Coe College

Coe College is a private four-year liberal arts college located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was founded in 1851, and is historically affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). Its current president is James R. Phifer.

Coe is recognized as one of the most selective colleges in Iowa in terms of selectivity for admission, based on average ACT scores, percent of students in the top 10% of their graduating class, and percent of students in the top 50% of their graduating class.

Along with quality instruction from superb faculty, Coe offers an abundance of out-of-class opportunities to provide students with a well-rounded experience and solid preparation for the future. Within six months of graduation, 98% of Coe graduates are working or in graduate school. Within two to three years of graduation, more than 50% of Coe's graduates go on to do some form of post-graduate study. Typically, this involves law school, medical school or graduate study leading to a master's degree or Ph.D.

Quick Facts

Average class size: 16

Enrollment: Approximately 1,300 students representing most of the United States and 20 foreign countries.

Faculty: 80 full-time, 58 part-time, and no teaching assistants; 95 percent hold the highest degree in their field.

Student-Faculty ratio: 13:1

Average HS GPA: 3.6

Average ACT score: 25

Average SAT score: 1,151

Total cost: $31,670 for full-time tuition, room, board, and student fees in 2006-2007. Coe is committed to assisting students through its financial aid programs.

Writing Center

Coe's Writing Center is the largest student-run writing center in the nation. It was founded in 1986 to support the college's Writing-Across-Curriculum program. Its director is Dr. Robert L. Marrs.

Mission Statement

It is the mission of Coe College to provide students an education of superior quality that aims at preparing them for life following graduation. Our reason to exist as an institution is to ready students intellectually, professionally, and socially to lead productive and satisfying lives in the global society of the 21st century. As such, our success as a College will be measured according to the success of our graduates.

We believe that a liberal arts education is the best preparation for life. We believe that such an education allows students to discover what their real talents and interests are, and that it develops in them the skills, abilities, and habits of mind that will make possible a successful career in any field of endeavor, including ones that do not yet exist. Indeed, we believe that what defines a liberal arts education is its focus on cultivating in students certain fundamental abilities: the ability to think logically and analytically; the ability to communicate clearly, both in writing and speaking; the ability to use effectively computer technology; the ability to work productively as a member of a group seeking to achieve a common objective; the ability to make informed judgments, whether in the realm of ethical behavior or in that of aesthetic appreciation; the ability to foster and sustain an attitude of intellectual curiosity and creativity; and the ability to recognize and honor true excellence when found in any form or context. Furthermore, we believe that it is important for a liberal arts education to cultivate in students a desire to understand, a capacity for tolerance, and an ability to appreciate the ethnic and cultural diversity that make up humankind. It is the mission of the College to develop in students these abilities and attitudes, and in so doing to provide them an education that directs them toward a meaningful and successful life.

Coe College admits students without regard to sex, race, creed, color, handicap, sexual orientation, national, or ethnic origin. All students have equal access to the facilities, financial aid, and programs of the College.

History

Coe College claims the shortest name of any American institution of higher education, but the school has actually carried five titles through its history. When the Rev. Williston Jones founded the college in 1851, he called it The School for the Prophets. Cedar Rapids’ first resident minister opened the parlor of his home to a group of young men with the goal of educating them for the ministry to serve churches in the Midwest.

Two years later, while Jones was canvassing churches in the East for money to send three of his students to Eastern seminaries, a Catskills farmer named Daniel Coe stepped forward with a pledge of $1,500 and urged Jones to start his own college in the frontier town of Cedar Rapids.

Legend has it that the $1,500 raised by Coe was brought from New York west, sewed into the petticoat of a lady visitor traveling by stagecoach to Iowa. Coe gave this generous gift with the stipulation that the proposed institute should be "made available for the education of females as well as males." Accordingly, Coe was coeducational from its founding.

With Jones' blessing, the Cedar Rapids Collegiate Institute was incorporated in 1853 by a group of Cedar Rapids leaders chaired by Judge George Greene. They used Daniel Coe's money to purchase two downtown lots for the school and 80 acres of farmland on what was then the edge of town. The farm would evolve into today’s campus.

In 1868, the trustees renamed the school Parsons Seminary in a failed attempt to secure the Lewis Parsons estate. After a period of severe financial difficulties, the institution was reestablished in honor of its original benefactor as the Coe Collegiate Institute in 1875.

T.M Sinclair, founder of the Sinclair Meat Packing Company, played the key financial role in the final step toward the firm establishment of Coe College. Sinclair liquidated all the debt from Parsons Seminary and the Cedar Rapids Collegiate Institute. The Sinclair gift made it practical for the property of the Coe Collegiate Institute - including the original land paid for by Daniel Coe - to be transferred to Coe College with the Iowa Presbyterian Synod to assume major responsibility for the institution.

Coe College has operated continuously since its incorporation under that name on Feb. 2, 1881. From the first, the college was committed to intellectual excellence. It has continued in this tradition ever since.

The compact campus on the east edge of Cedar Rapids grew with many building projects in its early years, including Old Main (1868), Williston Hall (1881), Marshall Hall (1900), the first gymnasium (1904), and the first T.M. Sinclair Memorial Chapel (1911).

In 1907, Coe earned accreditation from the North Central Association of Colleges and Universities. Over the decades, Coe’s reputation as a superior liberal arts college has continued to grow. One recognition of this came in 1949, when Coe was granted a Phi Beta Kappa chapter, a distinction reserved for fewer than five percent of all American colleges and universities.

Central to the educational philosophy of Coe College is the belief that a liberal arts education is the best preparation for life. Students have the opportunity to experience a variety of subjects outside their respective programs of study. Coe offers more than 40 areas of study that cover a range of fields. The college awards the following degrees: Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Bachelor of Music (B.M.), and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (B.S.N.). A Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) may also be earned.

There are a number of factors that contribute to Coe College’s strong academic quality. The key to Coe’s tradition of excellence in academic quality relates directly to small class sizes and the interest shown by professors to make learning a personalized experience. At Coe, the average class size is 16, and the student-faculty ratio is 13:1. Classes are taught by our involved and committed faculty, 95 percent of whom hold the highest degree in their field. This means classes are taught by experienced professionals who have in-depth knowledge of their subjects.

Along with quality instruction from superb faculty, Coe offers an abundance of out-of-class opportunities including student-faculty collaborative research, honors projects and internships, to provide students with a well-rounded experience and solid preparation for the future. Within six months of graduation, 98% of Coe graduates are working or in graduate school.

Since 1989, Coe has nearly doubled in size with the addition of the east campus. New facilities on east side of College Drive include Clark Racquet Center and athletic fields (1989), Clark Alumni House (1993), Nassif Admission House (1999), and four student apartment buildings (Morris House and Schlarbaum House in 2000, Brandt House and Spivey House in 2002).

McCabe Hall (2005), named in honor of former Coe President Joseph E. McCabe houses the offices of the president, dean of faculty, and advancement and alumni relations, making way for the remodeling of Coe’s oldest building, Stuart Hall, and the first significant addition of classroom space since Peterson Hall was built in the 1960s.

Famous Alumni

William Shirer - Journalist, author

Paul Engle - Founder of the Iowa Writer's Workshop and the International Writer's Workshop, both at the University of Iowa

Marv Levy - Former Pro Football Hall of Fame coach for the Buffalo Bills. Currently the general manager for the Bills.

External link

Official site