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Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio, founded in 1824 by Bishop Philander Chase of the The Episcopal Church. The campus is noted for its Collegiate Gothic architecture and rustic setting. Although suffering two serious fires (after which it was rebuilt), Old Kenyon Hall (1827) is believed to be the oldest Gothic revival building in the Americas. The 2005 Princeton Review and Fiske Guide to Colleges 2005 both ranked Kenyon's admissions as "most selective" and the college received top academic ratings. Kenyon College is accredited by the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

Academics

Kenyon's English Department is perhaps the best known among the college's academic departments. The English department first gained recognition with the arrival of the poet and critic John Crowe Ransom in 1937 as Professor of Poetry and first editor of The Kenyon Review, a literary journal. Perhaps the department's greatest influence on American literature derives from the role that it played in the development of a theory of literary study known as "the New Criticism." At a time when many scholars and teachers focused on the historical backgrounds of a literary text or probed authors' biographies for psychological clues, Ransom and his contemporaries argued for a method of literary analysis which took literature to be the most significant way humanity has ever devised for exploring reality, and which took texts themselves with corresponding seriousness, reading them closely and interpreting them intensively. Besides John Crowe Ransom, notable English faculty have included Jacques Barzun, Elizabeth Bishop, Eric Bentley, Cleanth Brooks, William Empson, Alfred Kazin, Robert Lowell, Arthur Mizener, Allen Tate, Robert Penn Warren, Yvor Winters, and more recently, John Kinsella and James Wood. Former English students at Kenyon include poets Robert Lowell, Randall Jarrell, Robert Mezey, James Wright, and Anthony Hecht, biographer and poet Daniel Mark Epstein, playwright Wendy MacLeod, and authors Peter Taylor, Fred Waitzkin, P. F. Kluge, William Gass, Laura Hillenbrand, and E. L. Doctorow.

Athletics

Kenyon's sports teams are referred to as the Lords and Ladies, and their colors are purple, white, and black with gold often added as an accent. The college's men's and women's swimming teams are generally considered among the best in NCAA Division III, with the men's team winning 27 consecutive national championships and the women's 20 (not consecutively). Swim Coach Jim Steen has coached the most conference titles in any sport in NCAA history.

Traditions

As Ohio's first private college, Kenyon takes pride in some traditions held more than 180 years. All students in each entering class are expected to take the Matriculation Oath and sign a Matriculation Book that dates back at least a century.

Another renowned tradition is the "Freshman Sing." Each year, entering freshmen gather on the steps of Rosse Hall to sing Kenyon songs before they are officially part of the Kenyon community. On the day before Commencement, seniors gather on the steps of Rosse Hall to sing Kenyon songs again.

Notable alumni

Student organizations

External links

  1. Kenyon College: http://www.kenyon.edu
  2. Kenyon College Profile: http://ir.kenyon.edu/profile.php
  3. Kenyon Collegian (student newspaper): http://www.kenyoncollegian.com
  4. Five Colleges of Ohio: http://www.ohio5.org
  5. Great Lakes Colleges Association: http://www.glca.org
  6. Colleges and Universities of the Anglican Communion/Association of Episcopal Colleges: http://www.cuac.org/53810_43981_ENG_HTM.htm?menupage=53912
  7. Kenyon Ice Hockey: http://www2.kenyon.edu/orgs/Icehockey/welcome.htm

Universities and colleges in Ohio | Liberal arts colleges | Knox County, Ohio | Ohio Five | 1824 establishments

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Kenyon College".

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