MARS HILL COLLEGE

'Mars Hill College' is a private, coed, liberal-arts college affiliated with the North Carolina Baptist Convention. The college is located in the small town of Mars Hill, North Carolina, 15 miles due north of Asheville, western North Carolina's largest city. Mars Hill College is easily accessible from Asheville via Interstate 26, which runs about a mile east of the college.

History

Mars Hill College was founded in 1856, and it is the oldest college or university in western North Carolina. It was originally named the French Broad Baptist Academy, after the nearby French Broad River. In 1859 the college changed its name to Mars Hill, in honor of the hill in ancient Athens on which the Apostle Paul debated Christianity with the city's leading philosophers. During the American Civil War the college was closed for two years, but it reopened after the war. From 1897 to 1938 Mars Hill, under the leadership of Dr. Robert Moore, experienced substantial financial and physical growth. Under Dr. Moore the school became an accredited junior college in 1921. Dr. Hoyt Blackwell served as President from 1938 to 1966, and under his leadership Mars Hill became an accredited four-year college in 1962. Dr. Dan Lunsford, a 1969 graduate of Mars Hill, is currently the college's president. He holds an Ed.D from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Mars Hill College Today

Mars Hill is fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), and the college's enrollment is typically around 1500 students. The college is a Division II member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Mars Hill's sports mascot is the Mountain Lion, although most people refer to the college's sports teams as simply the "Lions". The college offers five degrees (Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Fine Arts, and Bachelor of Social Work), and 31 majors. Mars Hill is known for its excellent departments in music and other fine arts. The "Bailey Mountain Cloggers", the college's dance team, have won 13 national championships in clogging and other traditional folk dances, and they frequently perform internationally, especially in Europe. In 2002 the college opened the Ramsey Center for Regional Studies. Named after an MHC alumnus who served a record four terms as the Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, the center is dedicated to preserving the heritage and culture of the people of the Southern Appalachian Mountains.

Notable alumni

★ William L. Brown, (1922 - 2005), President and CEO of the Bank of Boston from 1971 - 1989. Doubled the bank's assets from $18 billion to $36 billion before his retirement.

★ Graham Martin, (1912 - 1990), Foreign Service Officer, U.S. Ambassador to Thailand (1963-1969); U.S. Ambassador to Italy (1969-1973); U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam (1973-1975). He was the last ambassador to South Vietnam before that nation collapsed and fell to Communist forces from North Vietnam in 1975. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetary.

★ Dr. Wayne Oates (1917 - 1999), psychologist and minister at the University of Louisville medical school who fused psychology and theology to create many of the practices used in modern pastoral counseling. He is also credited with coining the word "workaholic".

★ Dr. Tina Pippin (born 1956), Chair of the Religious Studies department at Agnes Scott College; she is an expert on feminist interpretation of the Bible, and in apocalyptic literature.

★ Dr. David Price (born 1940), United States Congressman from North Carolina's Fourth District from 1987-1995 and 1997 to the present. After graduating from Mars Hill, he earned divinity and doctoral degrees from Yale University and taught political science at Duke University.

★ Dr. H. Dean Propst (born 1934), Chancellor Emeritus of the University System of Georgia; holds a doctorate in education from Vanderbilt University.

★ Liston B. Ramsey (1919 - 2001), North Carolina state legislator who served 19 terms in the state assembly. He was elected Speaker of the State House of Representatives four times in the 1980s, and was the first legislator in the state's history to have been elected to the Speaker's office for four terms.

★ Eugene L. Roberts, Jr., (born 1932), National Editor of ''The New York Times'' from 1969 - 1972; Executive Editor of ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' from 1972 - 1990; Managing Editor of ''The New York Times'' from 1990 - 1997.

★ Lacy Thornburg, (born 1929), North Carolina State Attorney General from 1985 - 1993; United States Federal District Judge for Western North Carolina, 1995 - Present.

★ LaVonda Wagner, (born 1964), Head Women's Basketball Coach at Oregon State University, assistant coach at the University of Illinois from 1994 - 2002 and at Duke University from 2002 - 2005. Named the Oregon State Women's Coach of the Year by the ''Corvallis Gazette-Times'' in 2006; she is also a WNBA television analyst for the Fox Sports Network (FSN).