Berry College
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Berry College is a
private university Private universities and private colleges are higher education institutions not operated, owned, or institutionally funded by governments. However, they often receive tax breaks, public student loans, and government grants. Depending on the count ...
in the Mount Berry community adjacent to
Rome, Georgia Rome is the largest city in and the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia, United States. Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, it is the principal city of the Rome, Georgia metropolitan area, Rome, Georgia, metropolitan statist ...
. It is
accredited Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...
by the
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) is a regional educational accreditor recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. As of 2022, the organization oversees ap ...
(SACS). Berry College was founded on values based on Christian principles in 1902 by Martha Berry.


History

In 1902, Martha Berry, daughter of a prominent local business owner, founded the "Boys Industrial School" on 83 acres of land inherited from her father. In exchange for an education, students of the school would work to help build, run, and maintain the new school. In 1904, it became the first approved school of the
Daughters of the American Revolution The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (often abbreviated as DAR or NSDAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a patriot of the American Revolutionary War. A non-p ...
. In 1909, the "Martha Berry School for Girls" was added, and collectively with the boys school, it came to be known as the Berry Schools. The free labor provided by the students helped to keep construction and operating costs for the schools low. In 1926, the school became a junior college and several years later, a senior college, graduating its first class in 1932. During the 1930s, the school campus grew to 30,000 acres, helped by a large donation from
Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American Technological and industrial history of the United States, industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automob ...
. In 1957, Berry College became
accredited Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...
by the SACS. During the 1960s, Berry College began paying student workers instead of crediting accounts and ended mandatory religious services for students.


Academics

Berry College offers
Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
,
Bachelor of Music A Bachelor of Music (BMus; sometimes conferred as Bachelor of Musical Arts) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. The degree may be awarded for performance, music ed ...
,
Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...
,
Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...
,
Master of Education The Master of Education (MEd or M.Ed. or Ed.M.; Latin ''Magister Educationis'' or ''Educationis Magister'') is a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. This degree in education often includes the following majors: curriculum an ...
, and Education Specialist degrees from the four schools making up its academic program. It is
accredited Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...
by the
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) is a regional educational accreditor recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. As of 2022, the organization oversees ap ...
(SACS). The student-faculty ratio at Berry College is 11:1, and the school has 58.9% of its classes with fewer than 20 students, and 99.6% of its classes with fewer than 50 students. The average freshman retention rate, an indicator of student satisfaction, is 83%. '' U.S. News & World Report'' in its 2021 Best Colleges ranks Berry College #4 in Regional Universities South, #3 in Best Undergraduate Teaching, and #1 in Best Value Schools.


Undergraduate programs

Berry offers degrees in the following schools: * Campbell School of Business * Charter School of Education and Human Sciences * Evans School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences * School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences A minor degree can be obtained in 36 different courses of study throughout the four schools. Berry also offers an undergraduate degree in
interdisciplinary studies Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several fields such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, economi ...
.


Honors Program

Berry's Honors Program is an undergraduate program designed to give qualified students a chance to learn in an intellectually challenging environment with their peers and professors. The Honors Program allows the students to take Honors-only classes, Honorized classes, and to study abroad in Honors-only programs. During their last year at Berry, Honors students must complete and defend a senior thesis. Upon graduation, they receive an Honors diploma.


Graduate programs

Berry offers a
Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...
in Teaching program and an Education Specialist certification in the Charter School of Education and Human Sciences that is accredited by the
National Council for Teacher Education National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) is a statutory body of Indian government set-up under the National Council for Teacher Education Act, 1993 (#73, 1993) in 1995 to formally oversee standards, procedures and processes in the Indian ...
(NCATE). The Campbell School of Business offers a
Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...
program that is accredited by the
Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) is an American professional and accreditation organization. It was founded as the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business in 1916 to provide accreditation to busines ...
(AACSB).


Admissions

In 2021, Berry College accepted 77% of all applicants. Admitted students have an average GPA of 3.7, a mean ACT score of 27 and a mean SAT score of 1175.


Tuition

Berry College's tuition is $38,430 a year, before any financial aid, grants, or scholarships. In 2021, tuition increased 1.9%, from $37,720 in 2020 to the current rate of $38,430. On average, college tuition rises about 3 percent a year. Berry College has the same tuition for Georgia residents as for students from other states and international students. In addition to tuition, students at Berry can expect to pay around $13,620 a year for room and board, which covers the cost of on-campus housing and a meal plan. Students who live off campus but still want to eat on campus can pay $6,180 a year for a meal plan.


Berry College Elementary and Middle School

Berry College Elementary and Middle School is a private school located on Berry College's mountain campus across from Frost Chapel. Established in 1977, the school was initially called the Berry College Academy - which held a variety of students from preschool to high school. The academy was meant to follow British enfant school practices. Using a Lilly Foundation Grant, the school was called the Early Learning Center in the Westcott Building and taught kindergarten and first grade students. Furthermore, the high school students were engaged in Bible study. Berry abruptly closed the academy in 1983, and all 144 students left to attend school elsewhere. In 1988, the school moved locations from the Westcott Building to Hamrick Hall, where it is now located. By this time the age range had expanded to teach children up until fifth grade. Since 2002, it has enrolled students in up to the eighth grade. A year later, the older students were moved from Hamrick Hall to the newly built Cook Building on Main Campus to form their own separate middle school. A series of reunion events were held for former students, parents, teachers and directors in 2007 for the thirty year anniversary. The names of the schools were merged into one, Berry College Elementary and Middle School. In 2015, the school was home to 129 elementary and middle school students with a 1:12 teacher to student ratio. During the 180 days in the school year, the students attend class for seven hours compared to the normal six for other elementary schools in the area. The Middle Schoolers were also known for annually producing short films, with the eighth graders receiving a "Martha" award for their achievements.


Campus

Berry College is situated near the city of
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
in northwestern Georgia, northwest of
Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
and south of
Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...
. The campus consists of more than 27,000 acres of land - including fields, forests, and Lavender Mountain - making it the largest contiguous college campus in the world. Designated portions are open to the public for hiking, cycling, horseback riding, and other outdoor activities. The campus is also home to a large population of
deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...
(estimates range between 1,500 and 2,500). The Georgia Department of Natural Resources oversees about 16,000 acres of the campus, conducts managed hunts, and provides recreational opportunities. The land encompassing the academic buildings and other public spaces is a wildlife refuge in which no hunting is allowed. In September 2011, ''
Travel+Leisure Travel + Leisure Co. (formerly Wyndham Destinations, Inc., and Wyndham Worldwide Corporation) is an American timeshare company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. It develops, sells, and manages timeshare properties under several vacation owners ...
'' ranked Berry among the most beautiful college campuses in the United States, noting its numerous fountains and pools among its English Gothic-style buildings. File:Berrycollege.jpg, The "Gate of Opportunity" is the main entrance to the campus File:Ford Buildings - Berry College.jpg, The reflecting pools in front of the Ford Dining Hall File:Mary Hall at Berry College.jpg, West Mary Hall File:Mirror Lake, Berry College Mountain Campus.jpg, Mirror Lake on the Mountain Campus File:BerryFord1.jpg, Ford Buildings File:Berry.animalscience.center.2021.jpg, Animal Science Center


Student life

Berry College has a total of 1,943 undergraduate students for the 2019–2020 academic year. There are 91 graduate students. There is a 66:34 female to male ratio, and 69 percent of the students are in-state residents. Students come from 35 states and at least 18 foreign countries.


Outdoor recreation

Berry College has more than 80 miles of hiking, biking and horseback riding trails, and two disc golf courses; all are open to the Berry community and to the public. The Victory Lake Campground located in the heart of Berry's campus is available to Berry student use only. Berry offers an intramural program with men, women and co-educational play for many sports.


LifeWorks program

Berry College's student work program, called LifeWorks, guarantees every student a job on campus for those interested in participating. The work program is based upon the original idea the school was formed around. The founder, Martha Berry, would educate local children for free if they would work around campus. This continues to help offset the tuition cost to this day.


Film and television

Berry College has been used as a site for the filming of several movies, in addition to music videos by bands such as Casting Crowns. The most notable films are ''
Remember the Titans ''Remember the Titans'' is a 2000 American biographical sports drama film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Boaz Yakin. The screenplay by Gregory Allen Howard is loosely based on the true story of coach Herman Boone, portrayed b ...
'' and '' Sweet Home Alabama''.
Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
's '' Perfect Harmony'' (1991) was filmed almost entirely on campus at buildings such as Oak Hill, Frost Chapel, the Old Mill, and the Ford Buildings. A short scene from '' Dutch'' was filmed on the Berry campus. In addition, scenes for the Fox series, ''
The Following ''The Following'' is an American crime thriller television series created by Kevin Williamson (screenwriter), Kevin Williamson, and jointly produced by Outerbanks Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television. The The Following (season 1), first s ...
,'' starring
Kevin Bacon Kevin Norwood Bacon (born July 8, 1958) is an American actor. Known for various roles, including leading man characters, Bacon has received numerous accolades such as a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Bacon made his featu ...
, were filmed here. In the '' Constantine'' television series, the Ford Buildings and the Old Mill were used as the settings for Ravenscar Asylum and John Constantine's hideout, respectively. The Netflix Original ''
Stranger Things ''Stranger Things'' is an American television series created by the Duffer brothers, Duffer Brothers for Netflix. Produced by Monkey Massacre Productions and 21 Laps Entertainment, the Stranger Things season 1, first season was released on N ...
'' filmed parts of its fourth season at the Ford Complex.


Religious life

Berry College's mission statement espouses "values based on Christian principles". The institution's board of trustees chose to shutter the middle and high school academy, and used that campus property to court leadership of Chick Fil-A, a Christian-run business, through its WinShape foundation programs. The campus has a chaplain, four chapels, and an active religion-in-life program supporting all Christian denominations and religions outside of Christianity. The school recognizes the Student Association for an Inter-Religious Community, which is a student organization that encourages dialogue between religions represented on campus.


Campus housing

Berry College has housing for employees. Faculty housing on the Berry College property is zoned to Floyd County School District for public school (for dependents of college employees living on the property). - Note Berry College's location The zoned secondary schools for Berry College's housing are Armuchee Middle School and Armuchee High School.


Athletics

The Berry athletic teams are called the Vikings. The institution is a member of the Division III level of the
National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
(NCAA), primarily competing in the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) as a founding member since the 2012–13 academic year. The Vikings previously competed as an NCAA D-III Independent from 2010–11 to 2011–12; and in the Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC); formerly known as Georgia–Alabama–Carolina Conference (GACC) until after the 2003–04 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 higher education, colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic schola ...
(NAIA) from 2004–05 to 2009–10. The school's mascot is the
Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9â ...
. Berry competes in 22 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, lacrosse, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis and track & field; while women's sports include basketball, beach volleyball, cross country, equestrian, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field and volleyball.


Championships

Berry has won three NAIA national championships in women's soccer (1987, 1990 and 1993), one national title in women's basketball (1976), one NAIA national crown in men's golf (1998), and three IHSA national championships in equestrian (2011, 2015, 2016). In addition, Berry student-athletes Michelle Abernathy (marathon, 1999), Caio Soares (3,000 meter race-walk, 2004), Michelle Tuggle (high jump, 1984) and Nicole Wildes (women's golf, 2004) have all won individual national championships. The Berry College women's basketball team won the AIAW Small College National Championship in 1976. In 2018, Elijah Hirsh in men's basketball broke the single-game record for blocks in Berry's NCAA Division III era with 10 blocks. In 2019, he averaged 9.2 rebounds (leading the SAA) and was named SAA Player of the Year, SAA All-First Team, and
National Association of Basketball Coaches The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, is an American organization of men's college basketball coaches. It was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, the men's basketball head coach for the Univ ...
All-District South First Team.


Addition of football

The Berry College
Board of Trustees A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...
voted to add
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
beginning in the fall of 2013, with a
track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...
athletic program to be added soon after. Due to the financial expense and the traditions of the school, the decision to add football was controversial and met with opposition from a significant portion of the student body, faculty, and alumni. According to the school newspaper, ''The Campus Carrier,'' adding football would not affect issues related to equal sports opportunity under the
Title IX Title IX is a landmark federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receiv ...
regulations.


Facilities

A new stadium, known as "Valhalla", has been built on Berry's campus. The facility is used by the institution's football, track, and lacrosse programs. The stadium was originally intended to be built near the Cage Center, but in 2012 a pair of
bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche ...
s established their nest near the site. They returned and successfully raised chicks in 2013 and 2014. The school moved the stadium site to a new location well removed from the eagles, which have become a symbol of the school. Groundbreaking was held on October 17, 2014, and the stadium was completed for the 2015 football season. The Cage Center is Berry's 131,000-square-foot athletic facility that houses a performance
gym A gym, short for gymnasium (: gymnasiums or gymnasia), is an indoor venue for exercise and sports. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasion". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learn ...
nasium, a natatorium with observation seating, a fitness center,
racquetball Racquetball is a racquet sport and a team sport played with a hollow rubber ball on an indoor or outdoor court. Joseph Sobek invented the modern sport of racquetball in 1950, adding a stringed racquet to paddleball in order to increase vel ...
courts, an indoor track and classrooms. The Cage was named after Berry College alumnus and trustee Steven Cage, whose $10 million donation kicked off the project.


Alumni

* Darren Barnet, actor * Mark Bloom, professional soccer player * Elijah Hirsh, professional basketball player * Josh Hughes, professional soccer player * John Junkins, professor and former
interim President An acting president is a person who temporarily fills the role of a country's president when the incumbent president is unavailable (such as by illness or visiting abroad) or when the post is vacant (such as for death, resignation or removal ...
of
Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...
* Mason Kinsey, professional football player * Collin McHugh, professional baseball player * Heather Willauer, chemist and inventor * Morgan Church, head coach of the U.S. Women's National Beach Soccer Team


Demographics

Berry College CDP is a
census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
(CDP) and the official name for an area covering the Berry College campus, in Floyd County,
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
, United States. It first appeared as a CDP in the 2020 Census with a population of 1,565.


2020 census


See also

* Georgia Governor's Honors Program


References


Further reading

* Guthrie, Carol Anne. "Education and the evolution of the South: A history of the Berry Schools, 1902-1970" (PhD dissertation,  The University of Tennessee; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing,  1994. 9518102).


External links

*
Athletics website
{{Authority control DAR schools Buildings and structures in Floyd County, Georgia Education in Floyd County, Georgia Universities and colleges established in 1902 Liberal arts colleges in Georgia (U.S. state) Protected areas of Floyd County, Georgia Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Private universities and colleges in Georgia (U.S. state) Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Georgia (U.S. state) Private elementary schools in Georgia (U.S. state) Private middle schools in Georgia (U.S. state) Schools in Floyd County, Georgia National Register of Historic Places in Floyd County, Georgia 1902 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Census-designated places in Georgia (U.S. state)