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Former names | Clinton College (1880–1904)[1] |
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| Motto | Dum Vivimus Servimus |
Motto in English | While We Live, We Serve |
| Type | Privateliberal arts college |
| Established | 1880; 145 years ago (1880) |
Religious affiliation | Presbyterian |
Academic affiliations | APCU Annapolis Group CIC SACSCOC |
| Endowment | $95.6 million (2022)[2] |
| President | Anita Gustafson[3] |
| Provost | Erin McAdams[4] |
Academic staff | 102 full-time |
| Students | 1,199 (Fall, 2022) |
| Undergraduates | 955 |
| Postgraduates | 244 |
| Location | , South Carolina ,United States 34°27′52″N81°52′12″W / 34.46444°N 81.87000°W /34.46444; -81.87000 |
| Campus | Small town 240-acre |
| Nickname | Blue Hose |
Sporting affiliations | NCAA Division I –Big South Pioneer Football League |
| Website | presby.edu |
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Presbyterian College (PC) is aprivateliberal arts college inClinton, South Carolina, United States. It was founded in 1880 and is affiliated with thePresbyterian Church (USA).
Presbyterian College was founded in 1880 byWilliam Plumer Jacobs. He served as the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Clinton from 1864 and founded theThornwell Orphanage. Originally called Clinton College, its first class (including three women) graduated in 1883. In establishing PC, his "tree of knowledge," Jacobs' goal was to educate young people for lives of service to church and society, and thereby be, in his words, "epistles to Christ's honor and glory."[5]
By the time of Jacobs' death in 1917, the college had grown considerably in size and resources, and had six major buildings. Neville Hall, PC's most recognized structure, was constructed in 1907. The tenure of president Davison McDowell Douglas (1911–1926) saw the tripling of the size of the faculty and student body, the construction of four new buildings, and growth in the college's assets from $150,000 to over $1 million.[6] After weathering the storms of theGreat Depression andSecond World War, Presbyterian has continued expansion on many fronts through the second half of the twentieth century. It became fully coeducational in 1965 (and in so doing dropped its previous motto, "Where Men are Made"). In 1969, it began admitting African-American students.[7]
Presbyterian College is accredited by theCommission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).[8] The School of the Liberal Arts confers B.A. and B.S. degrees in 30 courses of study and 9 pre-professional programs including Pre-Law, Pre-Med, Pre-Theology, and Pre-Pharmacy. PC also offers a dual-degree program in Engineering (withClemson University,Auburn University,Georgia Tech, theUniversity of South Carolina, andVanderbilt University) and minor fields in an additional 13 disciplines such as Africana Studies, Media Studies, and Women's and Gender Studies.[9][10] The liberal arts program has small average class sizes (13-15 students).[8]
PC houses a Center for South Korean and East Asian Studies, which is partnered withHannam University.[11]
The School of Pharmacy confersDoctor of Pharmacy degrees (PharmD) and is oriented toward serving the healthcare needs of underdeveloped and economically depressed areas of South Carolina and the greater US. A 54,000 square-foot facility, its doors opened in the fall of 2010 with an inaugural class of 80 students. The School of Pharmacy was fully accredited by theAccreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) in July 2014.[12] Despite its youth, it has accrued multiple awards including a Biomedical/Biobehavioral Research Administration Development (BRAD) grant from theNational Institutes of Health, and a Generation Rx Champion Award from the South Carolina Pharmacy Association (SCPhA) for its efforts at raising awareness of prescription drug abuse.[13][14]
The 2014 edition ofU.S. News & World Report regards Presbyterian College as a "selective" institution that accepted 57.8% of applicants in the fall of 2012. Of PC's 1,172 undergraduates, 44% are male and 56% are female, and 97% live on campus.[15]
Greek life is an important part of campus life and culture. Around 45% of the student body is affiliated with one of eight fraternities and sororities. PC offers its students other social clubs and advocacy organizations likeSecular Student Alliance,College Republicans,College Democrats, and Multicultural Student Union.[16] There are many religious ministries, including the Presbyterian Student Association,Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and Campus Outreach. Finally, Presbyterian actively promotes service organizations and opportunities.[16][17]
Since 1915 life at Presbyterian have been regulated by a student-run honor code.[18] The signing of the honor code is a central fixture of each academic year's opening convocation ceremony and is a requirement for all incoming students, faculty, and coaches. The honor code binds one to "abstain from all deceit," to "neither give nor receive unacknowledged aid in [one's] academic work," to "respect the persons and property of the community" and to "not condone discourteous or dishonest treatment of these by [one's] peers."[19] Suspected violations of the honor code go before the college's honor council.[20]
PC's 240-acre (97 ha) campus covers areas in and around Clinton, providing academic buildings, dining facilities, recreational areas, and athletics venues. The college's 15 townhouses, 11 residence halls, and 9 apartments house nearly all of the undergraduate student body. Six buildings on Presbyterian College's campus (Doyle Hall, Laurens Hall, Jacobs Hall, the President's House, Neville Hall, and the campus bell tower) are part of theThornwell-Presbyterian College Historic District, ahistoric district listed on theNational Register of Historic Places. However, Doyle Hall was demolished in July 2014 as part of the renovations for Georgia Hall.
Athletics is very important to PC's life and culture. Around 1/3 of the student body competes as student-athletes[21] and many PC alumni are or were professional coaches at the college level, including current women's soccer coach Brian Purcell ('87), former head football coachHarold Nichols ('89), former Vanderbilt basketball head coachRoy Skinner ('52), andBob Waters ('60), a record-setting head football coach at Western Carolina.
Presbyterian is a member of theBig South Conference ofNCAA Division I[22] and fields seventeen varsity teams in eleven sports: football (FCS), men's and women's cross country, volleyball, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's basketball, softball, men's and women's golf, men's and women's tennis, women's lacrosse, baseball, and men's and women's wrestling. Football has competed within the FCS conferencePioneer Football League since 2021.[23] The college's colors are royal blue and garnet and its teams are known as the Blue Hose. Although PC's mascot Scottie the Scotsman is a medieval Scottish warrior, the Blue Hose name originally referred to the socks worn by the football team in the early 20th century.[24][25] PC's traditional rivals includeWofford College,Furman University,The Citadel, andNewberry College.
Since 1953, theAtlantic Coast Conference has awarded the Jacobs Blocking Trophy in honor of the memory of PC's founder, William P. Jacobs, to the conference's most outstanding blocker, as voted by a poll of the conference's head coaches and defensive coordinators. The 2022 recipient isClemson University graduate student-athlete Jordan McFadden.[26]
Until 2007, PC's fierce rivalry withNewberry College was expressed in the annualBronze Derby football game.
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