Macalaster College

Macalester College

Motto	Natura et Revelatio Coeli Gemini (Latin)
Motto in English	Nature and Revelation are twin sisters of heaven
Type	Private liberal arts college
Established	1874
Affiliation	Presbyterian
Endowment	$700.2 million (2016)
President	Brian Rosenberg, PhD
Provost	Karine Moe
Dean	DeMethra LaSha Bradley
Academic staff	216
Undergraduates	2,073
Location	Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA
Campus	Urban (residential), 53 acres (21 ha)
Colors	Blue and Orange
Athletics	Division III
Nickname	Mac
Sports	Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Mascot	The Scots
Website	macalester.edu

Old Main, Macalester College
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Old Main
Location	1600 Grand Ave. Saint Paul, Minnesota
Architect	William H. Willcox
Architectural style	Romanesque Revival
NRHP Reference #	77000765
Added to NRHP	August 16, 1977

Coordinates: 44°56′21.07″N 93°10′4.70″W / 44.9391861°N 93.1679722°W / 44.9391861; -93.1679722 Macalester College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Saint Paul, Minnesota, US. It was founded in 1874 as a Presbyterian-affiliated but nonsectarian college. Its first class entered September 15, 1885. Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,978 students in the fall of 2013 from 50 U.S. states and 90 countries. In 2015, U.S. News & World Report ranked Macalester as tied for the 23rd best liberal arts college in the United States, 6th for undergraduate teaching at a national liberal arts college, and 19th for best value at a national liberal arts college.

Macalester College was founded in 1874 by Rev. Dr. Edward Duffield Neill, who served as a chaplain in the Civil War and held positions in three U.S. presidential administrations. After journeying to the Minnesota Territory in 1849 to do missionary work, he founded two churches and served as the state’s first superintendent of public education and first chancellor of the University of Minnesota. He planned a college that would be Presbyterian-affiliated but nonsectarian, making it inclusive by the standards of his day.

Charles Macalester, a prominent businessman and philanthropist from Philadelphia, made the establishing gift by donating the Winslow House, a noted summer hotel in Minneapolis. With additional funding from the Presbyterian Church and from the new College’s trustees, Macalester opened in 1885 with five professors, six freshmen, and 52 preparatory students.