Overview of university
Austin College is a private liberal arts college affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and located in Sherman, Texas.
About 1,300 students are enrolled at the college. Students are required to live on campus for the first three years of their education in order to foster a close-knit and community oriented campus lifestyle. Austin College actively promotes study abroad programs; 70% of graduates have at least one international study experience during college, and about 82% of students are involved in research. The college cultivates close interaction between students and professors via a 13:1 student to faculty ratio and an average class size of fewer than 25 students.
Chartered in November 1849, Austin College remains the oldest institution of higher education in Texas to be operating under its original charter and name as recognized by the State Historical Survey Committee
The college was founded on October 13, 1849, in Huntsville, Texas, by the Hampden–Sydney and Princeton-educated missionary Dr. Daniel Baker. Signed by Texas Governor George Wood, the charter of Austin College was modeled after those of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.
Baker named the school for the Texas historical figure Stephen F. Austin after the original land on which it was built was donated by the Austin family. Two other important figures in Texas history, Sam Houston and Anson Jones, served on the original board of trustees for the college, and the former site in Huntsville later became today's Sam Houston State University.
Austin College's founding president was Irish-born Presbyterian minister Samuel McKinney, who served as the school's president a second time from 1862 to 1871. Under the tenure of the fourth president of Austin College, Reverend Samuel Magoffin Luckett, Austin College had several yellow fever epidemics and complications related to the Civil War. Texas Synod of the Presbyterian Church decided the college would be relocated to Sherman in 1876. Construction of the new campus in north Texas came in the form of "Old Main," a two-story, red brick structure, which occurred between 1876 and 1878. Struggling with the Long Depression, Austin College saw little improvement to its building or grounds during the late 1870s; as such, Samuel Luckett resigned his position as president. From 1878 to 1885, the college continued to struggle from the aftershocks of economic depression; with an increasing debt and shrinking student body, the college turned to its 7th president, Reverend Donald MacGregor. A shrewd and well connected businessman, President MacGregor relieved a great deal of the college's debt and returned operations to normalcy. After MacGregor's death in 1887, the college welcomed President Luckett back to the campus. Throughout his second term as president, Samuel Luckett adopted a military program, grew the student body, introduced a YMCA chapter, established intercollegiate athletics and Greek fraternities, and added two wings to Old Main.
Austin College offers about 35 majors and pre-professional programs for study, and students can also create a specialized major to match their academic interests. The college is known for its nationally recognized five-year Master of Arts in Teaching program, its pre-medical, international studies, and pre-law programs, which draw many students to the campus. The college has a music program, and supports the Austin College A Cappella Choir and the Sherman Symphony Orchestra made up of students and local musicians, and assorted smaller musical ensembles. It sponsors the Posey Center of Excellence in Leadership, the Center for Environmental Studies, and the Center for Southwestern and Mexican Studies, three specialized programs that give students numerous research and internship opportunities. The school also has active programs in over 40 academic disciplines. The school's student newspaper, the Austin College Observer, is a bi-weekly publication.
References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_College
Official Website: https://www.austincollege.edu/