Birmingham-Southern College
Encyclopedia
Birmingham–Southern College (BSC) is a 4-year, private liberal arts college located three miles (5 km) northwest of downtown Birmingham
. Founded in 1856, it is affiliated with the United Methodist Church
. Approximately 1400 students from 30 states and 23 foreign countries attend the college. BSC has a 12:1 student-faculty ratio, and 98% of full-time faculty hold a doctorate or the highest degree in their field.
Birmingham-Southern is often been ranked among the best liberal arts colleges in the United States and was profiled in Loren Pope
's Colleges That Change Lives
.
On March 21, 2011 Birmingham Southern named General Charles Krulak as their 13th president.
In 2009, having discovered defects in the internal financial procedures and audits of the college occuring over several decades, the college announced on June 14, 2010 they would have to make budget cuts of $10million, around 20% of total budget. Among other practices, the college had been adding Pell Grants to financial aid packages without adjusting the amount the college added. Other inappropriate accounting practices that had been taking place over decades were discovered at this time, as well. In July of 2010, the college introduced a plan to lay off 29 full and part-time faculty members and 51 staff members over a period of time. The article also said the school would phase out five majors: accounting, computer science, dance, French, and German in the 2011- 2012 academic year. In July of 2011 the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) placed the school on warning status due to problems with core requirements of financial stability.
(NCAA) and competes at the Division III level in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference
. The college was originally a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
(NAIA) and enjoyed a successful run in NAIA prior to joining the NCAA. In 2000 the college became first Alabama college to join the primarily east coast Big South Conference
at the Division I level. Shortly after gaining full Division I membership in 2006, the board announced its intention to join Division III because of costs. At the time fielded 14 sports, adding five sports. Panther Stadium hosted its first home game on 8 November 2008. The stadium features an athletic building that includes a press box, coach’s offices, meeting rooms, athletic training room, officials' dressing room and locker rooms for football, lacrosse, track and field, and cross country. In 2011, the college became a full member of NCAA Division III after the multi-year reclassification process from Division I.
The college currently fields 18 sports, nine men's and nine women's, including:
Men's sports
Women's sports
is an environmental educational facility on the BSC campus. Each year, hundreds of school children tour the facility's Interactive Museum and EcoScape.
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
. Founded in 1856, it is affiliated with the United Methodist Church
United Methodist Church
The United Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination which is both mainline Protestant and evangelical. Founded in 1968 by the union of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church, the UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley...
. Approximately 1400 students from 30 states and 23 foreign countries attend the college. BSC has a 12:1 student-faculty ratio, and 98% of full-time faculty hold a doctorate or the highest degree in their field.
History
Birmingham–Southern College was created from the merger of Southern University, of Greensboro, Alabama, founded in 1856, with Birmingham College, opened in 1898 in Birmingham, Alabama.- 1824: General Conference of Methodist Episcopal Church recommends each conference establish a seminary of learning
- 1854: Alabama Conference appoints committee to select site and to procure funds
- 1856: Charter granted by State of Alabama.
- 1883: State divided into two Methodist conferences, the North Alabama Conference, in 1883, joined with the Alabama Conference in the support of Southern University.
- 1896: Work begun toward establishing a college in North Alabama Conference 1897: Foundation for first building laid
- 1898: President elected and faculty chosen. Conference surrendered interest in Southern University. North Alabama Conference College (later named Birmingham College) opened
- 1918: Consolidated as Birmingham–Southern College
- 1937: Recognized by Phi Beta Kappa, establishing Alabama Beta chapter
Birmingham-Southern is often been ranked among the best liberal arts colleges in the United States and was profiled in Loren Pope
Loren Pope
Loren Brooks Pope was an American writer and independent college placement counselor.In 1965, Pope, a former newspaperman and education editor of The New York Times, founded the College Placement Bureau, one of the first independent college placement counseling services in the United States...
's Colleges That Change Lives
Colleges That Change Lives
Colleges That Change Lives is a college educational guide by Loren Pope. It was originally published in 1996, with a second edition in 2000, and a third edition in 2006...
.
On March 21, 2011 Birmingham Southern named General Charles Krulak as their 13th president.
Cultural and financial crises
In 2006, two BSC students were charged and convicted of burning down nine Alabama churches. Within 24 hours the college president, Dr. David Pollick, committed the college to rebuild all nine churches with the institution's human resources of faculty, staff and students. With assistance and support arriving from throughout the nation and without the use of college financial resources, all nine churches were rebuilt and dedicated within two years.In 2009, having discovered defects in the internal financial procedures and audits of the college occuring over several decades, the college announced on June 14, 2010 they would have to make budget cuts of $10million, around 20% of total budget. Among other practices, the college had been adding Pell Grants to financial aid packages without adjusting the amount the college added. Other inappropriate accounting practices that had been taking place over decades were discovered at this time, as well. In July of 2010, the college introduced a plan to lay off 29 full and part-time faculty members and 51 staff members over a period of time. The article also said the school would phase out five majors: accounting, computer science, dance, French, and German in the 2011- 2012 academic year. In July of 2011 the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) placed the school on warning status due to problems with core requirements of financial stability.
Greek life
Fraternities and sororities organize campus social events and service projects.Fraternities
- Theta ChiTheta ChiTheta Chi Fraternity is an international college fraternity. It was founded on April 10, 1856 as the Theta Chi Society, at Norwich University, Norwich, Vermont, U.S., and was the 21st of the 71 North-American Interfraternity Conference men's fraternities.-Founding and early years at Norwich:Theta...
- Alpha Tau OmegaAlpha Tau OmegaAlpha Tau Omega is a secret American leadership and social fraternity.The Fraternity has more than 250 active and inactive chapters, more than 200,000 initiates, and over 7,000 active undergraduate members. The 200,000th member was initiated in early 2009...
1885 - Kappa Alpha OrderKappa Alpha OrderKappa Alpha Order is a social fraternity and fraternal order. Kappa Alpha Order has 124 active chapters, 3 provisional chapters, and 2 commissions...
1882 - Lambda Chi AlphaLambda Chi AlphaLambda Chi Alpha is one of the largest men's secret general fraternities in North America, having initiated more than 280,000 members and held chapters at more than 300 universities. It is a member of the North-American Interfraternity Conference and was founded by Warren A. Cole, while he was a...
closed 1983 - Sigma NuSigma NuSigma Nu is an undergraduate, college fraternity with chapters in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Sigma Nu was founded in 1869 by three cadets at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia...
- Sigma ChiSigma ChiSigma Chi is the largest and one of the oldest college Greek-letter secret and social fraternities in North America with 244 active chapters and more than . Sigma Chi was founded on June 28, 1855 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio when members split from Delta Kappa Epsilon...
- Sigma Alpha EpsilonSigma Alpha EpsilonSigma Alpha Epsilon is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national social fraternities today, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is the only one founded in the Antebellum South...
1878
Sororities
- Zeta Tau AlphaZeta Tau AlphaZeta Tau Alpha is a women's fraternity, founded October 15, 1898 at the State Female Normal School in Farmville, Virginia. The Executive office is located in Indianapolis, Indiana...
1922 - Alpha Omicron PiAlpha Omicron PiAlpha Omicron Pi is an international women's fraternity promoting friendship for a lifetime, inspiring academic excellence and lifelong learning, and developing leadership skills through service to the Fraternity and community. ΑΟΠ was founded on January 2, 1897 at Barnard College on the campus...
1925 - Alpha Chi OmegaAlpha Chi OmegaAlpha Chi Omega is a women's fraternity founded on October 15, 1885. Currently, there are 135 chapters of Alpha Chi Omega at colleges and universities across the United States and more than 200,000 lifetime members...
1926 - Pi Beta PhiPi Beta PhiPi Beta Phi is an international fraternity for women founded as I.C. Sorosis on April 28, 1867, at Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois. Its headquarters are located in Town and Country, Missouri, and there are 134 active chapters and over 330 alumnae organizations across the United States and...
1927-1989, recolonized 1991 - Gamma Phi BetaGamma Phi BetaGamma Phi Beta is an international sorority that was founded on November 11, 1874, at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York. The term "sorority," meaning sisterhood, was coined for Gamma Phi Beta by Dr. Frank Smalley, a professor at Syracuse University.The four founders are Helen M. Dodge,...
1930 (closed 1957) - Kappa DeltaKappa DeltaKappa Delta was the first sorority founded at the State Female Normal School , in Farmville, Virginia. It is one of the "Farmville Four" sororities founded at the university...
1930 - Delta ZetaDelta ZetaDelta Zeta is an international college sorority founded on October 24, 1902, at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Today, Delta Zeta has 158 collegiate chapters in the United States and over 200 alumnae chapters in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada...
1963 (closed 1974) - Chi OmegaChi OmegaChi Omega is a women's fraternity and the largest member of the National Panhellenic Conference. Chi Omega has 174 active collegiate chapters and over 230 alumnae chapters. Chi Omega's national headquarters is located in Memphis, Tennessee....
1989 - Alpha Kappa AlphaAlpha Kappa AlphaAlpha Kappa Alpha is the first Greek-lettered sorority established and incorporated by African American college women. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of nine students, led by Ethel Hedgeman Lyle...
1979-2006, reactivated 2008
Athletics
Birmingham-Southern athletic teams are known as the Panthers. Birmingham-Southern is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic AssociationNational Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
(NCAA) and competes at the Division III level in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference
Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference
The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference , founded in 1962, is an athletic conference which competes in the NCAA's Division III. Member institutions are located in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas...
. The college was originally a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics is an athletic association that organizes college and university-level athletic programs. Membership in the NAIA consists of smaller colleges and universities across the United States. The NAIA allows colleges and universities outside the USA...
(NAIA) and enjoyed a successful run in NAIA prior to joining the NCAA. In 2000 the college became first Alabama college to join the primarily east coast Big South Conference
Big South Conference
The Big South Conference is a college athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. The conference's football teams are part of the Football Championship Subdivision...
at the Division I level. Shortly after gaining full Division I membership in 2006, the board announced its intention to join Division III because of costs. At the time fielded 14 sports, adding five sports. Panther Stadium hosted its first home game on 8 November 2008. The stadium features an athletic building that includes a press box, coach’s offices, meeting rooms, athletic training room, officials' dressing room and locker rooms for football, lacrosse, track and field, and cross country. In 2011, the college became a full member of NCAA Division III after the multi-year reclassification process from Division I.
The college currently fields 18 sports, nine men's and nine women's, including:
Men's sports
- BaseballCollege baseballCollege baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. Compared to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a less significant contribution to cultivating professional players, as the minor leagues primarily...
- BasketballCollege basketballCollege basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....
- Cross CountryCross country runningCross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
- FootballCollege footballCollege football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
- GolfGolfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
- LacrosseCollege lacrosseCollege lacrosse refers to lacrosse played by student athletes at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. In both countries, men's field lacrosse and women's lacrosse are played in both the varsity and club levels...
- SoccerCollege soccerCollege soccer is a term used to describe association football played by teams who are operated by colleges and universities as opposed to a professional league operated for exclusively financial purposes...
- TennisTennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
- Track & Field
Women's sports
- BasketballCollege basketballCollege basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....
- Cross CountryCross country runningCross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
- GolfGolfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
- LacrosseCollege lacrosseCollege lacrosse refers to lacrosse played by student athletes at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. In both countries, men's field lacrosse and women's lacrosse are played in both the varsity and club levels...
- SoccerCollege soccerCollege soccer is a term used to describe association football played by teams who are operated by colleges and universities as opposed to a professional league operated for exclusively financial purposes...
- SoftballSoftballSoftball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
- TennisTennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
- Track & Field
- VolleyballVolleyballVolleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
Notable alumni
- Robert AderholtRobert AderholtRobert Brown Aderholt is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1997. He is a member of the Republican Party.The district includes most of the far northern suburbs of Birmingham, as well as the southern suburbs of Huntsville and Decatur.- Early life, education and career :Aderholt was born in...
- United States Congressman from Alabama (1997- ) - Dr. Harvie BranscombHarvie BranscombBennett Harvie Branscomb served as the fourth chancellor of Vanderbilt University from 1946 to 1963.-Biography:...
- Chancellor, Vanderbilt UniversityVanderbilt UniversityVanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the... - Pat ButtramPat ButtramMaxwell Emmett "Pat" Buttram was an American actor, known for playing the sidekick of Gene Autry and for playing the character of Mr. Haney in the TV series Green Acres. He had a distinctive voice which, in his own words, "... never quite made it through puberty"...
- actor (sidekick of Gene AutryGene AutryOrvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...
in films, and Mr. Haney in the TV series Green AcresGreen AcresGreen Acres is an American television series starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a country farm...
) - Howard CruseHoward CruseHoward Cruse is an American alternative cartoonist known for the exploration of gay themes in his comics.Cruse was raised in Springville, Alabama, the son of a preacher and a homemaker. His earliest published cartoons were in The Baptist Student when he was in high school. His work later appeared...
- Cartoonist - Charles GainesCharles GainesCharles L. Gaines is an American writer and outdoorsman, notable for his works on fly fishing, his role in the development of paintball, and his photo-essay Pumping Iron, about the bodybuilding culture of the 1970s, which was later adapted into a documentary film of the same name.-Early...
- Author, journalist, screenwriter, editor; Cine Gold Eagle Awards, National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Emmy AwardEmmy AwardAn Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various... - Alexander GelmanAlexander GelmanFor the writer Alexander Gelman, see Alexander Isaakovich Gelman. Alexander Gelman , born: Aleksandr Simonovich Gelman is an American theater director and the current Producing Artistic Director of Organic Theater Company in Chicago, Illinois.-Early life:Alexander Gelman was born in Leningrad,...
- Theatre Director - Rebecca GilmanRebecca GilmanRebecca Gilman is an American playwright. She attended Middlebury College, graduated from Birmingham-Southern College, and earned a Master of Fine Arts from the Iowa Playwrights Workshop at the University of Iowa...
- American playwrightPlaywrightA playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder... - Howell HeflinHowell HeflinHowell Thomas Heflin was a United States Senator from Tuscumbia, Alabama, and a member of the Democratic Party.-Biography:...
- U.S. Senator, 1978–1997 - Hugh MartinHugh MartinHugh Martin was an American musical theater and film composer, arranger, vocal coach, and playwright. He is best known for his score for the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me In St...
- Broadway and film composer and arranger, including movie musical Meet Me In St. LouisMeet Me in St. LouisMeet Me in St. Louis is a 1944 musical film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer which tells the story of an American family living in St. Louis at the time of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair in 1904...
, starring Judy Garland. - Howell RainesHowell RainesHowell Hiram Raines was Executive Editor of The New York Times from 2001 until he left in 2003 in the wake of the Jayson Blair scandal. He is the father of Jeff Raines, one of the founding members of the rock band Galactic...
- Executive editor, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
; Pulitzer Prize for Feature WritingPulitzer Prize for Feature WritingThe Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing has been awarded since 1979 for a distinguished example of feature writing giving prime consideration to high literary quality and originality. The Pulitzer Committee issues an official citation explaining the reasons for the award.-List of winners and their...
, 1992 - Ray ReachRay ReachRaymond Everett Reach, Jr. is an American pianist, vocalist and educator residing in Birmingham, Alabama, now serving as Director of Student Jazz Programs for the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, director of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame All-Stars and President and CEO of Ray Reach Music and Magic City...
- jazz pianist, vocalist, arranger, composer, producer and educator. - Robert Lee Williams - 3rd Governor of OklahomaOklahomaOklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
(1915–1919) - Luther Leonidas TerryLuther Leonidas TerryLuther Terry was an American physician and public health official. He was appointed the ninth Surgeon General of the United States from 1961 to 1965, and is best known for his warnings against the dangers of and the impact of tobacco use on health.-Early years:Luther Leonidas Terry was born in Red...
- Surgeon General of the United States (1961–1965) - Martin WaldronMartin WaldronMartin Oliver "Mo" Waldron was an American newspaper reporter, whose investigative reporting on "reckless, unchecked spending" on the construction of the Sunshine State Parkway won the 1964 Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service for the St...
(1925–1981) - Winner of the 1964 Pulitzer Prize1964 Pulitzer Prize-Journalism awards:*Public Service:**The St. Petersburg Times, for its aggressive investigation of the Florida Turnpike Authority which disclosed widespread illegal acts and resulted in a major reorganization of the State's road construction program.... - Ray WedgeworthRay WedgeworthRay Wedgeworth was an American college football, baseball and basketball head coach. He served in all three capacities at Jacksonville State University....
- Jacksonville State UniversityJacksonville State UniversityJacksonville State University is a regional public coeducational university located in Jacksonville, Alabama, USA. Founded in 1883, Jacksonville State offers programs of study in four academic units leading to Bachelor's, Master's, and Education Specialist degrees, in addition to continuing and...
football and baseball head coach - Frederick Palmer WhiddonFrederick Palmer WhiddonFrederick Palmer Whiddon was the founder and long-time president of the University of South Alabama, the first four-year state-supported university in Mobile, Alabama....
- President, University of South AlabamaUniversity of South AlabamaThe University of South Alabama is a public, doctoral-level university in Mobile, Alabama, USA. It was created by the Alabama Legislature in 1963, and replaced existing extension programs operated in Mobile by the University of Alabama. No other areas of the state were willing to support such a...
, 1963–1998
Notable faculty
- Dr. Charles Norman Mason, composer and Birmingham–Southern College professor of music (left 2010)
College Presidents
Birmingham–Southern College- 2011–Present Charles C. KrulakCharles C. KrulakGeneral Charles Chandler Krulak served as the 31st Commandant of the Marine Corps from July 1, 1995 to June 30, 1999. He is the son of Lieutenant General Victor H. "Brute" Krulak, USMC, who served in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam...
- 2004–2010: G. David Pollick
- 1976–2004: Neal R. Berte
- 1972–1975: Ralph M. Tanner
- 1969–1972: Charles D. Hounshell
- 1968–1969: Robert F. Henry
- 1963–1968: Howard M. Phillips
- 1957–1962: Henry K. Stanford
- 1955–1957: Guy E. Snavely
- 1942–1955: George R. Stuart
- 1938–1942: Raymond R. Paty
- 1921–1937: Guy E. Snavely
- 1918–1921: Cullen C. Daniel
Points of interest
The Southern Environmental CenterSouthern Environmental Center
The Southern Environmental Center is an environmental educational facility located on the campus of Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, Alabama. Each year, hundreds of school children tour the facility's and .-External links:*...
is an environmental educational facility on the BSC campus. Each year, hundreds of school children tour the facility's Interactive Museum and EcoScape.