Flagler College is a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

liberal arts college in St. Augustine, Florida. It was founded in 1968 and offers 33 undergraduate majors and one master's program. It also has a campus in

Tallahassee Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2020, the population ...

History

Founded in 1968, the campus comprises , the centerpiece of which is the Ponce de León Hotel, built in 1888 as a luxury hotel. The architects were John Carrere and Thomas Hastings, working for

Henry Morrison Flagler Henry Morrison Flagler (January 2, 1830 – May 20, 1913) was an American industrialist and a founder of Standard Oil, which was first based in Ohio. He was also a key figure in the development of the Atlantic coast of Florida and founder ...

, the industrialist, oil magnate and railroad pioneer. It is now listed as a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

, the highest designation possible. Lawrence Lewis Jr., was the driving force behind Flagler's development. It was his vision to create a small, private liberal arts college on the old hotel grounds. Lewis was Chairman of Flagler's board of trustees for more than 20 years, guiding the college through a reorganization in 1971. He directed millions of dollars through foundations, family and personal funds into new construction, restoration projects, endowment and various other programs to ensure Flager's continued success. Lewis was related to Henry Flagler through his mother, Louise Wise Lewis Francis, who was the niece of Mary Lily Kenan Flagler, who married Henry Flagler in 1901 making him Lewis' great uncle. In 2014, Flagler College was ranked eighth among regional colleges in the South according to the '' U.S. News & World Report'' college survey. In February 2014, the college's vice president of enrollment management resigned after it was determined that he had been altering student test scores, GPAs, and student rankings to enhance the college's image, standing, and reputation. The college hired a Jacksonville law firm to investigate. The report indicated that the college had been reporting false information since 2004 to various organizations, including the U.S. Department of Education and various ranking organizations.

Proctor Library

The Proctor Library, located at 44 Sevilla Street in the northwest corner of campus, is Flagler's sole library facility. It is named after William L. Proctor, Flagler's chancellor, who was president of the college from 1971 until 2001. Like many of the historic buildings on campus, the Proctor Library's architectural design reflects the

Gilded Age In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Wes ...

style popular during the time of Henry Flagler's construction of the Ponce de León Hotel in 1888. The Proctor Library was built in 1996, replacing the demolished home of artist Felix de Crano, which had been the last classic Shingle Style house in St. Augustine. The library's collection contains approximately 102,047 printed volumes, 212,689 electronic books, 4,180 audiovisual items, 630 periodicals, and 5 newspapers, as well as almost 44,000 full-text electronic periodicals and 50 online databases. Proctor Library also contains three collections: Digital Collections, Flagler College Archives, and Special Collections. Access to, and the use of, the Proctor Library is limited to Flagler College students, faculty, and staff, and is not open to the general public without a written request. Proctor Library Digital Collections, however, is accessible to anyone with an Internet connection.

Student life

Organizations

Flagler offers membership in 11 honor societies, including

Alpha Chi Alpha Chi National College Honor Society (or ) is an American collegiate honor society recognizing achievements in general scholarship. It was formed in 1922 by nineteen schools in the state of Texas. Since then it has expanded to 300 chapters ...

Alpha Psi Omega Alpha Psi Omega National Theatre Honor Society () is an American recognition fraternity for participants in collegiate theatre. History The ''Alpha Cast'' (Alpha Psi Omega's term for "chapter") was founded at Fairmont State College (now Fairm ...

Alpha Phi Sigma Alpha Phi Sigma () (Phi is pronounced "fi") is the only Criminal Justice Honor Society accredited by the Association of College Honor Societies. Traditionally a national organization serving United States universities, recent expansion into Canadi ...

Sigma Beta Delta Sigma Beta Delta () is a scholastic honor society that recognizes academic achievement among students in the fields of business, management, and administration . History Sigma Beta Delta was founded by Beta Gamma Sigma on January 16, 1994, in La ...

Pi Sigma Alpha Pi Sigma Alpha ( or PSA), the National Political Science Honor Society, is the only honor society for college and university students of political and social sciences in the United States. Its purpose is to recognize and promote high academic ...

Kappa Delta Pi Kappa Delta Pi International Honor Society in Education, () is an honor society for education. It was founded in 1911 and was one of the first discipline-specific honor societies. Its membership is limited to the top 20 percent of those entering ...

, Omicron Delta Kappa, Phi Alpha Theta,

Psi Chi Psi Chi () is a college student honor society in psychology with international outreach founded in 1929 at the University of Kansas in the United States. Psi Chi is one of the largest honor societies in the United States, with more than 1,150 cha ...

Alpha Kappa Delta Alpha Kappa Delta () is an international honor society of sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated w ...

, and

Sigma Tau Delta Sigma Tau Delta () is an international excelled English honor society for students of English at four-year colleges and universities who are within the top 30% of their class and have a 3.5 GPA or higher. It presently has over 850 chapters in ...

. In addition, there are 3 student organizations, 30 campus clubs, and 9 academic organizations. Flagler also has 6 sports clubs, including club hockey, dance club, men's lacrosse club, men's soccer club, winter guard, and a

Quidditch Quidditch is a fictional sport invented by author J.K. Rowling for her fantasy book series ''Harry Potter''. It first appeared in the novel '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' (1997). It is a dangerous but popular sport played by wi ...

team.

Newspaper

''The Gargoyle'' is the college's student-run newspaper. In 2010, it went online-only. At the 2012 Society of Professional Journalists' Mark of Excellence Region 3 awards, ''The Gargoyle'' took first place for best independent online publication and first places for editor Michael Newberger in online opinion writing and sports editor Mari Pothier in online sports reporting."Gargoyle wins best independent web site at SPJ regional conference"
''The Gargoyle''. Since becoming online-only, ''The Gargoyle'' has won nine Regional Mark of Excellence awards and published three more from Flagler Communication Department classes. Before 2010, the publication had only won two SPJ awards in its history. In 2007, the publication was a finalist in the Associated Collegiate Press Pacemaker Awards. In 2006 and 2007, there were several allegations of censorship or alteration of articles in the ''Gargoyle'' by the college administration. In 2006, one issue of the newspaper was removed from circulation due to an alleged error in its headlines about rising tuition. In April 2007, the college administration again exercised editorial control over the paper due to alleged factual errors. Students rallied and organized a protest against any type of censorship of the newspaper, calling for a free and independent student press. After September 2007, working on ''The Gargoyle'' was no longer required of communication majors. An advisory board and operating guidelines were set up for ''The Gargoyle''.

Athletics

The Flagler athletic teams are called the Saints. The college is a member of the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

ranks, primarily competing in the

Peach Belt Conference The Peach Belt Conference (PBC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. The 11 member institutions are located in the South Atlantic states of South Carolina ...

(PBC) since the 2009–10 academic year."Montevallo and Flagler to Join Peach Belt Conference"
Peach Belt Conference The Saints previously competed as an NCAA D-II Independent from 2006–07 to 2008–09; and in the

Florida Sun Conference The Sun Conference (TSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Seven of the ten full member institutions are located in Florida, with three in Georgia. The Sun Conference c ...

(FSC; now currently known as the Sun Conference since the 2008–09 school year) of the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its st ...

(NAIA) from 1990–91 to 2005–06. Flagler competes in 19 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, tennis and track & field (indoor); while women's sports include basketball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, tennis, track & field (indoor) and volleyball. There are also two spirit squad teams: cheerleading and pep band.

Volleyball

In 2009 the Flagler College Lady Saints volleyball team made it to the national championship, and finished in the top four of Division II volleyball teams in the nation. In 2010, the Lady Saints made it to the regional finals, finishing top 16 in the nation.

Notable alumni

* Laura Croft, model * Lisa De Pasquale, political columnist *

Linda Evans Linda Evans (born Linda Evenstad; November 18, 1942) is an American actress known primarily for her roles on television. In the 1960s she played Audra Barkley, the daughter of Victoria Barkley (played by Barbara Stanwyck) in the Western tel ...

, science fiction writer *

Scott Lagasse Jr. Scott E. Lagasse Jr. (; born January 31, 1981) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He formerly drove in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. He is the son of former sports car and NASCAR driver Scott Lagasse Sr. He is the owne ...

, NASCAR driver * Greg Lake, Florida radio personality * Ariana Madix, star of ''

Vanderpump Rules ''Vanderpump Rules'' is an American reality television series which has been broadcast on Bravo since January 7, 2013. Developed as the first spin-off from '' The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills'', it has aired nine seasons and focuses on Lisa ...

'' * Robert Reyes, Filipino-American professional basketball player * Marco Warren, Bermuda national football team * Kyle Bird, MLB player for the Hiroshima Carp

Gallery

Flagler College, Ponce de Leon Hotel, St. Augustine FL, South courtyard view 20160707 1.jpg, Courtyard of

Ponce de León Ponce may refer to: *Ponce (surname) * *Ponce, Puerto Rico, a city in Puerto Rico ** Ponce High School ** Ponce massacre, 1937 * USS ''Ponce'', several ships of the US Navy *Manuel Ponce, a Mexican composer active in the 20th century * British sla ...

Hall Proctor Library, Flagler College, St. Augustine FL, East view 20160707 1.jpg, Proctor Library File:Flagler College - Lobby inside Ponce de Leon Hotel.JPG, Lobby inside Flagler College. File:The Dining Hall at Flagler College.jpg, The Dining Hall with Louis Comfort Tiffany's stained glass windows. File:The Flagler Room at Flagler College.jpg, The Flagler Room, originally the hotel's Grand Parlor. One can see Tiffany Austrian crystal chandeliers and a massive

onyx Onyx primarily refers to the parallel banded variety of chalcedony, a silicate mineral. Agate and onyx are both varieties of layered chalcedony that differ only in the form of the bands: agate has curved bands and onyx has parallel bands. The ...

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventi ...

clock (one of the first ever to be used in a public building). File:FlaglerCollegeEntry.jpg, A statue of Henry Flagler, who constructed the Ponce de Leon Hotel, stands guard at the King Street entry to Flagler College.

References

External links

*
Official athletics website
{{Coord, 29.89237, N, 81.31522, W, source:placeopedia, display=title Educational institutions established in 1968 Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools St. Augustine, Florida Liberal arts colleges in Florida Tourist attractions in St. Augustine, Florida Education in St. Johns County, Florida Universities and colleges in the Jacksonville metropolitan area 1968 establishments in Florida Private universities and colleges in Florida