Lewis & Clark College

Lewis & Clark College is a private college located in Portland, Oregon. It has an undergraduate College of Arts and Sciences, a School of Law, and a Graduate School of Education and Counseling. Lewis & Clark is a member of the Annapolis Group of colleges with athletic programs competing in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III Northwest Conference. Just under 2,000 students attend the undergraduate College of Arts and Sciences, with a student body from more than 50 countries across six continents as well as most U.S. states. The School of Law is best known for its environmental law program, while the Graduate School of Education & Counseling is active in community engagement and social justice.

Originally chartered as the Albany Collegiate Institute in 1867 in the town of Albany, the school moved to the Portland campus in 1938 and in 1942 adopted the name Lewis & Clark College after the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Today, the three schools and their supporting offices occupy a campus of 137 acres (554,000 m²), centered on the M. Lloyd Frank Estate on Palatine Hill in the Collins View neighborhood of Southwest Portland.

History


Like many modern universities, the institution that would eventually become Lewis & Clark was initially intended to provide secondary as well as higher education for a specific religious community, in this case Presbyterian pioneers in Oregon's Willamette Valley. To this end the Presbyterian church incorporated Albany Academy in 1858, making Lewis & Clark one of four Oregon colleges with foundations predating Oregon's statehood (along with Willamette University, Pacific University, and Linfield College). Within a decade of its founding, Albany Academy began to focus more exclusively on higher education, changing its official name to the Albany Collegiate Institution in 1866. Lewis & Clark's official founding date comes from the current charter, which has been legally valid since the Presbyterian church reincorporated the Albany Collegiate Institution as Albany College in 1867. Unlike most Oregon colleges of the pioneer-era, the college has been coeducational since the first class, which graduated in 1873. The early campus of 7 acre in Albany was situated on land donated by the Monteith family. In 1892, the original school building was enlarged, and in 1925 the school relocated south of Albany where it remained until 1937.

Albany College established a junior college to the north in Portland in 1934, with the entire school moving to Portland in 1939. The campus grounds later became home to the federal government's Albany Research Center. In 1942 the college trustees acquired the Lloyd Frank (of the historic Portland department store Meier & Frank) “Fir Acres” estate in southwest Portland, and the school name was changed to Lewis & Clark College. The original school mascot, the Pirates, was changed to the Pioneers in 1946.

Academics
The three schools of the college include the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), the Law School, and the Graduate School of Education and Counseling.

CAS departments include Art, East Asian Studies, English, Foreign Languages and Literatures (French, Chinese, German, Greek, Spanish, Latin, Russian, and Japanese), History, Music, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Theatre, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics, Environmental Studies, Physics, Communication, Economics, Classical Studies, Gender Studies, International Affairs, Latin American Studies, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology, and Academic English Studies.

Lewis & Clark has nationally regarded programs in Biology, International Affairs, Psychology, Foreign Languages and Environmental Studies. The college has held two worldwide symphonic festivals in the past five years with professional-level performances in Dublin and the Greek islands.

Lewis & Clark is also known for its active and diverse overseas study program. The college offers approximately 36 programs in various countries, and since the 1960s, more than 60% of all Lewis & Clark undergraduates have studied abroad. For a small liberal arts college, Lewis & Clark's overseas offerings are impressive in both breadth and scope; there are, for example seven discrete programs in Spanish-speaking countries. Lewis & Clark is also one of the few U.S. institutions with an overseas program in Cuba. This international component is integrated into the college's academics, especially in departments such as International Affairs and Foreign Languages, and is also part of Lewis & Clark College's identity and reputation as an international institution.

Admissions Profile
For the class of 2015 (enrolled fall 2011), Lewis & Clark received 5,950 applications, accepted 3,928 (66.0%) and enrolled 606 (15.4% of those accepted). In terms of class rank, 40% of enrolled freshmen were in the top tenth of their high school classes, and 77% were in the top quarter. The middle 50% range of SAT scores for the enrolled freshmen was 610-710 for critical reading, 580-670 for math, and 590-680 for writing, while the ACT Composite range was 27–30. The average high school Grade Point Average (GPA) of enrolled freshmen was 3.71.

Rankings
The 2013 annual ranking of U.S. News & World Report categorizes Lewis & Clark as 'more selective' and ranks it the 70th best liberal arts college in the nation. Forbes in 2012 rated it 204th in its America's Top Colleges ranking, which includes military academies, national universities, and liberal arts colleges. Kiplinger's Personal Finance placed it 68th in its 2012 ranking of best value liberal arts colleges in the United States.

Campus overview
Lewis & Clark's 137 acre forested campus sits atop Palatine Hill in the Collins View neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, and is contiguous with the 645 acre (2.61 km2) Tryon Creek State Natural Area. Campus buildings include an award-winning environmentally sustainable academic building, as well as notable historic architecture such as the Frank Manor House (designed by Herman Brookman) and Rogers Hall (formerly Our Lady of Angels convent of The Sisters of St. Francis).

Due in large part to the college's natural environment, Lewis & Clark was named one of America's top ten "Most Beautiful Campuses" by the Princeton Review, as well as an independent architecture blog.

Residence halls
All students are required to live on campus for the first two years, unless already a Portland resident. Residence halls include SOA (Stewart-Odell-Akin), Forest, Hartzfeld, Platt-Howard, Copeland and also include East, Roberts, and West, the on-campus apartments.

Several of the student residence halls have themes. Stewart is "Substance Free/Wellness", providing a home for those who wish to live in a drug and alcohol-free environment. Akin is known as the "Multicultural Dorm", hosting a majority of students from outside of the United States as well as some U.S. students with international experience. Platt-Howard: Platt West houses the Platteau student-run arts center, and the "Visual and Performing Arts" (or VAPA) and Howard has an "Outdoor Floor". Spruce, in the Forest complex, offers all-female housing. Juniper, also in Forest, is the "Pioneers in Environmental Action and Service" (PEAS) Floor, more generally known as the "green" floor. Hartzfeld requires sophomore standing or higher to live in. East Hall, Roberts Hall and West Hall are a series of on-campus apartments completed in 2003 and require junior class standing or higher to live in. Many of the apartments have language themes, with residents grouped into a single apartment based on a language, including French, Spanish, German, Russian, Chinese, and Japanese.

Lewis & Clark College residence halls are co-ed. While individual rooms generally house one gender, students may opt otherwise under the college's gender neutral housing policy.

Sustainability
Sustainability is an important issue for many students, faculty, and college administrators. Currently, wind power provides 100% of the college's total electricity, and LEED-"certified" level must be met for all of the college's projects. Reuters recently listed Lewis & Clark as one of the ten best universities in the United States for studying cleantech.

Athletics
Lewis & Clark maintains 9 male and 10 female varsity sports teams, and athletic facilities including Pamplin Sports Center and Griswold Stadium. Lewis & Clark athletic teams are called the Pioneers, and team colors are orange and black. The Pioneers compete mainly in the Northwest Conference against eight other NCAA Division III institutions in the Pacific Northwest. One in five undergraduates are officially designated student athletes. Recent accomplishments in varsity athletics include the men's rowing team winning its conference, women's swim team winning third in conference, and men's and women's basketball both earning third in conference. In the 2011 season, the women's cross-country team placed seventh at West regionals, with the men's team placing 13th. The 2011-2012 men's basketball team lost in the NWC semifinals putting them in 4th place in the conference. Additionally, the women's team of that same year placed second in the NWC and made an appearance in the NCAA DIII National tournament.

A large number of smaller club and intramural sports such as Ultimate Frisbee, and Boffing enjoy broad participation. Lewis & Clark students have invented several intramural competitive sports, including Ninja and Wolvetch, which are popular at Lewis & Clark but seldom played elsewhere. While some varsity athletic events are well attended, there has long been tension between varsity athletes and non-athletes regarding perceived social and cultural differences, as well as the substantial financial support varsity sports teams enjoy.

Transportation
Throughout the year the college operates a shuttle bus between campus and Pioneer Square in downtown Portland, the Pioneer Express (also referred to as the "Pio Express"). During winter months there is also a daily shuttle to Mount Hood Meadows Ski Resort. TriMet line 39 operates between the college and the Hillsdale neighborhood where students can transfer to buses to downtown Portland. First year students are not permitted to have cars on campus.

Notable faculty, staff, and trustees

 * Stephen Dow Beckham, historian
 * Greta Binford, biologist
 * John F. Callahan, Morgan S. Odell Professor of Humanities and literary executor of Ralph Ellison's estate
 * Rev. Elbert Nevius Condit (1846-1900), Presbyterian minister, early president (1879-?) when it was known as Albany Collegiate Institute.
 * Jerusha B. Detweller-Bedell, Associate professor of psychology and recipient of 2008 U.S. Professor of the Year award from CASE
 * Bob Gaillard - basketball coach
 * Michael Mooney - President of the College for 14 years until his resignation in 2003 after reports surfaced in the media of a $10.5 million loss from an investment made outside full knowledge of the board of trustees.
 * Robert B. Pamplin, Jr., entrepreneur, philanthropist, trustee
 * Vern Rutsala, poet
 * Kim Stafford, writer
 * William Stafford, poet
 * Anthony Swofford, former adjunct professor of humanities, author of Jarhead
 * Mary Szybist, poet

Notable alumni

 * Becca Bernstein (2000), artist
 * Matt Biondi, US Olympic Swimmer
 * Earl Blumenauer (1970, J.D. 1976), U.S. Representative
 * Don Bonker (1964), former U.S. Representative
 * Larry Campbell (1953), former Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives
 * Donald Eric Capps (1960), scholar of Pastoral Theology
 * Ever Carradine (1996), actress
 * Genevieve Gorder (1996), television personality
 * Jeanne Holm (1956), first female Brigadier General in the U.S. Air Force and first female Major General in the United States armed forces
 * Percy R. Kelly (1887, from Albany College), Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court
 * Marcia S. Krieger (1975), Judge on the United States District Court for the District of Colorado
 * Monica Lewinsky (1995), White House intern and party to the Lewinsky scandal
 * Ronald A. Marks (1978), former CIA official
 * Myah Moore (2003), Miss Oregon USA 2003
 * Mark V. Olsen, (1977), co-creator of HBO series Big Love
 * Markie Post (1975), actress
 * Sagala Ratnayaka (1993), Sri Lankan politician and agriculturalist
 * Pete Ward (1962), Major League Baseball player