Motto | Lux Mea (My Light) |
---|---|
Type | Private liberal arts |
Established | 1876 |
Affiliation | Christian |
Endowment | $111.6 million - as of March 23, 2015 |
President | Paul McNulty |
Provost | Robert J Graham |
Dean | David Ayers (Alva J. Calderwood School of Arts and Letters) & Stacy G. Birmingham (Hopeman School of Science, Engineering and Mathematics) |
Academic staff
|
130 |
Students | 2,500 |
Address |
100 Campus Drive Grove City, Pennsylvania 16127, Grove City, PA, US |
Campus | Rural 180 acres (0.28 sq mi) |
Colors | Crimson and White |
Nickname | Wolverines |
Mascot | Willie the Wolverine |
Affiliations | NCAA Division III |
Website | http://www.gcc.edu/ |
Grove City College is a Christian liberal arts college in Grove City, Pennsylvania, about 50 miles (80 km) north of Pittsburgh. According to the College Bulletin, its stated threefold mission is to provide an excellent education at an affordable price in a thoroughly Christian environment. Former College president Richard Jewell has said, "The two tenets that this school is most about are faith and freedom."
The school emphasizes a humanities core curriculum, which endorses the Judeo-Christian Western tradition and the free market. Though loosely associated with the Presbyterian Church, the college is non-denominational. Students are not required to sign a statement of faith, but are required to attend sixteen chapel services per semester.
Founded in 1876 by Isaac C. Ketler, the school was originally chartered as Pine Grove Normal Academy. It had twenty-six students in its first year. In 1884, the trustees of Pine Grove Normal Academy in Grove City amended the academy charter to change the name to Grove City College. By charter, the doors of the College were open to qualified students "without regard to religious test or belief." The founders of Grove City College, consciously avoiding narrow sectarianism, held a vision of Christian society transcending denomination, creeds, and confessions. Isaac Ketler was a devout Presbyterian who served as president until 1913. This was a span of 37 years altogether and occurred during a very formative period for the school.
Grove City was heavily supported by Joseph Newton Pew, founder of the Sun Oil Company. Pew was one of Ketler's grade-school teachers and a lifelong mentor and friend of the educator. Pew, like Ketler a devout Presbyterian and strong believer in the importance of good education, later accepted the presidency of the school's board of trustees. Pew and Ketler's influence continued with their sons, Weir C. Ketler (Grove City president from 1916 to 1956) and John Howard Pew. During the summer of 1925, J. Gresham Machen gave the lectures that formed the basis of his book, What Is Faith?