St. Olaf College

Information about St. Olaf College

St. Olaf College
Motto Fram! Fram! Kristmenn, Krossmen
(Adapted from the Old Norse battle cry of St. Olav, King of Norway: "Forward! Forward! Men of Christ, Men of the Cross")
Established 1874
Type Private liberal arts college
Endowment $225 million in 2005
President David R. Anderson '74, Ph.D.
Students 3007 undergraduates (approximation)
Location Northfield, Minnesota, USA
Campus 3.72 km² (920 acres)[1]
Colors Black and Gold
Nickname "Oles" (Oh'-lees)
Mascot St. Olaf Lion
Affiliations MIAC, ELCA.
Website www.stolaf.edu
St. Olaf College is a coeducational, residential, four-year private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). It was founded in 1874 by a group of Norwegian-American immigrant pastors and farmers, led by Pastor Bernt Julius Muus. An average of six St. Olaf students are awarded the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship each year. Additionally, the college has produced three Rhodes Scholars since 1977.

St. Olaf ranks as one of the top 20 small colleges (5,000 students or fewer) for the number of students who serve in the Peace Corps.

St. Olaf College is listed in Loren Pope's Colleges That Change Lives.

History of the college

Founding of the college

Many Norwegian immigrants arrived in Rice County, Minnesota, and the surrounding area in the late 19th century. With nearly all the immigrants being Lutheran Christians, they desired a non-secular post-secondary institution in the Lutheran tradition that offered classes in all subjects in both Norwegian and English. The catalyst for founding St. Olaf was the Reverend Bernt Julius Muus, and he sought out the help of the Rev. N.A. Quammen and H. Thorson. Together they petitioned their parishes and others to raise money in order to buy a plot of land on which to build this new institution. The three men succeeded in receiving around $10,000 in pledges, and thus went on to form a corporation and to buy a plot of land and four buildings (old Northfield schoolhouses) for accommodations for the school.

St. Olaf, then called St. Olaf's School, opened on January 8, 1875 at its first site under the leadership of its first president, Thorbjorn Mohn. In 1887 the Manitou Messenger was founded as a campus magazine and has since evolved into the college's student newspaper.

Overview of the campus

Enlarge picture
The center of St. Olaf's campus.
Enlarge picture
St. Olaf's wind turbine, which directly powers one-third of the campus.
Ecology and sustainability are top priorities on the 300 acre (0 km) St. Olaf campus, which includes woodland, prairie and wetlands. The college also owns 600 adjacent acres of no-till farmland. The newest landmark on campus is the 350 foot (107 m) tall, 1.6 megawatt wind turbine that began generating one third of the college’s electricity in fall 2006.

A new Science Complex is scheduled to open in fall 2008. It will join some 14 academic and administrative buildings and 11 residence halls spread across the "Manitou Heights" hilltop on the western edge of Northfield. Many St. Olaf students also live in 18 “honor” houses on the campus periphery. These home-like residences offer students the chance to develop personal interests through local volunteer work or through such organizations as Jewish Student Outreach, the Story House and St. Olaf Cancer Connection. Other honor houses, such as the French, German, Russian, and Asian Studies houses, allow students to further immerse themselves in academics.

Academics

Curriculum

Before graduating, St. Olaf students complete nearly 20 required courses in foundation studies (writing, a second language, oral communication, mathematical reasoning, physical well-being) and core studies that include studies in Western culture, human behavior and society, biblical and theological studies, artistic and literary studies, and studies in natural science. Many of the courses are, by nature, interdisciplinary. St. Olaf offers 41 major areas of study for the bachelor of arts degree, four for the bachelor of music degree and fourteen areas of concentration.

The average student-to-faculty ratio is 13:1. The average class size is 23 students.

Study abroad

St. Olaf College is recognized nationally for the quality of its international studies program. It is ranked 1st nationally out of bachelor-degree institutions in the number of students who study abroad (according to statistics from the "Chronicle of Higher Education"). Seventy-eight percent of the class of 2006 studied off- campus; 71% studied abroad. The college offers more than 120 international and U.S. off-campus study programs in Hong Kong, Japan, Costa Rica, Vietnam, the Czech Republic, London, Florence, Oxford, Aberdeen, Manhattan, Russia and many other locations. Unique study abroad programs offered by the college include the "Global Semester", "Term in the Middle East", and "Term in Asia". Students participating in these programs visit several different countries during the course. They are accompanied by a St. Olaf faculty member and complete academic coursework relevant to the destinations they visit.

Academic distinctions

According to the National Research Council’s "Survey of Earned Doctorates", St. Olaf ranks eighth among bachelor degree colleges in the number of graduates who go on to earn doctoral degrees. (This represents the years 1995–2004.) St. Olaf was also first among baccalaureate colleges in mathematics, second in religion and theology, seventh in chemistry, third in foreign languages, third in art and music and fifth in life sciences as an undergraduate supplier of Ph.D.s.

U.S. News & World Report's “America’s Best Colleges 2007” ranked St. Olaf among the nation’s top liberal arts colleges in graduation rate performance (33rd), academic reputation (35th), freshman retention (25th) and percentage of incoming students who graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school class (53rd).

Campus Life

Student organizations

The college is home to over 130 student organizations, including an on-campus organic farm, an improv comedy troupe, and an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) organization that is the first responder for campus emergencies. There are 16 religious organizations, over a dozen multicultural organizations, and many academic, service and political groups. [2] And, two-thirds of students on campus participate in at least one intramural sport.[3]

Student government

One of the most visible student organizations on campus, St. Olaf’s Student Government Association (SGA) organizes a variety of extracurricular experiences and represents the student body to members of the faculty, administration, and the Board of Regents.

SGA operates through nine branches, each of which is managed by an elected executive. Each branch serves a unique purpose, such as organizing volunteer programs, diversity events and campus entertainment, fostering political dialogue and providing financial support to other student organizations. Student Senate, one of the largest branches, consists of elected student senators who represent their constituency in the assembly.

SGA also sponsors Oleville.com [1], a student-oriented portal site which contains updates on campus events, news feeds from local and national sources, and blogs by administrators and student leaders.

Music at St. Olaf

St. Olaf's music program, founded by F. Melius Christiansen in 1903, is world-renowned. Its band, choir and orchestra tour the continental U.S annually and have made many critically-acclaimed international tours. International tours regularly occur every four years. The St. Olaf Band was the first American college musical organization to conduct a concert tour abroad when it travelled to Norway in 1906. The orchestra was the first college orchestra ever to be a part of the Community Concert series.

The St. Olaf Choir, currently directed by Anton Armstrong '78, was founded by Christiansen in 1907 as the St. John's Lutheran Church Choir in Northfield, and is regarded as the pioneer a cappella college choir in the United States. It is recognized as one of the premier collegiate ensembles in the United States. [2]It has toured Europe several times, as well as China, Korea, and Australia, performing before heads of state and producing over a dozen recordings. The choir performs in the nationally broadcast annual St. Olaf Christmas Festival, along with the St. Olaf Orchestra and four of the college's other choirs. The St. Olaf Choir can also be heard performing Mozart's Requiem with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in the new Nike commercial "Jordan XXII-Takeover". In 2005, the St. Olaf Choir was invited to perform at the White House on May 5 for President George W. Bush, First Lady Laura Bush and guests to commemorate The National Day of Prayer.

Other student musical ensembles include Chapel Choir, Cantorei, Manitou Singers, Viking Chorus, Repertory Singers, Chamber Orchestra, Norseman Band and many smaller vocal and instrumental ensembles. One of the many student-run music ensembles at St. Olaf that has received the most notoriety is the men's a capella group known as the Limestones, though it operates independently from the college.

In 2005 the St. Olaf Band, St. Olaf Orchestra and St. Olaf Choir toured throughout Norway to help that country celebrate its centennial of independence from Sweden.

A few ensembles that sprouted their roots at St. Olaf include the Minnesota Symphonic Winds and the a cappella choral groups Cantus, Inpulse and Magnum Chorum.

Athletics

St. Olaf College is a member of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC). St. Olaf athletic teams and students are nicknamed the "Oles." St. Olaf's Swimming and Diving team is traditionally the strongest of its sports teams, having won a majority of its MIAC conference championships, and is strongly competitive at the national level, often finishing within the top ten NCAA Division III schools at nationals. St. Olaf competes in the following sports:

Fall Sports: Winter Sports: Spring Sports :
St. Olaf also has many student coached club and intramural teams that compete within the student body and also intercollege. Most notable is the St. Olaf ultimate team The Berzerkers, which makes an annual trip to a national collegiate tournament (Spring Ultimax) in North Carolina.

Rivalry with Carleton College

St. Olaf is a traditional athletic rival of its crosstown neighbor, Carleton College. Each year in football, Carleton and St. Olaf compete in a contest recently dubbed the "Cereal Bowl" in honor of the Malt-O-Meal production facility that is located in Northfield. In this contest, the Oles have not lost to Carleton since 1995, and hence have retained both the "Goat Trophy" (created by a St. Olaf carpenter in 1931) and the silver Cereal Bowl trophy that are awarded annually to the winning team. The rivalry between St. Olaf and Carleton, which began with a Carleton victory over St. Olaf in 1919, is one of the oldest in all of college football, and the only to feature two colleges from the same ZIP code.

A lesser known fact about the Cereal Bowl is that Northfield's veterans' memorial (located in Bridge Square) features an eagle that is turned to face the college that wins the annual football match between the two schools.

These football teams are also significant for constituting the only NCAA sanctioned metric football game in history (which St. Olaf won).

College fight song

Based on a Norwegian folk tune, the college song, Um Yah Yah, is the only college fight song in the USA in 3/4 (waltz) meter. It is one of the few college songs to mention another college in its lyrics. Other fight songs that mention rival schools include Texas A&M University's "Aggie War Hymn" and the fight songs of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), University of Alabama, University of Texas, and Georgetown University.

The lyrics to the St. Olaf song include the unofficial St. Olaf "battle cry" - "Um Ya Ya!". The most common version uses the name of traditional cross-town rival, Carleton College, but the current opposing institution's name is inserted when sung at athletic competitions.

We come from St. Olaf, we sure are the real stuff.
Our team is the cream of the colleges great.
We fight fast and furious, our team is injurious.
Tonight Carleton College will sure meet its fate.


Um Ya Ya! Um Ya Ya!
Um Ya Ya! Um Ya Ya!
Um Ya Ya! Um Ya Ya! Um Ya Ya YA!


Um Ya Ya! Um Ya Ya!
Um Ya Ya! Um Ya Ya!
Um Ya Ya! Um Ya Ya! Um Ya Ya YA!

Presidents of the college

St. Olaf has had 11 presidents since its founding:
  • Thorbjorn N. Mohn 1874-1899
  • John N. Kildahl 1899-1914
  • Lauritz A. Vigness 1914-1918
  • Lars W. Boe 1918-1942
  • Clemens M. Granskou 1943-1963
  • Sidney A. Rand 1963-1980
  • Harlan F. Foss, Ph.D. 1980-1985
  • Melvin D. George, Ph.D. 1985-1994
  • Mark U. Edwards Jr., Ph.D. 1994-2000
  • Christopher M. Thomforde, D.Min. 2001-2006
  • David R. Anderson, Ph.D. 2006 to Present

Church affiliation

[3]

Notable alumni

St. Olaf College in popular culture

St. Olaf is mentioned in the works of Minnesota author F. Scott Fitzgerald. His character Jay Gatsby of The Great Gatsby attended the college briefly and worked as a janitor. It also is mentioned in Garrison Keillor's radio program A Prairie Home Companion.

The fictional Minnesota city of St. Olaf was the hometown of Rose Nylund in the TV show The Golden Girls. No confirmed basis has been found for the rumor that this name was chosen by a Golden Girls writer who had attended cross-town college rival Carleton College and was mocking St. Olaf by giving its name to the hometown of the ditzy Rose character. In the TV show the fictional city's sister city was St. Gustav, Minnesota, a nod to Gustavus Adolphus College, located nearby in St. Peter, Minnesota. Betty White, the actress who played Rose, visited the St. Olaf campus on one occasion and was given a honorary membership in St. Olaf's chapter of the theater honorary society.

References

1. ^ [4]
2. ^ St. Olaf College Student Organizations. St. Olaf College (2007). Retrieved on 2007-05-08.
3. ^ Good Game. St. Olaf College (2007). Retrieved on 2007-05-08.

External links

 •  • [ e]
Colleges and universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Augsburg • Augustana (IL) • Augustana (SD) • Bethany • California Lutheran • Capital • Carthage • Concordia (MN) • Dana • Finlandia • Gettysburg • Grand View • Gustavus Adolphus • Lenoir-Rhyne • Luther (IA) • Midland • Muhlenberg • Newberry • Pacific Lutheran • Roanoke • St. Olaf • Susquehanna • Texas Lutheran • Thiel • Wagner • Waldorf • Wartburg • Wittenberg
 •  • [ e]
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Augsburg • Bethel • Carleton • Concordia Moorhead • Gustavus Adolphus • Hamline • Macalester • Saint Catherine • Saint Benedict & Saint John's • Saint Mary's • Saint Olaf • Saint Thomas
 •  • [ e]
Annapolis Group
Chair: Katherine Haley Will, President, Gettysburg College Participating liberal arts colleges: Agnes Scott • Albion • Albright • Allegheny • Alma • Amherst • Augustana (Illinois) • Austin • Bard • Barnard • Bates • Bennington • Berea • Birmingham-Southern • Bowdoin • Bryn Mawr • Bucknell • Carleton • Centre • Chatham • Claremont McKenna • Coe • Colby • Colgate • Colorado • Connecticut • Cornell College • Davidson • Denison • DePauw • Dickinson • Drew • Earlham • Eckerd • Franklin & Marshall • Furman • Gettysburg • Gordon • Goucher • Grinnell • Gustavus Adolphus • Hamilton • Hampden-Sydney • Hampshire • Harvey Mudd • Haverford • Hendrix • Hiram • Hobart & William Smith • Hollins • Holy Cross • Hope • Illinois Wesleyan • Juniata • Kalamazoo • Kenyon • Knox • Lafayette • Lake Forest • Lawrence • Lewis & Clark • Luther • Macalester • Manhattan • McDaniel • Middlebury • Millsaps • Monmouth • Moravian • Morehouse • Mount Holyoke • Muhlenberg • Nebraska Wesleyan • Oberlin • Occidental • Oglethorpe • Ohio Wesleyan • Pitzer • Pomona • Presbyterian • Randolph-Macon • Randolph • Reed • Rhodes • Ripon • Rollins • St. Benedict • St. John's College • St. John's University • St. Lawrence • St. Olaf • Salem • Sarah Lawrence • Scripps • • Skidmore • Smith • Southwestern • Spelman • Swarthmore • Sweet Briar • Transylvania • Trinity College • Trinity University • Union • Puget Sound • Ursinus • Vassar • Wabash • Washington College • Washington & Jefferson • Washington & Lee • Wellesley • Wesleyan College • Wesleyan University • Westmont • Wheaton • Whitman • Whittier • Willamette • William Jewell • Williams • Wittenberg • Wooster
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Bernt Julius Muus (1832-1900) led a group of Norwegian-American immigrant pastors and farmers, to found St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, USA, in 1874. St. Olaf College is a residential, four-year private liberal arts college and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran
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