hall will be opened in the fall of 2007 to house incoming freshmen.^[2] Students also live in a number of college-owned houses. In the summer of 2007, Janssen Hall (originally constructed in 1959) was gutted and completely updated and remodeled.
The college is home to the only museum dedicated to the works of the sculptor Richard Bock, an associate of Frank Lloyd Wright. The first classes of Almira College in the 1850s were held in John Brown White's home, which is called the Almira College House and houses Bock's sculptures.

Hogue Hall

The oldest building on campus, Wilson T. Hogue Hall, originally housed Almira College. Bricks for the building were made on the front campus in 1855, and the building was erected between 1856 and 1864 and given the name "Old Main." Hogue Hall contains the data processing center and administrative offices of the college on the lower two floors. The upper two floors, originally dormitory rooms, now provide offices for the faculty and a few small classrooms. Informal conversation between faculty and students frequently take place in these offices. An open "bridge" at the third floor level leads to the third floor of LaDue Auditorium and Marston Hall, which serves as the main classroom building. This building is part of the National Register of Historic Places.

Notable alumni

★ Greenville College is also famous for the band Jars of Clay, who met and formed their band on campus during the 1990s. They were granted honorary degrees by the college in 2001 since they dropped out in 1994 to pursue their musical career.

★ The rock band Augustana also spent its musical beginnings at GC as well.

★ Environmental activist Howard Zahniser (who is often called "Father of the Wilderness Act) graduated from the College in 1928 with a degree in English.

★ Bruce Medal-winning astronomer Alfred Harrison Joy was a Greenville native who attended the school when it was still known as Almira College.

Faculty

1956 Prohibition Party candidate for President, Enoch A. Holtwick, was a professor of history and government at Greenville College and is honored at GC through the Enoch A. Holtwick Literary Award and Enoch A. Holtwick Hall, a residence building.
GC professor Dr. Richard Houston became a Fulbright scholar for the third time in July 2007. He will spend a year lecturing at the University of Central America in Managua, Nicaragua, beginning in February 2008.^[3]

See also

★ Robert Smith

★ Phyllis Holmes

Further reading

★ ''Man Proposes, But God Disposes: A Biography of John Brown White, Lawyer, Minister, Educator, and Founding President of Almira College'' by Dr. Donald Jordahl, Emeritus Professor of History at Greenville College

References

1. Allan H. Keith, ''Historical Stories: About Greenville and Bond County, IL''. Consulted on August 15, 2007.
2. College Work to Be Done for New Term
3. GC PROGESSOR TO TEACH IN CENTRAL AMERICA

External links

★ Official web site

★ Official athletics website

★ Campus map