MacMurray College

Infobox_University
name = MacMurray College


motto =
established = 1846
type = Private
president = Dr. Colleen Hester
city = Jacksonville
state = Illinois
country = USA
campus = Rural
undergrad = 683
postgrad = 0
postgrad_label =
staff =
mascot = Highlander
colors = Scarlet and navy
free =
website = [http://www.mac.edu/ mac.edu] |

MacMurray College is a career-orientedfact|date=September 2007 liberal arts college located in Jacksonville, Illinois. It is situated convert|30|mi|km from Springfield and convert|235|mi|km from Chicago. The campus covers 60 acres, with approximately half of all students choosing to live on campus. [ [http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/directory/brief/drlife_1717_brief.php USNews.com: America's Best Colleges 2008: MacMurray College: Campus Life ] ] [ [http://apps.collegeboard.com/search/CollegeDetail.jsp?match=true&collegeId=4332 College Search - MacMurray College - Mac - At a Glance ] ]

History

Although founded in 1846 by a group of Methodist clergymen as the Illinois Conference Female Academy, the first class was not held until 1848. Since its beginnings, the college has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church. It is one of the oldest institutions of higher education originally for women in the United States.

The school was renamed the Illinois Conference Female College in 1851, with the name changed again to Illinois Female College in 1863. The name was finally changed to MacMurray College in 1930 to honor Sen. James MacMurray, a college trustee whose commitment led to a substantial increase in the college's facilities and endowment in the late 1920s and 1930s.

The institution remained an exclusively women's college until 1955, when the trustees established MacMurray College for Men as a coordinate institution. In 1969, the coordinate colleges were reorganized into a single co-educational institution.

Academics

An exclusively undergraduate institution, MacMurray offers only the Associate's and Bachelor's for degrees. The college itself lists its special education, education of the deaf and hard-of-hearing, criminal justice, and interpreter training programs to be among its strongest majors. They are also "exceptionally proud of the Bachelors of Social Work " [sic] " and Bachelor of Science in Nursing" offered at the college. [ [http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/directory/brief/drmiss_1717_brief.php USNews.com: America's Best Colleges 2008: MacMurray College: Mission ] ] Less than half of all Bachelor's degrees granted at the college are to students who studied the liberal arts. [ [http://www.resumeminers.com/universities/macmurray-college.htm Illinois Universities - Macmurray College ] ]

Like a small number of other colleges, most notably Reed College in Oregon, MacMurray refuses to submit information to the influential "U.S. News & World Report" "America's Best Colleges" guide.

Athletics

MacMurray's athletics teams are known as the "Highlanders". Teams compete in the NCAA's Division III as part of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. [http://www.gomachighlanders.com/sportsinformation.asp] The football team is the only exception to this, competing in the D-III Illini-Badger Football Conference. MacMurray's football team will be leaving the Illini Badger Conference to compete in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Conference beginning in 2008.

Notable alumni

* Christine Ebersole — actress
* R. Thomas Flynn — college administrator: dean at Rutgers University; president of Monroe Community College

References

External links

* [http://www.mac.edu/ MacMurray College]
* [http://www.gomachighlanders.com/ Go Mac Highlanders] - official athletics website
* [http://www.mac.edu/campus/campus_map.asp Campus map]