Westminster College, Salt Lake City
Encyclopedia
Westminster College is a private liberal arts college
located in the Sugar House neighborhood of Salt Lake City, Utah
. The college comprises four schools: the School of Arts and Sciences, the Bill and Vieve Gore School of Business, the School of Education, and the School of Nursing and Health Sciences. It is the only accredited liberal arts college in the state of Utah
.
under the supervision of the First Presbyterian Church of Salt Lake City.
At that time, members of many Protestant Christian
denominations flocked to Salt Lake City in order to try to convert
people who belonged to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Westminster is the only remaining vestige of a trend in the late 19th century in which the Protestants set up private primary
and secondary
school
s and offered free tuition
to children in order to try to convert
them from Mormonism
.
College level classes were first offered in 1897 as Sheldon Jackson College. It was given that name after a Presbyterian minister and its primary benefactor, Sheldon Jackson
. High school level classes ceased to be offered in 1945. Westminster severed its ties to the Presbyterian church in 1974.
The college changed its name to "Westminster College" in 1902 to better reflect a more general Protestant education. The name is derived from the Westminster Confession of Faith
, a Presbyterian confession of faith, which, in turn, was named for a London
suburb
where it was devised. Today, students from all religious persuasions (or none) are welcome.
The college is also no longer antagonistic toward The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. About 40 percent of its students are LDS, approximately the same percentage as for the general population of Salt Lake City. The school also proposed abandoning its traditional crest emblem, a shield emblazoned with the term "Pro Christo et Libertate." After students actively protested the administrative effort, however, the school crest was preserved.
Westminster was the first accredited two year junior college
in Utah
. It became a liberal arts institution in 1949.
Originally located in downtown Salt Lake City
, the college moved to its present campus
on 27 acre (0.10926522 km²; 0.0421875373010882 sq mi) in the Sugar House neighborhood of the city.
The current president of Westminster College is Dr. Michael S. Bassis, who was appointed in 2002.
consistently ranks Westminster in the top tier of Master's universities in the West and as an excellent educational value. In the 2009 edition, Westminster was ranked 19th, up four places from the previous year. Additionally, Westminster was recognized as a great value, ranking 13th on the list of "Great Schools, Great Prices" in this category.
The Princeton Review included Westminster College in its annual guide of "The 368 Best Colleges" for 2008, and has also ranked the College 18th in the nation for "best quality of life."
Westminster offers 34 undergraduate majors conferring BA and BS degrees (not including pre-med, pre-law, and pre-dental programs). In addition to a number of post-baccalaureate certificate programs in various fields, Westminster also offers 12 graduate degrees: Master of Business Administration (MBA), Master of Business Administration in Technology Management (MBATM), Master of Arts in Community Leadership (MACL), Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT), Master of Education (MEd), Master of Public Health (MPH), Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), Master of Science in Nursing Education (MSNEd), Master of Science in Nurse Anesthesia (MSNA), Master of Professional Communication (MPC), Master of Science in Professional Counseling (MSPC), and Master of Arts in Community Leadership (MACL).
Westminster College recently launched a new program within the Gore School of Business focusing on training students to be entrepreneurs. The Center for New Enterprise will offer graduate and undergraduate degrees as well as community education programs in entrepreneurship.
Westminster College is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities
. Programs throughout the college are accredited as well.
It is located in Sugar House, Salt Lake City, a beautiful neighborhood with much to do. A block away from Sugar House Park, which is one of the largest in Salt Lake City, outdoor activities are very common place. The Nerf
Club heads down there every week to do battle.
There is only one meal location on campus, but within the Sugar House neighborhood there are many places conveniently located close to campus. Westminster students can use their student IDs to get discounts at many of these places.
On campus are two gyms each equipped with a basketball court, weight room, and studio.
The larger of the buildings, the Health Wellness and Athletics Center (HWAC), also has an indoor pool, three story rock climbing
wall, and racket ball court. The facilities are home to the Indoor Soccer
Club and Swim Club.
The Martial Arts
Club and Boxing
Club meet downstairs twice a week in Payne Gymnasium.
Westminster has several intercollegiate academic teams.
The Ethics Bowl
Team has ranked constantly in the national top four over the past few years.
The Mock Trial
Team is the best in the state and hosts its own invitational. They compete in AMTA.
The Debate Team is a new addition to the school and competes in NPDA style debate, as well as other speech events.
The Moot court
Team is likewise new.
is a bi-weekly called "The Forum". There is also a nationally recognized literary journal known as Ellipsis. The Estonian, Westminster's student yearbook
, was last published in 1987.
. Football, basketball, and other team sports were offered at the intercollegiate level. That year, however, a financial crisis at the school caused it to discontinue its intercollegiate athletic program.
Beginning in the 1990s, Westminster gradually began to restore an intercollegiate athetic program, and the school's mascot is now the griffin. Today the school competes in the Frontier Conference
of the NAIA
's division one athletics
for most sports, men's and women's alpine skiing and snowboard teams compete in the United States Ski Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association
(USCSA), men's lacrosse competes at the MCLA Division II
level in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Conference
(RMLC), and women's lacrosse competes in the US Lacrosse Women's Division Intercollegiate Associates (WDIA) in the Rocky Mountain Women's Lacrosse League (RMWLL). Westminster athletic offerings include:
Men's sports
Women's sports
In the 2006-2007 academic year, Westminster began fielding a men's lacrosse following the completion of a new athletic field on campus. The Westminster men's lacrosse
won the 2008 Division II MCLA National Championship held in Irving, Texas
at Texas Stadium
with a 17-10 win over Grand Valley State
. The program won the first national championship in the school's 130 year history, in only its second year. The Men's Basketball team has had notable success as the Griffins have gone 216-99 (.684) overall while proving even more dominant in Frontier Conference play with a 105-33 (.761) mark on their way to six of the last eight Frontier Conference titles while earning a spot in the NAIA National Tournament eight times.
Liberal arts colleges in the United States
Liberal arts colleges in the United States are certain undergraduate institutions of higher education in the United States. The Encyclopædia Britannica Concise offers a definition of the liberal arts as a "college or university curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing general...
located in the Sugar House neighborhood of Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
. The college comprises four schools: the School of Arts and Sciences, the Bill and Vieve Gore School of Business, the School of Education, and the School of Nursing and Health Sciences. It is the only accredited liberal arts college in the state of Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
.
History
The school was founded in 1875 as the Salt Lake Collegiate Institute, a prep schoolUniversity-preparatory school
A university-preparatory school or college-preparatory school is a secondary school, usually private, designed to prepare students for a college or university education...
under the supervision of the First Presbyterian Church of Salt Lake City.
At that time, members of many Protestant Christian
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
denominations flocked to Salt Lake City in order to try to convert
Proselytism
Proselytizing is the act of attempting to convert people to another opinion and, particularly, another religion. The word proselytize is derived ultimately from the Greek language prefix προσ- and the verb ἔρχομαι in the form of προσήλυτος...
people who belonged to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Westminster is the only remaining vestige of a trend in the late 19th century in which the Protestants set up private primary
Primary education
A primary school is an institution in which children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as primary or elementary education. Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth Nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational,...
and secondary
Secondary education
Secondary education is the stage of education following primary education. Secondary education includes the final stage of compulsory education and in many countries it is entirely compulsory. The next stage of education is usually college or university...
school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
s and offered free tuition
Tuition
Tuition payments, known primarily as tuition in American English and as tuition fees in British English, Canadian English, Australian English, New Zealand English and Indian English, refers to a fee charged for educational instruction during higher education.Tuition payments are charged by...
to children in order to try to convert
Convert
The convert or try, in American football known as "point after", and Canadian football "Point after touchdown", is a one-scrimmage down played immediately after a touchdown during which the scoring team is allowed to attempt to score an extra one point by kicking the ball through the uprights , or...
them from Mormonism
Mormonism
Mormonism is the religion practiced by Mormons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. This movement was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. beginning in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism. During the 1830s and 1840s, Mormonism gradually distinguished itself...
.
College level classes were first offered in 1897 as Sheldon Jackson College. It was given that name after a Presbyterian minister and its primary benefactor, Sheldon Jackson
Sheldon Jackson
Sheldon Jackson was a Presbyterian missionary who also became a political leader. During this career he travelled about 1 million miles and established over 100 missions and churches in the Western United States. He is best remembered for his extensive work during the final quarter of the 19th...
. High school level classes ceased to be offered in 1945. Westminster severed its ties to the Presbyterian church in 1974.
The college changed its name to "Westminster College" in 1902 to better reflect a more general Protestant education. The name is derived from the Westminster Confession of Faith
Westminster Confession of Faith
The Westminster Confession of Faith is a Reformed confession of faith, in the Calvinist theological tradition. Although drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly, largely of the Church of England, it became and remains the 'subordinate standard' of doctrine in the Church of Scotland, and has been...
, a Presbyterian confession of faith, which, in turn, was named for a London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
where it was devised. Today, students from all religious persuasions (or none) are welcome.
The college is also no longer antagonistic toward The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. About 40 percent of its students are LDS, approximately the same percentage as for the general population of Salt Lake City. The school also proposed abandoning its traditional crest emblem, a shield emblazoned with the term "Pro Christo et Libertate." After students actively protested the administrative effort, however, the school crest was preserved.
Westminster was the first accredited two year junior college
Junior college
The term junior college refers to different educational institutions in different countries.-India:In India, most states provide schooling through 12th grade...
in Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
. It became a liberal arts institution in 1949.
Originally located in downtown Salt Lake City
Downtown Salt Lake City
Downtown is the oldest district in Salt Lake City. The grid from which the entire city is laid out originates at Temple Square, the location of the Salt Lake Temple.-Location:...
, the college moved to its present campus
Campus
A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls and park-like settings...
on 27 acre (0.10926522 km²; 0.0421875373010882 sq mi) in the Sugar House neighborhood of the city.
The current president of Westminster College is Dr. Michael S. Bassis, who was appointed in 2002.
Recognition
Westminster College is the only private, non-denominational, comprehensive liberal arts college in Utah and one of the very few in the Intermountain West. Admissions statistics advertise a student-faculty ratio of 11:1. Peterson's Guide to Competitive Colleges includes Westminster College in the top 10 percent of 3,600 public and private colleges and universities nationwide. U.S. News & World ReportU.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
consistently ranks Westminster in the top tier of Master's universities in the West and as an excellent educational value. In the 2009 edition, Westminster was ranked 19th, up four places from the previous year. Additionally, Westminster was recognized as a great value, ranking 13th on the list of "Great Schools, Great Prices" in this category.
The Princeton Review included Westminster College in its annual guide of "The 368 Best Colleges" for 2008, and has also ranked the College 18th in the nation for "best quality of life."
Academics
Westminster College is a comprehensive college blending liberal arts studies with professional programs. The college comprises four schools: the School of Arts and Sciences, the Bill and Vieve Gore School of Business, the School of Education, and the School of Nursing and Health Sciences. The college operates on a fall and spring semester system with a mini term in May and eight-and twelve-week summer terms.Westminster offers 34 undergraduate majors conferring BA and BS degrees (not including pre-med, pre-law, and pre-dental programs). In addition to a number of post-baccalaureate certificate programs in various fields, Westminster also offers 12 graduate degrees: Master of Business Administration (MBA), Master of Business Administration in Technology Management (MBATM), Master of Arts in Community Leadership (MACL), Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT), Master of Education (MEd), Master of Public Health (MPH), Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), Master of Science in Nursing Education (MSNEd), Master of Science in Nurse Anesthesia (MSNA), Master of Professional Communication (MPC), Master of Science in Professional Counseling (MSPC), and Master of Arts in Community Leadership (MACL).
Westminster College recently launched a new program within the Gore School of Business focusing on training students to be entrepreneurs. The Center for New Enterprise will offer graduate and undergraduate degrees as well as community education programs in entrepreneurship.
Westminster College is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities
Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities
The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities is an independent, non-profit membership organization recognized by the United States Department of Education since 1952 and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation as the regional authority on educational quality and institutional...
. Programs throughout the college are accredited as well.
Campus
Westminster's Campus is known for its natural beauty and elegant architecture. Located on 27 acre (0.10926522 km²; 0.0421875373010882 sq mi) in the middle of a long-established community, the campus has been designed to blend in with the neighborhood.It is located in Sugar House, Salt Lake City, a beautiful neighborhood with much to do. A block away from Sugar House Park, which is one of the largest in Salt Lake City, outdoor activities are very common place. The Nerf
Nerf
Nerf is a toy brand created by Parker Brothers and currently owned by Hasbro. The acronym NERF stands for "Non-Expanding Recreational Foam". Most of the toys are a variety of foam-based weaponry, but there are also several different types of Nerf toys, such as balls for sports like football,...
Club heads down there every week to do battle.
There is only one meal location on campus, but within the Sugar House neighborhood there are many places conveniently located close to campus. Westminster students can use their student IDs to get discounts at many of these places.
On campus are two gyms each equipped with a basketball court, weight room, and studio.
The larger of the buildings, the Health Wellness and Athletics Center (HWAC), also has an indoor pool, three story rock climbing
Rock climbing
Rock climbing also lightly called 'The Gravity Game', is a sport in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route without falling...
wall, and racket ball court. The facilities are home to the Indoor Soccer
Indoor soccer
Indoor soccer or arena soccer, or six-a-side football in the United Kingdom, is a game derived from association football adapted for play in an indoor arena such as a turf-covered hockey arena or skating rink. The most important difference in play is that the indoor field is surrounded by a wall...
Club and Swim Club.
The Martial Arts
Martial arts
Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....
Club and Boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
Club meet downstairs twice a week in Payne Gymnasium.
Student activities
The Associated Students of Westminster College or ASWC is the student government and activity board on campus. They provide services such as activities, student advocacy, and over sixty different clubs and organizations.Westminster has several intercollegiate academic teams.
The Ethics Bowl
Ethics Bowl
The Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl is an activity that combines the excitement of a competitive tournament with a valuable education experience for undergraduate students. Created in 1993 at the Illinois Institute of Technology, the Ethics Bowl has grown steadily over the past few years...
Team has ranked constantly in the national top four over the past few years.
The Mock Trial
Mock trial
A Mock Trial is an act or imitation trial. It is similar to a moot court, but mock trials simulate lower-court trials, while moot court simulates appellate court hearings. Attorneys preparing for a real trial might use a mock trial consisting of volunteers as role players to test theories or...
Team is the best in the state and hosts its own invitational. They compete in AMTA.
The Debate Team is a new addition to the school and competes in NPDA style debate, as well as other speech events.
The Moot court
Moot court
A moot court is an extracurricular activity at many law schools in which participants take part in simulated court proceedings, usually to include drafting briefs and participating in oral argument. The term derives from Anglo Saxon times, when a moot was a gathering of prominent men in a...
Team is likewise new.
School publications
The school newspaperNewspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
is a bi-weekly called "The Forum". There is also a nationally recognized literary journal known as Ellipsis. The Estonian, Westminster's student yearbook
Yearbook
A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a book to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school or a book published annually. Virtually all American, Australian and Canadian high schools, most colleges and many elementary and middle schools publish yearbooks...
, was last published in 1987.
Athletics
Prior to 1979, Westminster's athletic teams were called the "Parsons," and the school was a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic ConferenceRocky Mountain Athletic Conference
The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference is a college athletic conference which operates in the western United States, mostly in Colorado with some members in Nebraska and New Mexico...
. Football, basketball, and other team sports were offered at the intercollegiate level. That year, however, a financial crisis at the school caused it to discontinue its intercollegiate athletic program.
Beginning in the 1990s, Westminster gradually began to restore an intercollegiate athetic program, and the school's mascot is now the griffin. Today the school competes in the Frontier Conference
Frontier Conference
The Frontier Conference is a college athletic conference, founded in 1952 and affiliated with the NAIA. Member institutions are located in the northwestern United States, in the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Utah....
of the NAIA
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...
's division one athletics
College athletics
College athletics refers primarily to sports and athletic competition organized and funded by institutions of tertiary education . In the United States, college athletics is a two-tiered system. The first tier includes the sports that are sanctioned by one of the collegiate sport governing bodies...
for most sports, men's and women's alpine skiing and snowboard teams compete in the United States Ski Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association
USCSA
The United States Ski Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association is the sports federation for collegiate team ski racing and snowboarding in America. In excess of 150 colleges from coast to coast, the USCSA fields some 4,200 men and women, alpine, Nordic, freestyle and snowboard athletes in over...
(USCSA), men's lacrosse competes at the MCLA Division II
Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association
The Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association is a national organization of non-NCAA, men's college lacrosse programs. The MCLA oversees game play and conducts national championships for over 200 teams in ten conferences throughout the United States and Canada...
level in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Conference
Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Conference
The Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Conference is one of 10 conferences in the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association. Currently the RMLC consists of 16 teams encompassing five Rocky Mountain states; Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana. It is divided into two divisions, Division I and Division II...
(RMLC), and women's lacrosse competes in the US Lacrosse Women's Division Intercollegiate Associates (WDIA) in the Rocky Mountain Women's Lacrosse League (RMWLL). Westminster athletic offerings include:
Men's sports
- Alpine skiingAlpine skiingAlpine skiing is the sport of sliding down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. Alpine skiing can be contrasted with skiing using free-heel bindings: Ski mountaineering and nordic skiing – such as cross-country; ski jumping; and Telemark. In competitive alpine skiing races four...
- BasketballCollege basketballCollege basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....
- 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...
- 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....
- LacrosseCollege lacrosseCollege lacrosse refers to lacrosse played by student athletes at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. In both countries, men's field lacrosse and women's lacrosse are played in both the varsity and club levels...
- SnowboardSnowboardingSnowboarding is a sport that involves descending a slope that is covered with snow on a snowboard attached to a rider's feet using a special boot set onto mounted binding. The development of snowboarding was inspired by skateboarding, sledding, surfing and skiing. It was developed in the U.S.A...
- SoccerCollege soccerCollege soccer is a term used to describe association football played by teams who are operated by colleges and universities as opposed to a professional league operated for exclusively financial purposes...
- 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...
Women's sports
- Alpine skiingAlpine skiingAlpine skiing is the sport of sliding down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. Alpine skiing can be contrasted with skiing using free-heel bindings: Ski mountaineering and nordic skiing – such as cross-country; ski jumping; and Telemark. In competitive alpine skiing races four...
- BasketballCollege basketballCollege basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....
- 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...
- 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....
- LacrosseCollege lacrosseCollege lacrosse refers to lacrosse played by student athletes at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. In both countries, men's field lacrosse and women's lacrosse are played in both the varsity and club levels...
- SnowboardSnowboardingSnowboarding is a sport that involves descending a slope that is covered with snow on a snowboard attached to a rider's feet using a special boot set onto mounted binding. The development of snowboarding was inspired by skateboarding, sledding, surfing and skiing. It was developed in the U.S.A...
- SoccerCollege soccerCollege soccer is a term used to describe association football played by teams who are operated by colleges and universities as opposed to a professional league operated for exclusively financial purposes...
- 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...
In the 2006-2007 academic year, Westminster began fielding a men's lacrosse following the completion of a new athletic field on campus. The Westminster men's lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
won the 2008 Division II MCLA National Championship held in Irving, Texas
Irving, Texas
Irving is a city located in the U.S. state of Texas within Dallas County. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city population was 216,290. Irving is within the Dallas–Plano–Irving metropolitan division of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area, designated...
at Texas Stadium
Texas Stadium
Texas Stadium was a football stadium in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. The stadium opened on September 17, 1971.Built to replace the aging Cotton Bowl, it was the home field of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, and had a seating capacity of 65,675...
with a 17-10 win over Grand Valley State
Grand Valley State University
Grand Valley State University is a public liberal arts university located in Allendale, Michigan, United States. The university was established in 1960, and its main campus is situated on approximately west of Grand Rapids...
. The program won the first national championship in the school's 130 year history, in only its second year. The Men's Basketball team has had notable success as the Griffins have gone 216-99 (.684) overall while proving even more dominant in Frontier Conference play with a 105-33 (.761) mark on their way to six of the last eight Frontier Conference titles while earning a spot in the NAIA National Tournament eight times.
Notable alumni and faculty
- Bonnie Baxter - Current professor of biology whose ecologic studies of the Great Salt Lake have been profiled on BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3725973.stm and PBS NOVA http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/0405/02-bios.html
- Greg GagneGreg GagneGreg Gagne is the name of:*Greg Gagne , former professional wrestler and son of Verne Gagne*Greg Gagne , former shortstop in Major League Baseball...
- co-authored Operating System Concepts, one of the most widely-used operating systems textbooks in the world.
- David LitvackDavid LitvackDavid E. Litvack is a Democratic member of the Utah State House of Representatives, representing the state's 26th house district in central Salt Lake City and part of West Valley City, since 2000...
1994 - Utah State House RepresentativeUtah House of RepresentativesThe Utah House of Representatives is the lower house of the Utah State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Utah. The House is composed of 75 representatives elected from single member constituent districts. Each district contains an average population of 35,000 people...
for the 26th district and Alumni Board member.
- Heather McPhieHeather McPhieHeather McPhie is an American freestyle moguls skier. She competed for the US Olympic Team at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. McPhie earned the Olympic team spot with a 2nd place finish at the FIS World Cup event at Deer Valley in January 2010...
- Freestyle skierFreestyle skiingFreestyle skiing is form of skiing which used to encompass two disciplines: aerials, and moguls. Except the two disciplines mentioned earlier Freestyle Skiing now consists of Skicross, Half Pipe and Slope Style...
, member of the US Olympic Team for the 2010 Winter Olympics2010 Winter OlympicsThe 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...
.
- Nick More - Recipient of the 2008 Carnegie Foundation Utah Professor of the Year.
- Jeffrey NielsenJeffrey NielsenJeffrey Nielsen is founder of the Democracy House Project, and a published author. He is also a philosophy instructor at Westminster College, Salt Lake City; and Utah Valley University, Orem, Utah. But he is perhaps best known for being both a supporter of gay marriage and a practicing...
- Current professor of Philosophy, best known for his dismissal from BYU for criticizing the LDS Church's opposition of gay marriage.
- Geoff StradlingGeoff StradlingGeoff Stradling is an American pianist, keyboardist, composer, arranger and orchestrator. He has recorded with Ernestine Anderson , Ladd McIntosh, Kenny Goldberg, Joe Gallardo, and Jane's Addiction on Ritual de lo Habitual .He is a noted jazz...
- Hollywood composer and orchestrator for TV series and movies. Stradling frequently works on movie scores with Ladd McIntosh, a former Westminster professor who led the Westminster Jazz Band to numerous awards in the early 1970s http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=16402&pg=2.
- Richard D. WoodRichard D. WoodRichard D. Wood is an American molecular biologist specializing in research on DNA repair and mutation. He is known for pioneering studies on nucleotide excision repair , particularly for reconstituting the minimum set of proteins involved in this process, identifying proliferating cell nuclear...
- A noted American molecular biologist and winner of the Meyenburg Prize http://www.meyenburg-stiftung.de/2preis.htm for identification of proteins involved in repairing DNA after ultraviolet irradiation http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/291/5507/1284.