Olivet College is a coeducational, private liberal arts college located in
Olivet, Michigan, United States, 29 miles (47 km) south of
Lansing and 125 miles
(201 km) west of Detroit.
It is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the
National
Association of Congregational Christian Churches, and
accredited by the North
Central Association of Colleges and Schools.[2]
History
In 1844, after founding Oberlin College, Rev. John J. Shipherd and 39 missionaries,
including Oberlin faculty, students, and alumni, came to Michigan
to create a baby, which Shipherd deemed "New Oberlin."
The original land for the college was to be in present-day
Ingham County,
approximately twenty-five miles (40 km) from where the college
stands. Olivetian lore says that while Shipherd was on a trip to
the site in Ingham County, his horse continued to get lost, and
would always wander back to a hill above a swamp, which is where
Olivet's Campus Square exists today. Shipherd decided that powers
from above must be drawing the horse back to this site, and
Shipherd deemed that this would become the site for "New Oberlin."
He then chose to name it Olivet, however, after the biblical
Mount of Olives. Shortly after the founding
of the college, John Shipherd succumbed to malaria, as many other
early Olivetians would.
It is said that the founders of Olivet College believed in three
essential components: first was a coeducational experience; service was
another integral part of the founders' visions, as the founders
helped to build the surrounding community as well as the broader
community; they also believed that an education could be had by
anyone, not just those "rich in the world's goods." Abolitionist
beliefs, along with a coeducational experience, led the state
legislature to deny a charter for the college until thirteen years
after the first courses were offered. Some Olivetians believe that
the charter was denied because of possible competition with
Michigan College.
The first courses began in December 1844. Because President
Reuben Hatch's petition for a charter was denied, Olivet became the
Olivet Institute, and remained a two-year school until chartered in
1859.
The 20th century saw Olivet College become a liberal arts
school, with a short-lived attempt at an Oxford-style curriculum from 1934 to 1944.
Academics
Olivet offers 28 programs that lead to a bachelor's degree and a master's degree of Business Administration in
Insurance. Student-to-faculty ratio is 17:1.
Athletics
Along with Albion College and Michigan State University, Olivet
founded the Michigan
Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) in 1888. The MIAA
is the nation's oldest collegiate conference. Olivet College
athletic teams, nicknamed the Comets, participate in the
following intercollegiate sports as a member of the MIAA
include:
Men baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf,
lacrosse, soccer, swimming & diving, club tennis, track &
field (indoor and outdoor), club volleyball, and wrestling
(Division III Independent). Volleyball will become a full varsity
sport in 2015–16 (2016 season), competing in the Midwest Collegiate
Volleyball League.
Women basketball, club bowling, cross country, golf,
lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, track
& field (indoor and outdoor), and volleyball.
Olivet
College Radio
Olivet College has an FCC-Licensed Non-Commercial Educational
student-run radio station, broadcasting in the Olivet area at
89.1 MHz FM with the callsign WOCR. The
broadcast is also available for people outside the studio range
online at.[3]
Students can volunteer for a radio shift from 7:30am to midnight
Monday through Friday to broadcast music, campus events, news, and
talk shows. Comet Football and Basketball is also often broadcast
live from the game site.
Notable
alumni
- Daron Cruickshank, current mixed martial artist
competing in the UFC's Lightweight
Division[4]
- Dave
Cutler (1965), software engineer, designer and developer of
operating systems including Windows NT at Microsoft and RSX-11M,
VMS and VAXELN at Digital Equipment Corporation
- Robie Macauley (did not graduate), editor,
novelist and critic whose literary career spanned more than 50
years[5]
- George Pyne III, American football
player
- Scott Sigler, author of science-fiction and
horror, podcaster
- Ralph Thacker, college football coach
Notable
faculty
Notes and
references