Organization:Albright College

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Short description: Private college in Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Albright College
Albright College logo
Former names
Union Seminary (1856–1887)
Central Pennsylvania College (1887–1902)
Schuylkill Seminary (1881–1923)
Schuylkill College (1923–1929)
Albright Collegiate Institute (1895–1898)
MottoVeritas et Justitia
Motto in English
Truth and Justice
TypePrivate liberal arts college
Established1856; 168 years ago (1856)
Religious affiliation
United Methodist Church
Academic affiliation
Annapolis Group
Endowment$69.2 million (2020)[1]
PresidentJacquelyn S. Fetrow
Academic staff
108 full-time and 43 part-time[2]
Students1,758[2]
Undergraduates1,718 [2]
Other students
50
Location
Reading, Pennsylvania
,
U.S.

[ ⚑ ] : 40°21′39″N 75°54′37″W / 40.36083°N 75.91028°W / 40.36083; -75.91028
CampusSuburban, 118 acres (48 ha)
|u}}rs               Albright red, Albright gray, white[3]
NicknameLions
Websitewww.albright.edu
Albright College Logo.png

Albright College is a private liberal arts college in Reading, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1856.

History

Albright College traces its founding to 1856 when Union Seminary opened. Present-day Albright was formed by the mergers of several institutions: Albright Collegiate Institute, Central Pennsylvania College, and Schuylkill College.

Albright Collegiate Institute opened in 1895 and was renamed Albright College three years later. Union Seminary, meanwhile, became Central Pennsylvania College in 1887 and merged with Albright College in 1902. Schuylkill Seminary, the third institution, was founded in 1881, became Schuylkill College in 1923, and merged into Albright in 1928.[5]

Albright's campus relocated from Myerstown, to Schuylkill College's campus, which is the present location of Albright, at the base of Mount Penn in Reading.

The college is named for Pennsylvania-German evangelical preacher Jacob Albright, who founded the Evangelical Association (later known as the Evangelical United Brethren Church). Born in 1759 in Douglass Township, (now Montgomery County) with the given name of Johannes Jacob Albrecht, the family changed their surname to "Albright" following Jacob's 1808 death.[6]

Academics

Albright College students are encouraged to cross and combine areas of study without taking longer to graduate. The college offers Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees, as well as a Master of Arts and Master of Science degrees in education. The college also offers online and accelerated degree programs.

Albright offers a wide range of classical and pre-professional programs. It created one of the first undergraduate psychobiology programs in the nation in the 1960s. The college's liberal arts curriculum has a cross-program focus that allows students to create an individualized education. Fully half of Albright students have concentrations that combine two or three fields of learning.[6]

The theatre program has been honored by the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival consistently for many years.[7] Albright's Domino Players Company has been invited to perform at the Region II KCACTF Festival 10 times in the last 18 years (2004, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2020). At the National Conference held every April in Washington DC, Albright's theatre program has garnered dozens of awards for distinguished work in performance, direction, dramaturgy, scenic, sound, costume, and lighting design. Acclaimed productions of “Waiting for Godot” (2007), “Clybourne Park” (2016), “A Raisin in the Sun” (2018) have also been named “Outstanding Production of a Play” – recognizing them as the best college production of their years. “A Raisin in the Sun” also received eight other national awards, for distinguished performance, scenic and lighting design, director and performances.[8][9][10] Graduates of the program have gone on to graduate study at such schools as Yale, NYU, Brown, Columbia, Villanova, UArts/Pig Iron, SCAD, UMass Amherst, University of Minnesota, and CalArts, and have distinguished themselves with work on Broadway, in Hollywood, and in theatres and opera houses across the globe.

The Albright Creative Research Experience (ACRE) is a multi-disciplinary program that affords undergraduate students the opportunity to conduct research or pursue creative endeavors during the three-week January Interim or summer break. The students, who work one-on-one with faculty members, can be from any discipline, from STEM subjects to the humanities.[7]

Rankings

In 2017, Albright College was named one of the "Best Northeastern" schools by The Princeton Review; this was the fourteenth consecutive year that the college was included in that category.[11][12][13] For 2024, U.S. News & World Report ranked the college tied at #146 out of 211 in National Liberal Arts Colleges and tied at #31 in Top Performers on Social Mobility.[14] In 2018, U.S. News ranked Albright 33rd out of 208 national liberal arts colleges in the "Campus Ethnic Diversity" category,[15] and in the "Economic Diversity" category, Albright ranked 27th out of 210 national liberal arts schools.[16] The Economist magazine listed Albright among the top 50 American colleges and universities for economic value in 2015.[17]

Athletics

Albright College athletic teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III as a member of the Middle Atlantic Conferences.

Charles "Pop" Kelchner founded the men's basketball team in 1900 and was athletic director at Albright College for 21 years. He was involved in aspects of Major League Baseball for over 50 years. Albright College dedicated the baseball field as Kelchner Field in 1952. Branch Rickey gave the dedication speech, with Connie Mack in attendance. Kelchner was a graduate of Lafayette College with two degrees and was proficient in German, French, Italian, Spanish, Classical Latin and Greek. He served as Professor of Languages and athletic director.[18]

Doggie Julian was the head football coach at Albright from 1929 to 1930. Clarence Lester "Biggie" Munn was the head football coach at Albright College from 1935 to 1936, before coaching Syracuse University (1946), and most notably Michigan State College (1947–1953), where his 1952 squad won a national championship.

William "Lone Star" Dietz was the director of athletics and head football coach at Albright from 1937 to 1942. Dietz led the football team to their first undefeated season in 1937. He previously led Washington State to 1916 Rose Bowl victory. In the National Football League, Dietz had coached the Boston "Redskins" (1933–1934), the forerunner of the Washington Commanders. Dietz is in the Albright College Athletic Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame.[19]

In 1948, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) and Albright College played the first intercollegiate football game between an Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) institution and a majority-white institution.[20]

The Philadelphia Eagles held pre-season training camp at Albright from 1968 through 1972.[21]

Dr. Wilbur G. Renken was athletic director and basketball head coach for 38 consecutive seasons. A highly regarded figure in collegiate athletics in general and specifically basketball,[citation needed] Renken was the president of the United States Olympic Basketball Team Selection Committee for the 1976 Olympic Games.[22] He also served as the president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) in 1979–1980.[23]

On October 11, 2017, sophomore backup quarterback Gyree Durante was dismissed from the football team for kneeling during the national anthem before the team's game against Delaware Valley University, going against a collective team decision made before the game to kneel for the coin toss and stand for the anthem.[24] President Fetrow later offered reinstatement to the team to Durante (and two other players who did not fully kneel during the coin toss), saying that further review of the details surrounding the game's events found that "what we understood to be shared agreement among players, student leaders and coaches has not been adequately supported.”.[25] Durante, however, declined reinstatement, citing his former teammates' stated lack of trust in him.[26]

WXAC

Albright's campus radio station, WXAC 91.3 FM[27] is a student-operated college radio station. The initial call name was WALC, but was later changed to WXAC on March 8, 1965. WALC had been the same call name for the Alcoa Steamship Lines.

Notable alumni

  • Chester Anuszak (stage name: Jon Dough) '84, adult film actor
  • Eric Artz '89, president and CEO of Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI)[28]
  • Haps Benfer '14, college football, basketball, and baseball head coach
  • Will Bond '82, actor, founding member of SITI Company[29]
  • Joseph E. Coleman '48, politician, attorney and chemist; first African-American elected president of Philadelphia City Council
  • Leo Disend '38, played tackle with the Green Bay Packers and the Brooklyn Dodgers football team
  • Saidah Arrika Ekulona '92, Obie Award-winning Film/TV/Stage actress, Ruined, Bob Hearts Abishola
  • Edwin Erickson '60, State Senator, Pennsylvania
  • Craig Fass '96, chef, and creator with Mike Ginelli '95 and Brian Turtle '95, of the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,[30] which inspired Kevin Bacon to create the charitable organization, SixDegrees.org
  • R. Scott French '87, American Fashion Designer, CFDA[31]
  • Jacquelyn S. Fetrow '82, PhD, computational biologist and current president of Albright College, former Provost and Professor of Chemistry at the University of Richmond
  • John Fetterman '91, United States Senator, 2023-Present; 34th Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, 2019–2023
  • Doris Freedman '50, pioneer in the field of public art
  • Robert Gerhart '41, Pennsylvania State Senator for the 11th district from 1969 to 1972
  • Robert P. Hollenbeck (born 1931), politician who served six terms in the New Jersey General Assembly from the 36th Legislative District.[32]
  • Ralph I. Horwitz, MD '69, Director of the Institute for Transformative Medicine at Temple University, Harold H. Hines, Jr. Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Epidemiology at Yale University[33]
  • Brent Hurley '01, investor, consultant, and member of the founding team at YouTube[34]
  • Dr. Glenn S. Kaplan '73, Neonatologist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (2018-Present),[35] Chief of Neonatology at Nemours (2000-2018)[36]
  • Thomas R. Kline, Esq. '69, leading trial lawyer
  • Casey Lawrence '10, professional baseball pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball
  • Jeffrey Lentz '85, Grammy-nominated opera singer and director[37]
  • Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ '94, Kenyan poet and author, Associate Professor of English and Africana Studies at Cornell University
  • Hidy Ochiai '66, author and actor, introduced the Washin-Ryu style of karate in the United States[38]
  • Anthony Portantino ’83, State Senator, California
  • Nathan Roberts '00, Helen Hayes Award-nominated Sound Designer, The Widow Lincoln
  • Paul Sinclair '97, GM and Executive VP, Atlantic Records[39]
  • Danene Sorace '94, Mayor of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, former director of Answer program at Rutgers University.
  • Bob Spitz '71, celebrity biographer
  • Kristofer Updike '99, VP of Kids Development, Entertainment Scripted & Unscripted Content, NBCUniversal[40]
  • Matthew Urbanski '85, landscape architect
  • Russell Weigley '52, Distinguished University Professor of History at Temple University
  • Victor Yarnell '51, 41st Mayor of Reading, Pennsylvania

References

  1. ↑ As of June 30, 2020. U.S. and Canadian Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year 2020 Endowment Market Value and Change in Endowment Market Value from FY19 to FY20 (Report). National Association of College and University Business Officers and TIAA. February 19, 2021. https://www.nacubo.org/-/media/Documents/Research/2020-NTSE-Public-Tables--Endowment-Market-Values--FINAL-FEBRUARY-19-2021.ashx. Retrieved February 21, 2021. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "College Navigator - Albright College". https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=Albright+College&s=all&id=210571. 
  3. ↑ "Communications Division, Albright College". Albright College Communications Division. https://www.albright.edu/about-albright/offices-departments/communications-division/. 
  4. ↑ "Albright College Athletics Website". http://www.albrightathletics.com/. 
  5. ↑ "History of Albright College". Albright College. https://www.albright.edu/about-albright/collegehistory/#:~:text=Albright%20Collegiate%20Institute%20was%20founded,with%20Albright%20College%20in%201902.. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Albright College - Mission, History and Tradition". http://www.albright.edu/about/mission.html. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Reading's Albright College pioneers flexible, interdisciplinary learning". September 19, 2016. http://www.keystoneedge.com/2016/09/19/readings-albright-college-pioneers-flexible-interdisciplinary-learning/. 
  8. ↑ "Domino Players earn nine national awards for "A Raisin in the Sun"" (in en-US). 2019-03-29. https://www.albright.edu/2019/03/29/domino-players-earn-nine-national-awards-for-a-raisin-in-the-sun/. 
  9. ↑ "Spotlight: theater awards, jazz opera, breaking into acting, auditions - Reading Eagle - LIFE". March 27, 2016. http://www.readingeagle.com/life/article/spotlight-theater-awards-jazz-opera-breaking-into-acting-auditions. 
  10. ↑ "Albright College invited to perform on Kennedy Center Festival main stage". December 16, 2019. https://www.bctv.org/2019/12/16/albright-college-invited-to-perform-on-kennedy-center-festival-main-stage/. 
  11. ↑ "Best Northeastern - The Princeton Review". https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings?rankings=best-northeastern. 
  12. ↑ "Albright College Named One of the Best Schools in the Northeast for 14th Consecutive Year". http://www.albright.edu/news/releases/aug/PrincetonReview18.html. 
  13. ↑ "Albright, Kutztown on list of top schools - Reading Eagle - NEWS". August 5, 2017. http://www.readingeagle.com/news/article/albright-kutztown-on-list-of-top-schools. 
  14. ↑ "Albright College Rankings". U.S. News & World Report. https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/albright-college-3229/overall-rankings. 
  15. ↑ "rankings". https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges/campus-ethnic-diversity. 
  16. ↑ "rankings". https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges/economic-diversity. 
  17. ↑ "Our first-ever college rankings". https://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2015/10/value-university. 
  18. ↑ "POP KELCHNER". https://probasketballencyclopedia.com/player/pop-kelchner/. 
  19. ↑ "Lone Star Dietz Website". http://www.lonestardietz.com/page2.html. 
  20. ↑ "Vernon "Skip" McCain/UMES Football Reinstatement Fund Second Quarter 2007 Report". http://www.umes.edu/football/Second%20Quarter%202007%20VSM%20Fund%20Annual%20Report.doc. 
  21. ↑ Frank, Reuben (August 17, 2020). "A history of each Philadelphia Eagles training camp site, from 1933 to 2020". nbcsports.com/philadelphia. Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia. https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/history-each-philadelphia-eagles-training-camp-site-1933-2020. [yes|permanent dead link|dead link}}]
  22. ↑ "Olympic Review No. 105-106 July - August 1976". http://www.la84foundation.org/OlympicInformationCenter/OlympicReview/1976/ore105/ore105zt.pdf. 
  23. ↑ "NABC Presidents". http://www.nabc.org/about/history/pastpresidents. 
  24. ↑ Boren, Cindy (October 11, 2017). "'I was just taught you fight for what you believe in': A college football player is cut for kneeling during the anthem". https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2017/10/11/i-was-just-taught-you-fight-for-what-you-believe-in-a-college-football-player-is-cut-for-kneeling-during-the-anthem/. 
  25. ↑ "Albright College offers to reinstate dismissed football players - Reading Eagle - NEWS". http://www.readingeagle.com/news/article/albright-college-offers-to-reinstate-dismissed-football-players. 
  26. ↑ Shuey, Karen (October 18, 2017). "Albright backup quarterback says he won't rejoin team despite school's invitation". Reading Eagle. http://www.readingeagle.com/news/article/albright-backup-quarterback-says-he-will-not-be-rejoining-team-despite-schools-invitation. 
  27. ↑ "Home". 30 December 2013. http://wxac.net/. 
  28. ↑ "Eric Artz - LinkedIn". https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-artz-31a50053. 
  29. ↑ "Company Members | SITI Company". April 13, 2020. https://siti.org/about/company/#:~:text=He%20received%20a%C2%A0BA%C2%A0in%20English%20Literature%20from%20Albright%20College. 
  30. ↑ "Craig Fass". albright.edu. https://www.albright.edu/reporter/winter2005/yaprofile.html. 
  31. ↑ "LinkedIn". https://www.linkedin.com/in/rscottfrench. 
  32. ↑ Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey, 1985, p. 279. J.A. Fitzgerald, 1985. Accessed July 17, 2019. "Assemblyman Hollenbeck was born in Carlstadt Nov. 5, 1931. After graduating from East Rutherford High School he attended Albright College in Reading, Pa., and technical trade schools."
  33. ↑ "Ralph Horwitz". temple.edu. https://medicine.temple.edu/ralph-horwitz. 
  34. ↑ Marshall, Barbara. "How to go from $0 to $1.65 billion in a year and a half". Albright Reporter (Winter 2007). https://www.albright.edu/reporter/winter2007/brenthurley.html. 
  35. ↑ "Glenn S. Kaplan, MD". January 24, 2019. https://www.chop.edu/doctors/kaplan-glenn-s. 
  36. ↑ "Glenn Kaplan, MD - Neonatologist". https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenn-kaplan-md-55801221. 
  37. ↑ "Naxos Records". https://www.naxos.com/person/Jeffrey_Lentz/2607.htm#:~:text=Jeffrey%20Lentz%20is%20a%20graduate%20in%20Theatre%20and%20Music%20from%20Albright%20College. 
  38. ↑ "Hokubei Karate-do Shihankai Master Bio". http://www.hokubeishihankai.org/members/hidehiko-ochiai.  retrieved August 10, 2016
  39. ↑ "LinkedIn". https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulsinclair. 
  40. ↑ "LinkedIn". https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristofer-updike-b1485645. 

External links



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