Arcadia University

Arcadia University is a private university in Glenside, Pennsylvania. The university enrolls approximately 4,000 undergraduate, master's, and doctoral students. The campus features Grey Towers Castle, a National Historic Landmark.

History

Beaver Female Seminary

The school was founded in Beaver, Pennsylvania, in 1853 as Beaver Female Seminary.

Beaver College

By 1872, it had attained collegiate status, under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was named Beaver College. The school admitted men from 1872 to 1907, then limited enrollment to women until 1972. In 1925, Beaver College moved east to Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, and changed its religious affiliation to Presbyterian Church (USA). In 1928, the school acquired the Harrison estate in Glenside, including Grey Towers Castle, the location of the current campus. The college operated both the Jenkintown and Glenside campuses until 1962, when it consolidated all activities to the Glenside campus. Some significant changes came in 1973, when the college launched its first graduate programs and began admitting men again.

Arcadia University

The rise of the Internet, with systems designed to filter out sexually explicit material, repeatedly blocked access to the college's website. Research conducted by the institution also found that, because of its name, the institution appealed to 30% fewer prospective students. In June 2001, trustees voted to apply for university status and to change the name. In July 2001, upon attaining university status, Beaver College officially changed its name to Arcadia University.

Today, Arcadia University operates on the main Glenside campus, at academic centers and offices around the world, and in Christiana, Delaware, where the university's Department of Medical Science opened a campus in 2006.

There was a series of leadership changes at Arcadia in the years 2011–2017. In May 2011, Carl "Tobey" Oxholm III was named president of Arcadia. Less than two years later, during the school's spring break, he was suddenly fired without explanation by the board of trustees. A Change.org petition was filed to demand answers from the school's board of trustees, but no official reason was ever given. From 2013 to 2017, the university was led by Nicolette DeVille Christensen, who was appointed as the university's 21st president on October 11, 2013. Christensen left in June 2017, after her contract expired; during her tenure, "in August 016 the 'Philadelphia''''Inquirer'' reported that 10 members of the board of trustees had resigned in recent months, and that five more have left as their terms expired. That means nearly half of the board that oversaw the university a year earlier were no longer there."Snyder, Susan
"Education: More leadership turnover at Arcadia: President to leave in June,"
''Philadelphia Inquirer'' (Jan 9, 2017). In December 2017, Dr. Ajay Nair, vice-president at Emory University, was named the university's 22nd president.

Academics

Undergraduate programs

Arcadia University was ranked among the Princeton Review's "Best in the Northeast" in its "2022 Best Colleges: Region by Region." It was the university's seventh consecutive inclusion in the publication.

The university offers more than 80 fields of study in its undergraduate programs. Undergraduate majors are offered in the College of Arts & Sciences, College of Health Sciences, School of Education, and School of Global Business. There is also an option for students to propose self-designed majors and minors, which may consist of courses offered in Glenside and through study abroad.

Graduate programs

Graduate and professional studies at Arcadia University range from liberal arts to professional degree programs. Arcadia's Master's program in Forensic Science is accredited by FEPAC, and faculty are certified by the American Board of Criminalistics and the American Board of Forensic Toxicology.

International programs and Study Abroad

The university is nationally ranked by ''U.S. News & World Report'' for its quality study abroad programs. For nine consecutive years, the ''Open Doors'' report from the Institute of International Education ranked Arcadia No. 1 in the nation for the percentage of undergraduate students participating in study abroad experiences at a master's level college or university.

Arcadia University is known for its pioneering first-year study abroad programs. Since its inception in 1994, Arcadia's unique Preview program is a two-credit, spring semester course for first-year and new transfer students at Arcadia University, offering a weeklong international experience over spring break and is greatly subsidized by the institution to make it affordable. The First-Year Study Abroad Experience (FYSAE) enables invited first-year students to participate in a semester-long study abroad program in London, England. The University announced a Second-Year Study Abroad Experience (SYSAE) in 2018 to give students the opportunity to participate in semester-long study abroad programs around the world during the fall semester of their second year as well.

In addition to sending a high percentage of its own students abroad, the university runs a number of programs that are open to students of other universities. The College of Global Studies, which was given the status of a college in 2009, runs over 130 programs, which serve students from over 300 universities yearly. Arcadia programs operate in Australia, Chile, Cuba, England, Greece, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, and Wales. Arcadia maintains classrooms and administrative services in Arcadia centers in eight countries including Athens, Barcelona, Cape Town, Dublin, Edinburgh, Granada, London, and Rome.

In affiliation with the American Graduate School of International Relations and Diplomacy (AGSIRD), Arcadia University also offers a two-year Master's program in International Relations and Diplomacy, accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and located in Paris.

Student life

Athletics

Arcadia University teams compete in the NCAA Division III within the MAC Commonwealth of the Middle Atlantic Conferences.

Men's sports teams include ice hockey, track and field, baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, swimming, tennis, and volleyball. Women's sports teams include ice hockey, track and field, basketball, cross country, field hockey, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, and volleyball.

Beginning in fall 2019, Arcadia University launched a co-educational esports program as a varsity sport where gamers compete as part of Arcadia's athletic programs. In a newly renovated 1,500-square-foot central competition arena, Arcadia competes in League of Legends, Hearthstone, Overwatch, and Rocket League.

Student organizations

As of spring 2018, Arcadia University has more than 60 active governing, academic, sport, cultural, media, religious, and service clubs and organizations.

Notable people

Alumni

* Julianne Boyd, theater director
* William R. Evanina, the NCIX, the National Counterintelligence Executive of the United States, and director of the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center
* Catherine Gunsalus Gonzalez, religious author and Professor Emerita at Columbia Theological Seminary
* Joe McKeehen, World Series of Poker Main Event Champion (2015)
* Dorothy Germain Porter, amateur golf champion
* Abbey Ryan, artist (painter)
* M. Susan Savage, Secretary of State of Oklahoma and former Mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma
* Edith Schaeffer, religious author and co-founder of the L'Abri study center
* Oliver B. Shallenberger, electrical engineer
* Anna Deavere Smith, actress
* Marjorie Smith, New Hampshire state legislator
* Florence Wickham, contralto and composer

Faculty and administration

* Hank Brown, U.S. Senator from Colorado and interim President of Arcadia University
* Cynthia S. Burnett (1840–1932), educator, lecturer, temperance reformer, and newspaper editor
* Kelsey Koelzer, current women's ice hockey coach

See also

* Thoresby House

Notes

References

External links

Official website

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1853 establishments in Pennsylvania
Educational institutions established in 1853
Former women's universities and colleges in the United States
Universities and colleges affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA)
Universities and colleges in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Private universities and colleges in Pennsylvania