'Berry College', an American private,
liberal arts college, is located in the
Georgia community of
Mount Berry, on the northernmost boundary of
Rome, Georgia. The institution emphasizes the importance of
religion while encouraging academic excellence, student work and service to society. This focus is usually referenced as "educating the head, heart, and hands" and follows the school's motto, "Not to be ministered unto, but to minister." With approximately 1800 students and 28,000 acres (110 km²) of north Georgia hill country, Berry College's campus is the largest contiguous college campus in the world.
[1]
History
Berry was founded in 1902 by
Martha McChesney Berry as a school for rural youth at a time when few public schools existed in Georgia. Seven years later, a girls' school was added, with a junior college being established in 1926 and a four-year college in 1930. Graduate programs outside the liberal arts were added in 1972. Financial contributions from
Henry Ford and from the
Ford Foundation, and donations from thousands of others have helped the institution establish itself as a leading liberal arts college in the southeastern United States.
The courtyard in front of the Henry Ford buildings.
The entrance to the college in Mount Berry.
Academics
Berry College offers a comprehensive academic program utilizing education of the head, heart and hands. The college offers students the
Bachelor of Arts,
Bachelor of Music,
Bachelor of Science,
Master of Business Administration,
Master of Education and
Education Specialist degrees from the four schools making up the academic program. The liberal arts education offered by Berry includes an intensive general education program coupled with the student's selected major. The four schools offer a total of 32 undergraduate academic majors, 34 minors, and three graduate majors. According to
U.S. News and World Report Berry is currently ranked 118th among the "Top
Liberal Arts colleges."
[2]
Campbell School of Business
The Campbell School of Business makes its home at Green Hall on the Berry College campus. Green Hall offers students seven fully functional
multimedia equipped rooms to enhance the educational experience. The School of Business offers five
undergraduate majors and one
graduate major. The Campbell School of Business recently received its accreditation from the
Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International) in April of 2007. The school will also be featured in the “Best 290 Business Schools 2008 Edition,” by the
Princeton Review.
[3]
Majors
Charter School of Education and Human Sciences
The Charter School of Education and Human Sciences is located in the Cook Building. In 2003, the Cook Building underwent a major renovation as part of Berry's "Centennial Campaign". The School of Education was recently honored by the Association of Independent Liberal Arts Colleges for Teacher Education.
[4]
Majors
Evans School of Humanities and Social Sciences
The Evans School makes its principal home in Evans Hall. Other buildings utilized by the Evans School include the Moon Building, home of the art program, the Laughlin Building, home of the communications department, Blackstone Hall, home of the theatre program and Ford Music Hall, home of the music program. The Evans School is the largest school at Berry College, with the areas of study taught at the Evans School being the foundations for the general education requirement at Berry.
Majors
School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences
The School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences makes its home in the Science Building. The Science Building opened in the spring semester of 2001 at a cost of $25 million. It includes four multimedia classrooms and practical laboratories for the sciences, mathematics and computer science labs, study rooms on every level, and two
greenhouses. The science facilities are also utilized to host many conferences in the science and mathematics disciplines. The Berry College science program also boasts a nationally recognized animal science department, which makes its home in the Lamar Wescot Building at the Ford Complex. The animal science department utilizes the Rollins Ruminant Research Center and the Gunby Equestrian Center for hands on learning. With 28,000 acres (110 km²), Berry College also offers one of the largest outdoor laboratories for valuable field experience.
Majors
Mirror Lake, located on the Mountain Campus of Berry College.
Religion
Berry was never officially affiliated with a particular Christian denomination yet was founded as a Protestant institution with required chapel attendance and adherence to the Christian faith. Though mandatory religious adherence was abandoned decades ago, religious practice is prominent on campus. The campus has a chaplain, a non-denominational campus church, three chapels, and an active religion-in-life program spanning all Christian denominations. The religion-in-life program encompasses the education of the "heart." An interfaith council and an interfaith center was set up in 2004 to address the concerns and needs of non-Christian students, faculty and staff.
Student Work
Each student is guaranteed a job on campus through the student work program with funding from the federal government's work study program. Students participate in all aspects of campus work, from grounds crew and dining services to secretarial assistants to the president. The Bonner Foundation provides select Berry students with community service scholarships, allowing students to work with dozens of community agencies rather than on campus. The college's agricultural programs, originally producing dairy, beef, pork, chicken, and horticultural items for consumption on campus and sale, were refocused in the 2000s on research rather than production.
The
waterwheel of the Berry Schools' Old Mill, built by students in 1930, stands 12.8 meters (42 ft) high.
Campus Life
Traditional Greek social
fraternities and sororities are not present on campus, but many clubs exist, including national and international honor, service, and leadership societies.
Over the past two decades, a strategic partnership between Berry and the
WinShape Foundation has transformed the college's mountain campus into a service community, including a college scholarship program with two
dormitories serving over a hundred students, three
foster homes, boys & girls summer camps, a challenge/ropes course, and a retreat center and cabins for corporate and community groups and marriage seminars. This arrangement with WinShape has been controversial for some members of the Berry community because of the religious nature of WinShape and because WinShape inhabits the campus left vacant by the closure of the Berry Academy.
Athletics
The Berry College mascot is the
Viking and the athletic teams are Division I members of the
NAIA. Varsity sports are men's baseball, women's volleyball, and men's and women's basketball, soccer, golf, tennis, and indoor / outdoor track. The Berry College Equestrian Team was granted varsity status in 2006. Non-varisty sports include the Viking Crew Club Team. A strong intramural sports program also exists. The $33 million Steven J. Cage Athletic and Recreational Center (
The Cage Center) is scheduled to open in March of 2007.
Setting
The Berry campus consists of fields, forests, and the Lavender Mountain open to the public for hiking, cycling, horse back riding, kite flying, and other outdoor activities. Present on the hillside campus are families of
deer, which are estimated to outnumber students seven to one. The absence of natural predators have made the deer a pest. Much of Berry's campus is a wildlife preserve, and hunting the deer in their habitat is a crime by Georgia state law outside of certain months of the year as directed by the
Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Fishing on some of the campus' lakes and streams is permitted with proper permits. Berry also has a wealth of wild turkeys, seasonal ducks and geese, skunks, and squirrels.
References
1. Berry College - Colleges of Distinction
2. U.S. News College Ranking
3. Campbell School Recognized for Excellence by The Princeton Review
4. AILACTE Model of Excellence Award
External links
★
Berry College web site
★
Bonner Foundation web site
★
WinShape Foundation web site
★
Unofficial Website of Berry Academy
★
Berry College entry in New Georgia Encyclopedia
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