Huntingdon College | Alabama
Address :
1500 East Fairview Avenue
Montgomery, AL 36106-2148
(334) 833-4497
Quick Facts
Founded: 1854 in Tuskegee, Alabama; moved to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1909.
Motto: "Enter to grow in wisdom; go forth to apply wisdom in service."
Hallmarks : Faith, Wisdom, and Service; The Huntingdon Plan; The Huntingdon College Honor Code
Location : 67-acre campus in a safe and beautiful residential neighborhood of Montgomery, Alabama, state capital and home of the internationally-acclaimed Alabama Shakespeare Festival; just three hours from the Gulf Coast
Student Body : Approximately 1,100 students in traditional and Adult Degree Completion programs, representing nearly every county in Alabama, approximately 20 states, and several countries; 50% male, 50% female; student/faculty ratio,15:1; average class size, 20.
Academic Programs : A liberal arts core curriculum leads to a broad range of academic majors, pre-professional programs, and teacher certification programs for elementary, secondary, and K–12 levels.
Placement Rates : Placement rates into graduate and professional schools far surpass national averages; excellent job placement upon graduation, as well.
Student Life Programs : More than 50 clubs and organizations, including Greek life, student government, academic honoraries, spiritual life organizations, and fine and performing arts programs. >>
Athletics : NCAA-Division III intercollegiate teams include Men’s Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country, Football, Golf, Soccer, Tennis; Women’s Basketball, Cross Country, Golf, Soccer, Softball, Tennis, Volleyball; in addition, Huntingdon offers cheerleading, the Scarlet and Grey Marching Band, Huntingdon Dazzlers dance team, and intramural sports. Many teams participate in the Great South Athletic Conference (GSAC); others are independent.
Technology : A laptop computer is provided for each student for use all four years, his or hers to keep upon graduation; SMART classrooms in each academic building; wireless hotspots; student/computer ratio, 1:1+.
Travel : Travel opportunities during the junior or senior year are offered either at no additional cost or for modest fees. Students may also participate in exchange programs with universities in other countries.
Financial Aid : More than $18 million administered annually to nearly 100% of traditional day students; traditional scholarships available for achievement, circumstance, and academic merit; participatory grants in cheerleading, concert choir, dance team, marching band; dependents of Alabama Power, Alfa, and the U.S. Military; Methodist students; and others.
Campus Safety : Security measures include security guards on campus 24/7 year-round; student bike patrol during the academic year; phone boxes outside each residence hall; emergency phone boxes in Searcy and Narrow Lane parking lots; partnered with the police department for Campus Crimestoppers; Critical Alert System for campus emergencies. See Students’ Right-to-Know and Higher Education Act Disclosures.
Special Programs : Staton Center for Learning Enrichment, Academic Success Centers in several subject areas, academic and pre-professional advising, individual counseling and accommodations for students with disabilities, internships, ACT: The Art of Critical Thinking (critical thinking across the curriculum), Center for Career and Vocation, Departmental Honors, Elizabeth Belcher Cheek Piano Concert Series, Rhoda Ellison Writers Festival, and Stallworth Lecture Series.
Honors and Distinctions : Huntingdon is consistently listed among U.S. News and World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” and the Princeton Review’s The Best Colleges, Region By Region; the campus is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Accreditation : Huntingdon College is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award the Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, and the Associate of Arts. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of Huntingdon College.
Huntingdon’s Athletic Training program is accredited by the Commission for Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE). The Teacher Certification program is accredited by the Alabama State Department of Education. The Music program is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music.
Adult Programs : Huntingdon’s Adult Degree Completion Program (ADCP) allows working professionals a convenient and flexible schedule for completing their bachelor’s degrees in business. Each course is offered just one night a week for five weeks. The program is offered at campuses in Montgomery, Baldwin County, Birmingham, Brewton, Enterprise, and Clanton.
Mission, Vision, Goals
Huntingdon College, founded in 1854, is a community of faith, wisdom, and service. Huntingdon serves approximately 1150 students in the traditional undergraduate program and the Adult Degree Completion Program (ADCP), providing an outstanding liberal arts education in an atmosphere that supports spiritual growth and inquiry.
Vision
Huntingdon College, grounded in the Judeo-Christian tradition of the United Methodist Church, is committed to nurturing growth in faith, wisdom, and service and to graduating individuals prepared to succeed in a rapidly changing world.
Mission
Huntingdon College, a liberal arts college offering an undergraduate education, is committed to a teaching and learning environment that provides its graduates with an educational experience meeting the College’s vision.
Goals
Huntingdon College, to fulfill its mission, is committed to ensuring that each student will :
- Study a core curriculum that develops the student’s ability to comprehend new ideas, to examine concepts critically, and to communicate clearly;
- explore in depth one or more fields of knowledge;
- Be provided an environment conducive to learning, growth, and maturity;
- Be encouraged to develop a sense of vocation by examining career options and postgraduate opportunities;
- Be supported and challenged in spiritual and religious development.
Huntingdon History
Late 1920s Huntingdon Campus
Enter to Grow in Wisdom; Go Forth to Apply Wisdom in Service. The inscription engraved in stone over the entrance to Flowers Hall is a tangible reminder of the mission of Huntingdon College. For more than 150 years, Huntingdon has upheld a mission of faith, wisdom, and service as it has created pathways to fulfilling lives for thousands of alumni.
The charter of Huntingdon College was signed by Alabama Governor John Winston on February 2, 1854. Chartered as Tuskegee Female College, this was the first of four names under which the College has operated.
The cornerstone on the Tuskegee campus was laid April 9, 1855. On February 11, 1856, the doors of Tuskegee Female College were officially opened under the leadership of Dr. Andrew Adgate Lipscomb, the first president of what would eventually be known as Huntingdon College. There were four students in the first graduating class in 1856, but by September 1859 the College’s enrollment had risen to an average of 216, with 29 women graduating that year.
In 1872, the Alabama Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, assumed full management and control of the College. The reincorporation created the present governing body—a board of trustees—and a change in name to Alabama Conference Female College.
In the aftermath of the Civil War, it became evident that the survival and growth of the College would best be ensured if the campus relocated to a more populous, urban environment. In 1906 Dr. John Massey, who had assumed the presidency in 1876, led the plans to move the College to Montgomery while College friends in the area began the search for a suitable site. Several citizens had initiated negotiations with landowners in an effort to persuade a donation of land, but these negotiations were unsuccessful. As a result, Dr. John Sellers, C.G. Zirkle, and William Moore approached J.G. Thomas, who agreed to sell to the men 50 acres in the Cloverdale section of Montgomery. The land was then donated to the College.
On August 24, 1909, furniture, equipment, and all official college records covering a period of more than half a century were moved into a rented building in Montgomery, which was to house the College until the first building on the new campus was completed. That night, the rented building burned, destroying its contents. Other housing arrangements were made, however, and in the fall of 1910 the new campus opened under the name Woman’s College of Alabama. Since the move to Montgomery had occurred the previous year, 1909 remains the recognized founding date of the Montgomery campus.
The College’s beautiful campus was designed in 1908 by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., son of the designer of New York’s Central Park. Olmsted Jr. had planned the landscapes for such constructions as the Boston Park System and the Biltmore Estate. John Jefferson Flowers Memorial Hall, the first building on campus, set the architectural style for the campus and was designed in the Collegiate Gothic tradition by H. Langsford Warren of England, a former professor of architecture at Harvard. Warren’s plan was meant to reflect the Gothic buildings of Cambridge and Oxford and used the Chapel of St. James College at Cambridge as the model for the building’s chapel, now known as Ligon Chapel.
Julia Pratt Hall (1912), The Hut (1922), Miriam Jackson Home (1924), Weenona Hanson Hall (1924), Seay Twins Art Gallery (1927), Bellingrath Memorial Hall (1928), and Houghton Memorial Library (1929) followed Flowers Hall in the building boom of the 1920s. Later, Ligon Memorial Hall (1947) and The Delchamps Residence (1949) followed.
Since its move to Montgomery, many changes have taken place for the College. In 1934, the first male student was graduated, but it was not until 20 years later—in 1954—that full-time male resident students would be admitted. Once the College became a co-educational institution, the name Woman’s College of Alabama was no longer suitable. In 1935, in recognition of its affiliation with the United Methodist Church, the name Huntingdon College was selected to honor Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, a woman who had been one of the first and most influential persons associated with the Wesleyan movement in England.
Enhancing opportunities for Huntingdon students, a number of facilities have been built on the main campus since the 1950s, including the building formerly known as Delchamps Student Center (1958), now Catherine Dixon Roland Student Center; Julia Walker Russell Dining Hall (1963); Hubert F. Searcy Hall (1970); Sybil Smith Hall, a facility dedicated to music programs (1985); James W. Wilson Center (1987); Neal Posey Field (baseball, 1994); and Carolyn and Wynton Blount Hall, a residential facility, in 1995.
In 2000, the College expanded across Fairview Avenue with the purchase of the 13-acre former Cloverdale School property. The expansion allowed the College to host the production offices for the feature film “Big Fish,” many scenes of which were filmed at Huntingdon, and to have space to add intercollegiate football, which began in 2003. Charles Lee Field was dedicated in 2004, followed by W. James Samford Jr. Stadium in 2006, both on the Cloverdale Campus. The Dr. Laurie Jean Weil Center for Human Performance was renovated and renamed on the Cloverdale Campus in 2004.
Since 2003, the College’s full-time enrollment has nearly doubled and includes not only traditional day enrollments, but also full-time equivalent students from the College’s Adult Degree Completion Program, with campuses in locations across the state. The College celebrated its 100th year in Montgomery in 2009.
