Albright College

Albright College

Former names	Union Seminary (1856–1887) Central Pennsylvania College (1887–1902) Schuylkill Seminary (1881–1923) Schuylkill College (1923–1929) Albright Collegiate Institute (1895–1898)
Motto	Veritas et Justitia
Motto in English	Truth and Justice
Type	Privateliberal arts college
Established	1856(1856)
Religious affiliation	United Methodist Church
Academic affiliation	Annapolis Group
Endowment	data not listed (2023)
President	Karen A. Campbell (acting)
Academic staff	2022: 114 full-time and 39 part-time
Students	1,298 (Fall 2022: Undergraduate enrollment)
Other students	200 (graduate enrollment)
Location	Reading, Pennsylvania , U.S. 40°21′39″N75°54′37″W
Campus	Suburban, 118 acres (48 ha)
Colors	Albright red, Albright gray, white
Nickname	Lions
Sporting affiliations	NCAA Division III MAC Commonwealth
Website	albright.edu

Albright Collegeis aprivateliberal arts collegeinReading, Pennsylvania.It was founded in 1856.

History

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

Albright Collegiate Instituteopened in 1895 and was renamedAlbright Collegethree years later.Union Seminary,meanwhile, becameCentral Pennsylvania Collegein 1887 and merged with Albright College in 1902.Schuylkill Seminary,the third institution, was founded in 1881, becameSchuylkill Collegein 1923, and merged into Albright in 1928.

Albright's campus relocated fromMyerstown,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 preacherJacob Albright,who founded theEvangelical Association(later known as theEvangelical United Brethren Church). Born in 1759 inDouglass Township,(nowMontgomery County) with the given name of Johannes Jacob Albrecht, the family changed their surname to "Albright" following Jacob's 1808 death.

Academics

Albright College students are encouraged to cross and combine areas of study without taking longer to graduate. The college offersBachelor of ArtsandBachelor of Sciencedegrees, as well as aMaster of ArtsandMaster of Sciencedegrees 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 undergraduatepsychobiologyprograms 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.

The theatre program has been honored by theKennedy Center American College Theater Festivalconsistently for many years.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.

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.

Rankings

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

Athletics

Albright College athletic teams compete in theNational Collegiate Athletic Association(NCAA)Division IIIas a member of theMiddle Atlantic Conferences.

Charles "Pop" Kelchnerfounded the men's basketball team in 1900 and was athletic director at Albright College for 21 years. He was involved in aspects ofMajor League Baseballfor over 50 years. Albright College dedicated the baseball field as Kelchner Field in 1952.Branch Rickeygave the dedication speech, withConnie Mackin attendance. Kelchner was a graduate ofLafayette Collegewith two degrees and was proficient in German, French, Italian, Spanish, Classical Latin and Greek. He served as Professor of Languages and athletic director.

Doggie Julianwas the head football coach at Albright from 1929 to 1930.Clarence Lester "Biggie" Munnwas the head football coach at Albright College from 1935 to 1936, before coachingSyracuse University(1946), and most notablyMichigan State College(1947–1953), where his 1952 squad won a national championship.

William "Lone Star" Dietzwas 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 theNational Football League,Dietz had coached the Boston "Redskins" (1933–1934), the forerunner of theWashington Commanders.Dietz is in the Albright College Athletic Hall of Fame and theCollege Football Hall of Fame.

In 1948, theUniversity of Maryland Eastern Shore(UMES) and Albright College played the first intercollegiate football game between anHistorically Black Colleges and Universities(HBCU) institution and a majority-white institution.

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

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,Renken was the president of the United States Olympic Basketball Team Selection Committee for the1976 Olympic Games.He also served as the president of theNational Association of Basketball Coaches(NABC) in 1979–1980.

On October 11, 2017, sophomore backup quarterback Gyree Durante was dismissed from the football team forkneeling during the national anthembefore the team's game againstDelaware Valley University,going against a collective team decision made before the game to kneel for the coin toss and stand for the anthem.Then-president Jacquelyn 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.”.Durante, however, declined reinstatement, citing his former teammates' stated lack of trust in him.

WXAC

Albright's campus radio station,WXAC 91.3 FMis a student-operated collegeradio 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), class of 1984, adult film actor
• Haps Benfer,class of 1914, college football, basketball, and baseball head coach
• Joseph E. Coleman,class of 1948, politician, attorney and chemist; first African-American elected president ofPhiladelphia City Council
• Leo Disend,class of 1938, played tackle with theGreen Bay Packersand theBrooklyn Dodgersfootball team
• Edwin Erickson,class of 1960, State Senator, Pennsylvania
• Jacquelyn S. Fetrow,class of 1982, computational biologist, former president of Albright College, former Provost and Professor of Chemistry at theUniversity of Richmond
• John Fetterman,class of 1991,United States Senator,2023-Present; 34thLieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania,2019–2023
• Doris Freedman,class of 1950, pioneer in the field ofpublic art
• Robert Gerhart,class of 1941, Pennsylvania State Senator for the 11th district from 1969 to 1972
• Robert P. Hollenbeck(born 1931), politician who served six terms in theNew Jersey General Assemblyfrom the36th Legislative District.
• Thomas R. Kline,class of 1969, leading trial lawyer
• Casey Lawrence,class of 2010, professional baseball pitcher for theToronto Blue JaysofMajor League Baseball
• Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ,class of 1994, Kenyan poet and author, Associate Professor of English and Africana Studies atCornell University
• Hidy Ochiai,class of 1966, author and actor, introduced the Washin-Ryu style ofkaratein the United States
• Anthony Portantino,class of 1983, State Senator, California
• Danene Sorace,class of 1994, Mayor ofLancaster, Pennsylvania,former director of Answer program atRutgers University.
• Bob Spitz,class of 1971,celebrity biographer
• Matthew Urbanski,class of 1985, landscape architect
• Russell Weigley,class of 1952, Distinguished University Professor of History atTemple University
• Victor Yarnell,class of 1951, 41stMayor of Reading, Pennsylvania

External links

• "Albright College".Encyclopædia Britannica(11th ed.). 1911.