Everything about Denison University totally explained
Denison University is a highly selective, private, residential
liberal arts and
sciences college in
Granville, Ohio, approximately 30 miles (50 km) east of
Columbus. Denison was founded in
1831. It has a current enrollment of about 2,000 students. Denison is a member of the
Five Colleges of Ohio, the
Great Lakes Colleges Association, and the
North Coast Athletic Conference.
Denison is listed in
Loren Pope's
Colleges That Change Lives.
History
Founded as Granville College, Denison was subsequently renamed as a means of securing a larger endowment, offering the privilege of naming the institution with a donation of $10,000. A local farmer named Denison (and alternately spelled Dennison on some official documents) elected to donate this considerable sum. Although he ultimately donated only a portion of the total promised (using the excuse that with his recent remarriage, he could no longer afford to surrender such a large amount), the college retained his name. Denison was an exclusively male college at the time of its inception, but has since become
coeducational. This began with the Granville Female Seminary, which was founded in 1831 by
Charles Sawyer. It was sold to Daniel Shepardson in
1861. It was renamed to Shepardson College for Women and became a part of Denison University in
1900. Founded as a Baptist institution, Denison for many years enjoyed the support of
John D. Rockefeller, who sat on the college's board of trustees until the institution mandated that all trustees be Ohio residents. Among Denison's former presidents is
William Rainey Harper, who later (with Rockefeller) founded the
University of Chicago. A boys' preparatory school, Doane Academy, also coexisted on the hilltop campus for many years; upon closing, the school building became the seat of the college administration.
Denison previously offered some graduate programs, including an early incarnation of the study of neuroscience, leading to a master's degree; however, Denison was made into an exclusively undergraduate institution in the late
1920s. The university offers 48
majors, each leading to a
Bachelor of Arts or
Bachelor of Science degree. Denison also offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. English, communication, economics, psychology, biology, political science and history are among the school's top majors; however, Denison also offers an array of less traditional majors, such as cinema and queer studies.
Dale Thomas Knobel is currently serving as Denison's nineteenth president and has been since 1998. He resides in Monomoy Place in Granville, the official home of Denison's presidents.
About the University
Denison is a strictly residential campus that features a mixture of historic and contemporary buildings. This means that almost all of its 2,000 students must live in university-owned housing, which creates a deeper sense of community. The university maintains that the residence requirement brings the campus together and gives the university a strong sense of community. Housing options include single, double, triple, and quadruple rooms, as well as suites of six, eight, and nine persons and apartments with kitchens.
However, the Homestead is an alternative student housing option to dormitories and campus apartments. The Homestead is a student-run community with a focus on ecological sustainability. Twelve students live and work together each semester to promote a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. Students living at the Homestead are responsible for cooking weekly meals, sharing chores, attending weekly meetings, and more.
The campus size is about 1,200 acres (4 km²). This includes a 500 acre (1.4 km²) biological reserve just east of campus, where professors of sciences like
geology and
biology can hold class. Denison's annual operating
budget is about $69 million. It also has other funds including
endowments that surpass $600 million. Denison has 190 full-time faculty, making the student-to-faculty ratio 11:1.
Over the past several years, Denison University has made great strides in attracting a diverse student population, and multicultural students now represent 20 percent of the current first-year class. Still, many students attending are Cacausion and from upper-middle to upper-class homes, usually hailing from the affluent Chicago suburbs or wealthy parts of the Northeast. The college's students, faculty and staff were honored in 2008 by the State of Ohio for "promoting understanding, racial unity and the appreciation of diversity." Denison also is recognized as a top producer of Fulbright scholars, and has seen a significant increase in the number of National Merit Finalists among its matriculants.
Popular hangouts of the students include Brews (burgers) and Whit's (frozen custard).
Degrees and majors
Denison offers three types of degrees: B.A., B.S., and B.F.A. Students can create their own major (called an interdepartmental major) or choose among the following. A few of these subjects are concentrations only and are not offered as majors.
Athletics
Denison is a member of the
NCAA and the
North Coast Athletic Conference(NCAC). Denison participates as a Division III institution which prohibits athletic scholarships. Denison has won nine (9) consecutive NCAC All-Sports Championships for a total of ten (10) since the founding of the conference in 1984-85. Denison's other All Sports Championship came in 1985-86, and both the consecutive championships streak and the total of ten represent conference records.
The most successful teams are led by the Men's and Women's Swimming programs. In 2001, the women won the NCAA Division III national championship, unseating perennial champion and local rival
Kenyon College. In 2006 and again in 2007, the men placed 2nd in the nation; the women's and men's teams each finished in 3rd in the nation in 2008. Plans are currently underway to expand Denison's athletic facility to include a new state of the art natatorium. The squash program is also a perennial national contender. Other top ranked programs include lacrosse, soccer, baseball, and softball. The lacrosse and soccer games against
Ohio Wesleyan University are the most widely attended
"rivalry" games. Also, the Kenyon/Denison swimming rivalry is recognized in small-college sports.
Woody Hayes, later renowned as the head coach at
Ohio State University, graduated from Denison in 1935, having served as captain of the football team the previous fall, and served as the university's head football coach from 1946 to 1950.
Fight Song
"Denison Marching Song"
So let us cheer, cheer, cheer, for Denison.
And then our spirit we'll show.
For ev'ry one will cheer to help our men go crashing through the foe.
Come, let us fight fight with all our might.
Hurrah for the Red and White!
So cheer cheer for old D.U.
Three cheers for Denison!
Greek life
Denison has six fraternities and six sororities. Fewer students participate in Greek life than did during the early 1990s, but the culture is still relevant, with about 38% of students joining a house. Although 38% of the student body is involved in Greek Life, 2/3 of this is women and only 1/3 of this is men.
The fraternities are:
Beta Theta Pi
Delta Chi
Sigma Chi
Phi Delta Theta
Lambda Chi Alpha
Sigma Phi Epsilon
The sororities are:
Alpha Chi Omega
Delta Delta Delta
Delta Gamma
Kappa Kappa Gamma
Kappa Alpha Theta
Pi Beta Phi
During the mid-1990s, in an effort to re-brand the college as more of an academic, and less of a party, institution, the college's trustees elected to make Denison a "non-residential" Greek system. The decision led to student and alumni uproar, with a low-grade riot erupting on the campus' "Fraternity Row" as a result. While sorority members had never been allowed to live in their respective houses, the trustees' decision turned most of the formerly-residential fraternity houses into general college residential halls, and each chapter was given lounge space in the basement of each respective house for official fraternity functions (including chapter).
Since the decision, many of the formerly purely Greek houses were renamed:
The Delta Upsilon house became Taylor House, an "honors" residence hall
The Delta Chi house became Sunset House
The Lambda Chi Alpha house became the Erma and Clark Morrow House, an all-first-year student "living and learning" residence hall
The S. S. Chamberlin Lodge of Phi Gamma Delta became the Chamberlin House
The Phi Delta Theta house became the Preston House
Student Organizations
Denison Campus Governance Association (DCGA)
Denison International Student Association (DISA)
Denison Hilltoppers
Denison Film Society
Students for Unborn Life
Students for Choice
The Homestead
WDUB 91.1 FM
Burpee's Seedy Theatrical Company
Black Student Union
Denison Religious Understanding
Denison University Recycling Program (DURP)
Denison College Republicans
Denison Democrats
Women's Emphasis
Outlook (LGBT organization)
Denison Community Association (Service organization)
The Denisonian (weekly student newspaper)
BullSheet
Denison Independent Theatre Association
Notable Alumni
Denison has some 28,000 alumni all around the world. Some notable alumni include:
Tully Alford cult figure, lead singer of Terry and the Pirates
Homer Burton Adkins (Organic chemist)
Joe Banner President and CEO of the Philadelphia Eagles
George Bodenheimer (President of ESPN and ABC Sports)
William Bowen (former President of Princeton University, current President of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation)
Steve Carell (Screen and Television Actor)
Roe Conn (Radio Personality WLS 890AM, Chicago)
Dan Daub (Major League Baseball player)
John Davidson (Stage and Television Actor)
Michael Eisner (former Chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Company)
Sara Fritz (Writer, former Washington Bureau Chief of the St. Petersburg Times, former Reporter for the Los Angeles Times and former Managing Editor of Congressional Quarterly, Currently on the Board of Trustees)
James Frey (Screenwriter and Author)
Jennifer Garner (Screen and Television Actress)
Tony Hall (Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture and former (US Congressman from Ohio)
Woody Hayes (Legendary Football Coach of Ohio State from 1951 to 1978)
Hal Holbrook (Stage, Screen and Television Actor)
Terrell Jones (Founder of Travelocity)
Sue W. Kelly (External Link
) (former Member of Congress from New York)
Richard Lugar (US Senator from Indiana, currently on the Board of Trustees)
Nancy Lynn, American entrepreneur, pilot, and public speaker
Ryan McCrystal, ESPN Researcher
Johnny O'Connell (Professional Sports Car Racer)
Bobby Rahal (Indianapolis 500 Champion)
José Rivera (first Puerto Rican Screenwriter to be nominated for an Academy Award)
John Schuck (Screen, Stage, and Television Actor)
George Stibitz (American Scientist)
Erastus B. Tyler (Union Army general in the American Civil War)
Alberto J. Verme (Co-Head of Global Investment Banking, Citigroup)
Susan Whiting (Executive Vice President of VNU / Chairman of Nielsen Media Research)
There are 37 Denison Clubs throughout the United States, from Boston to San Diego, from Seattle to Tampa Bay.Further Information
Get more info on 'Denison University'.
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