Coker College

Coker College
Established	1908
Type	private, co-educational, baccalaureate degree
President	Dr. Robert L. Wyatt
Dean	Dr. Tracy Parkinson
Academic staff	68 full-time 70 adjunct
Students	1,156 (Fall 2009)
Location	Hartsville, South Carolina, United States 34°22′36.4″N 80°04′10″W / 34.376778°N 80.06944°W / 34.376778; -80.06944
Former names	Coker College for Women
Colors	Navy and Gold
Sports	Baseball, basketball, soccer, volleyball, softball, cross country, tennis, golf
Nickname	Cobras
Affiliations	Conference Carolinas
Website	Official website

Coker College offers a four-year program that emphasizes a practical application of the liberal arts as well as hands-on and discussion-based learning within and beyond the classroom. Coker is ranked among the "Best Colleges" in the South by U.S. News & World Report as well as The Princeton Review. Located in Hartsville, Darlington County, South Carolina, Coker is within two hours of the cultural, financial and recreational resources of Charlotte, Columbia, Charleston and Myrtle Beach.

Founded in 1908, Coker is a private, co-ed four-year liberal arts college. It is fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.^[1] Coker's sports teams, nicknamed the Cobras, compete in NCAA Division II.

Academics

As a Liberal Arts institution, Coker declares that its mission is to be a student-centered, comprehensive, degree-granting college. Coker's goal is to graduate students with the ability to think analytically and creatively, and to write and speak effectively. It strives to provide every student with an academic curriculum based upon a liberal arts core, known as the Liberal Arts Studies Program (LASP).

The LASP is divided into different baskets of knowledge, and the student chooses the available classes from each basket that most interest them. The baskets are Core Skills (21 semester hours), Knowledge of the Arts (6 hours), Knowledge of the Behavioral Sciences (6 hours), Knowledge of the Humanities (6 hours), Knowledge of the Natural Sciences (7 hours), Knowledge of the United States (3 hours) and Knowledge of the Wider World (3 hours).^[2] As the students progresses through school, they may select classes to fulfill basket requirements that are in tune with their interests. For example, in the Knowledge of the Wider World baskets, students could choose a class on Latin-American Literature, World Religions, International Politics, Musics of the World, Modernization and Social Change or African Geography, among others.^[3] The classes offered under each basket allow for a host of different options, with no two students ever really taking all the same classes.

Majors

Coker offers 29 majors and 23 minors of study that will prepare students for careers in any number of industries. The college also offers individual majors and double majors; self-designated degree programs; specializations; and pre-professional programs. Some of the currently offered majors include: Education (several options), Business Administration, Communications, Spanish, Criminology, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Social Work, Philosophy and Religion, Pre-Law, Art (Photography, Fine Arts, Graphic Design, Art Education), Music (Voice, Piano, Musical Theater, Music Education), Dance, Theatre (3 options), Computer Science, Physical Education, Sport Management, Medical Technology, Biology, Chemistry and English.

Round Table

Instituted in 1985, Coker’s unique, interactive "Round Table" teaching style is recognized as a model learning experience in Smart Parents Guide to College (© Peterson’s, 1997) for promoting the discussion of ideas while building leadership and communication skills.^[4]

Summer Programs

Coker offers summer programs for high school students in partnership with Blueprint Summer Programs. In summer 2011, the program begins on June 26 and July 10 with four courses available: Studio Arts & Photography, Creative Writing, Acting and Production Design or Social Psychology. Students live and study on campus and go on field trips to Charleston, Charlotte and other destinations.

Study Abroad

Coker encourages students to study abroad through its Center for International and Experiential Education (CIEE).^[5] Coker views international experience as an essential part of any liberal arts education and has established relationships with partner schools to facilitate students' desires to study abroad. In addition to student/advisor prepared individualized semester abroad programs, Coker offers faculty-led Spring Interim and Summer Term trips.^[6]

Coker also boasts two endowed scholarships to aid students in their quests to study abroad. The Susan Coker Watson Scholarship awards money to rising juniors and seniors hoping to study in a European nation, while the Malcolm Doubles Scholarship awards funds to study anywhere in the world.

The Four Year Program

Coker utilizes a distinctive four-year program that emphasizes a practical application of the liberal arts as well as hands-on and discussion-based learning within and beyond the class room.

• Year 1: Students connect with classmates and explore interests in freshmen seminars and activities.
• Year 2: Students receive the advice they need to choose a major or design one that fits.
• Year 3: Students discover the wider world through an internship, study away or abroad, community service or special project.
• Year 4: Students complete their personalized, well-laid plan to be accepted to the career or degree program of their choice.

Redefining Ready

Since the inauguration of Dr. Robert L. Wyatt as Coker College's 16th president on July 1, 2009, the college has been putting forth efforts to "[Re]define Ready."

"Preparing our students for the world as it was, or even as it is, does them a serious disservice," said Dr. Wyatt during his inauguration speech. "We have to help them to succeed regardless of what the future brings. We have to Redefine Ready. Instead of our graduates wondering, 'Am I ready for the real world?' we want them asking, 'Is the real world ready for me?"

The [Re]defining Ready Top Ten List:

• 10. We must redefine what it means to say, "A Coker student is ready."
• 9. We must redefine what we mean when we say, "A Coker student leads by example."
• 8. We must redefine, "A Coker student drives change."
• 7. We must redefine, "A Coker student solves big problems."
• 6. We must redefine what we mean when we say, "A Coker student lives long, happily and well."
• 5. We must redefine what it means to be student-focused.
• 4. We must redefine our intention when we affirm, "A Coker student has multiple educational options."
• 3. We must redefine our claim, "A Coker student learns by doing."
• 2. We must redefine our assertion, "A Coker student makes all the difference."
• 1. Finally, we must redefine and make good our promise when we say, "A Coker student is ready for the world."

History

Coker College began in 1894 as Welsh Neck High School, founded by a local businessman and American Civil War veteran, Major James Lide Coker (1837–1918). In 1908, when South Carolina created a statewide public school system, Major Coker led the effort to convert the school to Coker College for Women.

From the 1920s until just after World War II, it was the only college between Columbia and Charleston accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Coker was once affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention, but has been non-denominational since 1944. It officially became co-ed in 1969, although men had been attending since the end of World War II.

From 1988 to 2003, Coker students often interacted with students from South Carolina Governor's School for Science and Mathematics (SCGSSM) who lived and took their own courses on campus. In 2003, the SCGSSM moved to its own campus a few blocks away.

Financial Aid

Approximately 80% of Coker students receive need-based financial aid in addition to academic, athletic and other talent-based scholarships.

The Financial Aid Office is dedicated to helping each family navigate the financial planning process.

Coker awards more than $5.7 million annually in scholarships and grants in addition to federal and state aid.^[7]

Laurels

Coker's average class size is 12, one of the smallest in the nation; many classes have fewer than 10 students.^[7]

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools has given Coker special commendations for the quality of interaction between faculty, students and staff and the attractiveness of the campus grounds and facilities.^[7]

U.S. News & World Report ranks Coker #17 in the Top Baccalaureate Colleges in the South for 2011. The magazine has named Coker a "Best College" for 15 consecutive years.^[8]

The Princeton Review selected Coker College a “Best Southeastern College” in its 2011 rankings based on academic excellence and student satisfaction; this is Coker's seventh consecutive selection to this honor.^[9]

Barron’s consistently names Coker one of the nation's 300 Best Buys in College Education.^{[citation needed]}

The National Survey of Student Engagement ranked Coker in the top 10% of all institutions for providing students with a supportive campus environment, enriching educational experiences, student-faculty interaction, active and collaborative learning and a high level of academic challenge.

Campus

The 15-acre (6.1 ha) main campus contains mostly Georgian-style brick buildings, some of which (e.g., Davidson Hall, home to the college's famed round table classrooms) are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Alumni House (Drengaelen), The President's House, The Dean's & President's Offices (David & May Coker House) and The Registrar's Offices (Lawton-Wilson House) are all located in old mansions along the northern edge of campus.

Hartsville and Coker College owe much to the generosity of the Coker family, founders of Sonoco and Coker's Pedigreed Seed Company. The Coker family's patronage of the college has led the vast majority of buildings on campus having Coker somewhere in the name. Students often joke to freshmen or visitors that they'll meet them "in the Coker" building as a way to gently initiate newcomers to campus.

Residence Halls

There are six student residence halls including Memorial (1914), James Lide Coker III (1962), Belk (1916), Coker (1916) and Grannis (1969), which all adjoin the Linville Dining Hall (1916). Richard and Tuck Coker Hall (1988), commonly called the RTC, lies between the library and the other residence halls. Despite the age of these structures, most have been recently remodeled and are fully modernized. The Dining Hall offers three meals a day that range from light healthy fare to hearty "homecooking." Memorial Hall houses the Drawing Room, a ballroom/dining hall for special events.^[10]

• 

  The JLC III Residence Hall

In the Coker Residence Hall's basement one finds The Cobra Den and The Cobra Pit — the on-campus spot for night life. Open nightly, The Pit offers students the luxury of playing pool or watching television without having to leave the residence halls. The Cobra Den serves as the venue for the faculty Academic Karaoke lectures, and on the weekend, The Den has resident DJs.

The residence halls are protected by locking rooms, ID card swipe building entry and 24-hour security guards that patrol the campus.^[11]

Library

In January 2008, students began using the Charles W. and Joan S. Coker Library-Information Technology Center. This 40,000 sq ft (3,700 m²) state-of-the-art building replaces the James Lide Coker III Library, which will be remodeled into an upscale residence hall. The new library was built entirely from donations from a capital campaign and is an example of Coker alumni generosity to the college.^[12][13]

Health Services

Coker Student Health Services is housed in the residence halls, near the Dining Hall. An RN is on-site to aid with general injuries and treatments and to make referrals to physicians as needed.^[14]

Athletics

Adjacent to the main campus is a 22-acre (8.9 ha) athletics complex with baseball, softball, soccer and tennis facilities. Near the athletics fields on East Carolina Avenue are the Saleeby House, home to Coker's athletics program, and the Department of Education Building.

The college has 12 varsity athletics programs which compete in Conference Carolinas.^[15] They include Basketball, Baseball, Softball, Volleyball, Tennis, Golf, Soccer and Cross Country. As Coker was originally a Women's college, there was no history of a football squad; this, along with the high costs of starting and maintaining a team, helps explain why Coker has no varsity football team today. Coker will have a men's lacrosse team competing in the spring of 2012.

As part of its focus on the future, Coker plans to build a brand-new Athletics facility on the south side of campus (Carolina Ave).

Alumni

Coker’s alumni giving percentage - a gauge of alumni satisfaction - recently reached 52%, highest among all of South Carolina's colleges and universities and equal to the top 25 liberal arts colleges nationally. Coker’s alumni giving percentage is typically 24% to 34% - higher than most of the South’s Best Comprehensive Colleges.^[7]

Notable alumni include:

• Dr. Bonnie Ethel Cone, a renowned educator who founded the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

• Dr. Ruth Patrick, a famous botanist who received her bachelors degree from Coker College in 1929. Her work has been widely published, and she has received numerous awards for her scientific achievements, including the National Medal of Science in 1996. The Ruth Patrick Science Education Center is named after her. On April 4, 2008, she was named Coker College's Alumna of the Century.^[16]

• Poet Terrance Hayes, winner of the National Book Award, Kate Tufts Discovery Award, Whiting Writers Award, a Pushcart Prize, a 2009 Best American Poetry selection and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, earned his B.A. from Coker.^[17] He is the author of Wind in a Box (Penguin, 2006), Hip Logic (2002), which won the National Poetry Series and Muscular Music (1999). Terrence is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.^[18]

• South Carolina State Representative Denny Woodall Neilson (Mrs. David S.), representing District 56, Chesterfield & Darlington counties. She is a member of both the Rules and the Ways & Means House committees.^[19]

• Marvin Legrand "Le" Flowers, a county council member of Darlington, SC

• Contemporary figurative artist Patrick Earl Hammie graduated from Coker College in 2004 with a bachelors degree in Fine Arts. After graduating from Coker College, Hammie received his MFA degree from the University of Connecticut. In 2008, he was the inaugural recipient of the Alice C. Cole Class of 42 Fellowship in Studio Arts at Wellesley College. He currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Painting at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Presidents

• Major James Lide Coker
• Dr. E. V. Baldy (1909–1911)
• Dr. Arthur Jackson Hall (1911–1914)
• Dr. Howard Lee Jones (1914–1915)
• Dr. E. W. Sikes (1916–1925)
• Dr. Carlyle Campbell (1925–1936)
• Dr. C. Sylvester Green (1936–1944)
• Dr. Donald C. Agnew (1944–1952)
• Dr. Joseph C. Robert (1952–1955)
• Dr. John A. Barry, Jr. (1955–1959)
• Dr. Fenton Keyes (1960–1968)
• Dr. Wilfrid H. Callcott (1968–1969)
• Dr. Gus Turbeville (1969–1974)
• Dr. C. Hilburn Womble (1975–1980)
• Dr. James D. Daniels (1981–2002)
• Dr. B. James Dawson (2002–2009)
• Dr. Robert L. Wyatt (2009–present)

Demographics

Faculty

Coker has 68 full-time faculty, and 88% hold the highest degree in their field. In addition to these professors, Coker utilizes more than 70 adjunct and part-time faculty.

Students

Coker College's Fall 2009 enrollment is 1156 full- and part-time students. The average GPA is 3.2, and the average SAT score is 1004.

Coker’s 2007-08 day students hail from 27 states and 7 foreign countries (Canada, Czech Republic, Ecuador, England, Finland, Guatemala and Lithuania); 61% are women, and 39% are men. 27% of all students declare themselves as being from a minority ethnic group, with African-American holding the largest share at 23% of the student body.

Traditions

Traditions of the college include:

Bonfire and Homecoming Court

Held in early October, Homecoming Week consists of a formal welcoming of the alumni, a homecoming soccer game and a competition between classes. Some of the competition activities include class cheers, class comedian competitions and the Hunk Contest. A bonfire is always held (drought-permitting) as a capstone event.

Winter Formal

A recent addition to campus traditions, the Winter Formal dance is held at the Hartsville Country Club.

C.O.W. Days

The Coker Olympics of Winter is a weeklong event held beginning the first weekend in February. Events include the hotwing eating contest, tug-o-war and the ever-popular musical water buckets. Competition is arranged by class (school year), and the winner earns the highly coveted title of C.O.W. Days Champions.

Crew Race

Each Spring at the Sory Boathouse on Prestwood Lake (just blocks from Coker's campus), teams made up of sister classes race across the lake in canoes. Teams practice for weeks ahead of time to continue a tradition that dates back to 1919.

Late-Night Breakfast

Just before finals each semester, the faculty and staff cook a free, late-night breakfast for resident students studying for their final exams. Aramark Corporation donates the food, and the college's employees provide the free labor. This popular event is attended by the majority of resident students.

Coffee at the Courtyard

During Fall and Spring semesters, in front of Davidson Hall at 9:15 AM every Thursday morning, Coker provides students, staff and faculty with free coffee, hot chocolate, juice and pastries. A brief ceremony is usually held to honor people's recent accomplishments, but the main benefit is a chance to chat and socialize with people outside one's normal sphere. The Evening School has a similar program, but it only happens once a semester.

BandFest

One of the students' favorite events is BandFest, a concert festival consisting of bands invited from around the country. BandFest usually lasts for an entire evening.

Community

Coker College founded, and still co-hosts, the annual and free Jazz! Carolina Festival.

The fourth weekend of every March, the RenoFest comes to Hartsville with excellent bluegrass music from a wide variety of bands from around the country.^[20]

Because of the enormous wealth that Sonoco and other industries have brought to the town, there are many businesses that one would not normally find in a town of this size.^[specify] Also, Coker students help invigorate the downtown economy, attracting businesses that lend it a young and vibrant atmosphere. Most notable among these locations is the Midnight Rooster, a downtown Hartsville coffeeshop.

Sory Boathouse & Kalmia Gardens

Through generous donations, Coker also owns the Sory Boathouse on Prestwood Lake and the Kalmia Gardens of Coker College. The Sory Boathouse is equipped with several canoes, tandem kayaks and associated equipment. Students can borrow the key and enjoy all South Carolina blackwater has to offer, free of charge. Kalmia Gardens is a mature botanical garden. It is home to the Hart House (built in 1820) and adjoins the 796-acre (322 ha) Segars-McKinnon Heritage Preserve, a blackwater swamp and forested wildlife reservation. The two properties comprise 831 acres (336 ha), roughly equal in size to New York City's Central Park. Kalmia Gardens hosts numerous community events and contains biking and walking trails that are open to the public.^[21]

Vista Railyard Project

Along the campus's eastern edge, through the cooperation of several entities, the City of Hartsville will build the Vista Railyard Project. It will be filled with greenspace, a park and municipal buildings. The project will connect Coker College and the Governor’s School for Science and Math to downtown Hartsville and provide an educational corridor when completed.^[22]

References

1. ^ Commission on Colleges
2. ^ COKER COLLEGE: Evening Student Orientation from the college's website
3. ^ http://www.coker.edu/squid/LASP_PRES-04.swf
4. ^ Coker College Round Table Learning
5. ^ Coker College CIEE
6. ^ Coker College Study Abroad
7. ^ ^{a b c d} About Coker College from the college's website
8. ^ USNews.com: America's Best Colleges 2008: Coker College: At a glance
9. ^ Coker College
10. ^ Coker College Administration Building
11. ^ http://www.coker.edu/campuslife/Campus_Serv/Security.html
12. ^ Coker College: Library-Information Technology Center
13. ^ The Messenger's Local News
14. ^ http://www.coker.edu/campuslife/Campus_Serv/Health_serv.html
15. ^ Conference Carolinas
16. ^ Coker College: Ruth Patrick
17. ^ Poets.org - Poetry, Poems, Bios & More - Terrance Hayes
18. ^ English Department - Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing
19. ^ South Carolina Legislature Online
20. ^ RenoFest Bluegrass Festival
21. ^ Welcome to Kalmia Gardens! from the college's website
22. ^ News - South Carolina Now (SCNow.com)

External links

• Coker College
• GSSM