_seal.png) | |
Former names | Fulton College (1851–1853) |
|---|---|
| Motto | Religio et Scientia |
Motto in English | Faith and Knowledge |
| Type | Private college |
| Established | 1851; 174 years ago (1851) |
| Endowment | $57.1 million (2021)[1] |
| President | Donald P. Lofe, Jr. |
Academic staff | 88 |
Administrative staff | 108 (2021)[2] |
| Students | 609 (2020)[3] |
| Location | , United States 38°50′54″N91°57′22″W / 38.8483°N 91.956°W /38.8483; -91.956 |
| Campus | Rural town, 86 acres (0.13 sq mi; 34.80 ha) |
| Colors | Navy blue,light blue, andwhite[4] |
| Nickname | Blue Jays |
Sporting affiliations | NCAA Division III –SLIAC –Upper Midwest Athletic Conference |
| Mascot | Winston the Blue Jay |
| Website | wcmo.edu |
 | |
 | |
Westminster College is aprivate college inFulton, Missouri, United States. It was established in 1851 asFulton College. The school enrolled 609 students in 2020.[3]America's National Churchill Museum (formerly the Winston Churchill Memorial and Library) is a historic site located on campus.
Westminster College was founded as a college for young men by the Rev. William W. Robertson and localPresbyterians in 1851 as "Fulton College" and assumed the present name in 1853. Throughout the next century, Westminster College continued to be anall-male institution until the firstcoeducational class in 1979.[5]
In 1909, the original Westminster Hall was destroyed by fire, leaving only the sixCorinthian columns which helped support it. Since then, the Columns have been restored and serve as a symbolic rite of passage for new and graduating students. During the convocation ceremony at the beginning of students' first year, students walk through the columns towards the campus, and then back through towards Westminster Avenue after their graduation ceremony at the end of their senior year.[6]
Westminster College was the site of formerUnited Kingdom Prime MinisterWinston Churchill's famous"Sinews of Peace" speech in 1946. Less than one year after the end ofWorld War II, Churchill lectured about the state of world political affairs, notably regarding the growing tension inEurope during the prelude to theCold War.[5]
FromStettin in theBaltic toTrieste in theAdriatic an "iron curtain" has descended across the continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia; all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call theSoviet sphere, and all are subject, in one form or another, not only toSoviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control fromMoscow.
In 1969, Westminster College dedicated one of its most recognizable landmarks – theChurch of St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury. Originally built in the City of London in the 12th century, it was destroyed during theGreat Fire of London in 1666. It was rebuilt by Christopher Wren in 1677, and then was gutted by the Blitz in 1940. It stayed in London until 1966, when it was transported stone by stone to Fulton and reassembled on the Westminster College campus. Theundercroft of the Church is now home to America's National Churchill Museum.
Also in 1969, Westminster College became independent of the Presbyterian Church,[7] but it continues to maintain a loose affiliation today with thePresbyterian Church (USA).
The endowment grew from $27 million in 2000[8] to its current[when?] $57.1 million. Westminster began offering online classes in 2011.[9] The Churchill Institute for Global Engagement was created in 2013 to further global education with new academic programs and global initiatives. This period also saw the establishment of new corporate and academic partnerships, including dual-degree program agreements withWashington University in St. Louis,[10]Logan University College of Chiropractic,[11]Missouri University of Science and Technology,[12]Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes-Jewish College,[13] andCulver–Stockton College.[14]
From its founding in 1851 through 1854 and again from 1861 to 1864, the college was overseen by the chairmanship of the faculty, which rotated among faculty members, instead of a president.[15]
Academic Divisions and Departments include Humanities, Natural and Mathematical Sciences, and Social Sciences. The college offers 29majors, 39minors, 3 specialty programs, and 4 dual-degree programs.[16] Westminster'sCadaver Program, which began as a small independent study in the fall of 2005, is offered forpre-med, biology, and psychology students who can explore the anatomy of the human body through scientificdissection.
Pre-professional programs/academic partnerships at Westminster are Dual-Degree Engineering withWashington University in St. Louis orMissouri University of Science and Technology,[12] Dual-Degree Nursing with theGoldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes-Jewish College,[13] Dual-Degree Chiropractic withLogan University College of Chiropractic,[11] and most recently a 3+2 accelerated Master of Athletic Training program withCulver–Stockton College.[14] Westminster has also partnered with Ameren UE in Missouri and Illinois to offer continuing education and degree completion programs for the Ameren's employees.
All incoming students are provided with two seminarmentors and a seminar professor who will advise students throughout their years at Westminster College. To make the transition from high school to college easier, mentors help orient students to their new life at Westminster and provide guidance in the areas of academics, social and residential life.
Since Winston Churchill delivered his"Iron Curtain" speech on campus, Westminster consistently attracts world leaders through its variety of campus lectures. Included among the speakers are senators, former presidents, current or retired generals, admirals, and intelligence officers. Past and recent speakers include former Presidents Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan; former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbechev;Jeh Johnson, former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security; U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders; and former U.S. Secretary of StateMadeleine Albright.[17][18]
Westminster College Historic District | |
   | |
| Location | Off Westminster Ave.,Fulton, Missouri |
|---|---|
| Area | 18 acres (7.3 ha) |
| Architect | Multiple |
| Architectural style | Colonial Revival, Classical Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 82004633[19] |
| Added to NRHP | April 12, 1982 |
TheWestminster College Historic District was added to theNational Register of Historic Places in 1982.[19] It encompasses nine contributing buildings and six contributing objects. They include the Hall of Science (1900–1901), Steam Heating Plant (1919–1920), The Columns ("Old" Westminster Hall) (1853–1854), Westminster Hall (1909–1911), the Gymnasium (1928), Swope Chapel Memorial (1967), Washington West House (1907), Re-Union Hall (1903), and Reeves Library (1950–1951).[20]
TheGym was built in 1928 and completely renovated in 1972. Thisnational historic landmark is where Winston Churchill presented his"Iron Curtain" speech in March 1946. Vice President Dick Cheney also visited the college during the 2004 campaign and spoke in the Gym. When new bleachers were installed, the old bleachers were recycled into new lockers for the men's and women's locker rooms. The floor has been renamed forHenry "Hank" Iba, Class of 1927, who was an all-state basketball, football, and baseball player at Westminster before going on to coachOklahoma State University to two national basketball titles and theU.S. Olympics basketball team to two goldmedals. The Gym houses a basketball/volleyball court, athletic offices, and an exercise room. It also housed an indoor swimming pool until 2016.
This hall was built in 1911 and renovated in 1973–74. It is the main administrative building on campus and houses the Business Office, theRegistrar, andDean of Faculty offices, along with two classrooms. The lower-level houses Westminster's Wellness Center (Health andCounseling Services) and the Tomnitz FamilyLearning Opportunities Center.
These columns are the only remains of the first Westminster Hall built in 1854 and destroyed by fire in 1909. These Columns are the center of a campus tradition, the Columns Ceremony.
It was originally built in 1901 and is the oldest building on campus. It was completely renovated and remodeled in early 1970 as a gift of analumnus.
Reeves Library was built in 1951 and expanded & renovated in 1981 and again in 1996. In 2020, the library grew to incorporate a new Student Success Center. The building houses a collection of more than 100,000 volumes readily available in-house for students and faculty. It is a member of thestatewide consortium of 50 academic libraries. The Hazel Wing was dedicated in October 1996 and serves as thetechnological center on the campus, housing fourcomputer labs,video editing equipment, amultimedia classroom, alanguage lab, small group meeting, and study rooms as well as offices for the Department of Information Technology. With the addition of the Student Success Center, various student services were brought under one roof, including the Greg Richard Office of Advising and Career Development, a gift from an alumnus and formertrustee; the Office of Global Educational Services; and the WCares Program.
Otherwise known as the "HAC", this building is a common area for both faculty and students. Downstairs is the Johnson College Inn (known to students as "JCI") grill/snack bar which is surrounded byping-pong tables,pool tables, campus mailboxes, and the TV lounge. Upstairs houses meeting rooms and the HAC Gym. Westminster's HAC Gym includes aracquetball court, indoortrack,weight equipment, and workout room and is the site for mostintramural sports.
This large building was built in 1966 and seats 1,400 people for concerts, lectures, music productions, and other college events such ascommencement and FreshmenConvocation. A wide variety of notable individuals have spoken at Champ Auditorium since the building's completion, including rock musician and global humanitarian Bob Geldof, former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.[17]
Breakthrough is a sculpture consisting of eight sections of theBerlin Wall. It commemorates the collapse of theIron Curtain and the end of theCold War. The sculpture is the work of artistEdwina Sandys, granddaughter ofWinston Churchill.[21] It was dedicated to Westminster College in 1990 by former President Ronald Reagan.
The predecessor of this church building was originally constructed in London during the 12th century, but it burned down in theGreat Fire of London in 1666. This church was erected as its replacement by Christopher Wren in the 17th century. DuringWorld War II, the Wren church was gutted byGerman bombs and in the mid-1960s, it was dismantled and shipped stone by stone to Fulton and reconstructed on Westminster's campus. Today, the church serves as the college's chapel. While it is occasionally claimed that St. Mary's is the oldest church in North America, the statement is not accurate. The transported Wren building is not the original 12th Century building of the St. Mary Aldermanbury parish of London. It is instead the replacement that was built under Wren's direction between 1672 and 1677, containing a single set of stairs[22] from the medieval period, being an almost entirely new construction made largely of Portland stone that Wren had quarried in Dorset. This would make it considerably newer than such ancient North American buildings as the church of San Francisco inTlaxcala, Mexico, whose construction began in 1521.
Located below the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury,this state-of-the-art museum is devoted to Sir Winston Churchill. In 2005, the building underwent a $4 million renovation and reopened in March 2006, marking the 60th anniversary of Churchill's speech at Westminster. This museum features interactive exhibits about Churchill, World War II, Sir Christopher Wren, and the Church of St. Mary, the Virgin, Aldermanbury. The Museum also showcases traveling and temporary exhibits, archival resources for scholarly research, and a gift shop with unique "Churchillian" merchandise.[23]
Westminster College manages and maintains nineresidence halls as well as a limited number of residential homes for student occupancy. In addition, the six national fraternities for men operate their own independent living units. New students are generally assigned to Gage, Marquess, Rice, Scott, and Sloss Halls, which compose the Churchill Quadrangle. Westminster's upper-class students live either in one of the four upper-class residence halls (Emerson, Wetterau, Weigle, Sweazey), Westminster Apartments, an on-campus residential house, Westminster Townhouses, or a national fraternity house. Members of Westminster's national sororities live in designated floors of three residence halls.
| 2020 student demographics[24] |
|---|
| Approx. 605-degree-seeking students |
| 56% male |
| 44% female |
| 77% of student body composed of White, non-Hispanic students |
| 10% of student body composed of Black or African American students |
| 5% of student body composed of two or more races |
| 2% of student body composed of Hispanic/Latino students |
| 2% of student body composed of Asian students |
| 2% of student body composed of non-Alien students |
Westminster students can pick from over 50clubs and organizations to become involved in on campus.[16]Honorary societies include:Alpha Chi,Alpha Mu Gamma,Beta Beta Beta, FMA National Honor Society,Gamma Theta Upsilon,Kappa Delta Pi,Omicron Delta Kappa,Phi Alpha Delta,Phi Alpha Theta,Pi Mu Epsilon,Psi Chi,Phi Sigma Alpha,Phi Sigma Tau,Sigma Tau Delta, andTheta Alpha Kappa.[25]
Westminster College has a well-established history ofGreek Life, dating to 1868. Approximately 47% of students are members of Greek organizations.[26]
The Westminster athletic teams are called the Blue Jays. The college is a member of theDivision III level of theNational Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily competing in theSt. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) since the 1990–91 academic year. The Blue Jays previously competed in theMissouri College Athletic Union (MCAU) of theNational Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) from 1924–25 to 1931–32. The school mascot is Winston the Blue Jay.
Westminster competes in 18 intercollegiate varsity sports. Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, tennis, track & field and wrestling; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis, track & field, volleyball and wrestling. Former sports included co-ed cheerleading.[27] Men's volleyball will be added in 2024–25.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
