Brevard College
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Brevard College
Brevard, North Carolina, USA
1934
Dr. Charles Teague
Small Town
Small Town
Small Town is a song written by John Cougar Mellencamp and released on his 1985 album Scarecrow. The song reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.-Content:...
Private
Coeducational
Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools is one of the six regional accreditation organizations recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation...
Tornados
Blue and White
Cognosce ut prosis ("Learn in Order to Serve")
647
56
www.brevard.edu
Brevard College is a small, private, United Methodist
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...
, liberal arts college in Brevard, North Carolina
Brevard, North Carolina
Brevard is a town in Transylvania County, North Carolina, United States. The 2005 population estimate by the United States Census Bureau was 6,643. It is the county seat of Transylvania County....
. The college currently grants the Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
, Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
, or Bachelor of Music
Bachelor of Music
Bachelor of Music is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree; the majority of work consists of prescribed music courses and study in applied music, usually requiring a...
degree. Current enrollment is about 647 students.
History
Founded in 1934 from the merger of Rutherford College, Weaver College and Brevard Institute, Brevard flourished as a junior college for many years.During the infamous "War of the Worlds"
The War of the Worlds (radio)
The War of the Worlds was an episode of the American radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on October 30, 1938, and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker...
radio broadcast in 1938, five students fainted and panic gripped the campus for a half hour. Many students fought for telephones to inform their parents to come and get them. http://www.engl.duq.edu/servus/FirstClass/Stewart102.html
Increasing competition led the college to become a four-year institution in 1996. Brevard awarded its last Associate's degree
Associate's degree
An associate degree is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by community colleges, junior colleges, technical colleges, and bachelor's degree-granting colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study usually lasting two years...
s in 2006.
Campus
The Brevard College campus is located within the city of BrevardBrevard, North Carolina
Brevard is a town in Transylvania County, North Carolina, United States. The 2005 population estimate by the United States Census Bureau was 6,643. It is the county seat of Transylvania County....
, in close proximity to the city center. The city is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains
Blue Ridge Mountains
The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. This province consists of northern and southern physiographic regions, which divide near the Roanoke River gap. The mountain range is located in the eastern United States, starting at its southern-most...
, whose beauty attracts many to the school. The college is located in close vicinity to the Pisgah National Forest
Pisgah National Forest
Pisgah National Forest is a National Forest in the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina. It is administered by the United States Forest Service, part of the United States Department of Agriculture. The Pisgah National Forest is completely contained within the state of North Carolina...
and the Blue Ridge Parkway
Blue Ridge Parkway
The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road in the United States, noted for its scenic beauty. It runs for 469 miles , mostly along the famous Blue Ridge, a major mountain chain that is part of the Appalachian Mountains...
, which both serve as important resources for many of the school's programs relating to art, ecology, environmental issues, and wilderness leadership.
The campus is composed of mainly brick buildings with large greens and abundant trees. White squirrel
Squirrel
Squirrels belong to a large family of small or medium-sized rodents called the Sciuridae. The family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots , flying squirrels, and prairie dogs. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa and have been introduced to Australia...
s are the most famous campus residents. Although commonly mistaken for albinos, the white squirrels found on campus are simply color variants of the typical Eastern Gray Squirrel
Eastern Gray Squirrel
The eastern gray squirrel is a tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus native to the eastern and midwestern United States, and to the southerly portions of the eastern provinces of Canada...
. The city of Brevard is famous for its white squirrels, and the college campus contains them in large numbers. White squirrels are not exclusive to Brevard, they can be found in various places in the United States.
The "crown jewel" of campus is the Paul Porter Center for the Performing Arts, which is host not only to the college's theatre program, but a concert season that often includes world-renowned artists. The centerpiece of the concert hall is one of the region's largest pipe organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
s.
The last ten years have seen much construction and renovation on campus. Construction of an annex to the Moore Science building concluded in May 2006. A project to ecologically restore Kings Creek, a small creek which runs through campus, is ongoing.
Academics
Brevard College offers over 40 Majors and Minors. The college continues to increase the number of academic opportunities available with the recent addition of a criminal justice program and Teacher Licensure. Brevard offers several majors not commonly found at most colleges. Examples include ecologyEcology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
, as well as wilderness leadership/experiential education
Experiential education
Experiential education is a philosophy of education that describes the process that occurs between a teacher and student that infuses direct experience with the learning environment and content. The term is mistakenly used interchangeably with experiential learning...
, often referred to on-campus as "WLEE" . List of academic programs
Brevard's unique Voice of the Rivers program combines academics with outdoor exploration as students and faculty explore rivers in sea kayaks. The groups investigate all aspects of rivers and their importance to society while camping along the riverbank and talking about their experiences with the people they meet. The inaugural trip occurred in 1997 when a group left from Brevard and paddled to the Gulf of Mexico via the French Broad, Tennessee, Ohio, and Mississippi rivers.
Degree Programs
Bachelor of Arts; Bachelor of Music; Bachelor of Science
Majors
Art; Biology; Business and Organizational Leadership; Criminal Justice; English; Environmental Science; Environmental Studies; Exercise Science; General Science; Health Science Studies; History; Integrated Studies; Mathematics; Music; Music Education; Psychology; Religious Studies; Theatre Studies; Wilderness Leadership and Experiential Education; Teacher Licensure Licensure
Athletics
Athletics play a large role in the Brevard College campus life scene and are an important part of the institution's history. The college currently fields athletic teams in the following sports:- BaseballBaseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
(Men only) - BasketballBasketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
- CheerleadingCheerleadingCheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...
(Women only) - 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...
- CyclingCyclingCycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
- FootballAmerican footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
(Men Only) - 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....
- Soccer
- 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...
(Women only) - 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 and FieldTrack and fieldTrack and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
- 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...
(Women Only)
The Brevard College Tornados formerly competed in the Appalachian Athletic Conference
Appalachian Athletic Conference
The Appalachian Athletic Conference is a college athletic conference that competes in National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Division II competition. Members of the conference are located in the Southeast United States in Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia...
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...
. In 2008, Brevard became a full member of Division II of the National Collegiate Athletic Association
National 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...
. The fall of 2006 saw the college field a football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
team for the first time since the 1950s. Disc golf
Disc golf
Disc golf is a disc game in which individual players throw a flying disc into a basket or at a target. According to the Professional Disc Golf Association, "The object of the game is to traverse a course from beginning to end in the fewest number of throws of the disc." Of the more than 3000...
is also a popular leisure activity on campus; Brevard competes in several annual tournaments with other local colleges.
In the fall of 2009 the Tornados mountain biking team(in only their third season) won their first national championship after improving on a fourth place finish in 2008 and an eighth place finish in 2007. The team received their second national championship win in 2010.