Alfred University
Alfred University is a private university in Alfred, New York, United States. It has a total undergraduate population of approximately 1,600 students. The university hosts the statutory New York State College of Ceramics, which includes The Inamori School of Engineering and the School of Art and Design.
History
Alfred University was founded in 1836 as a non-sectarian select school by Seventh Day Baptists. Bethuel C. Church, a Seventh Day Baptist, was asked to organize a college in Alfred and began teaching, receiving financial assistance from the Seventh Day Baptist Educational Society with resources, in part, from "Female Educational Societies" of local churches. Unusual for the time, the school was co-educational, and within its first 20 years enrolled its first African-American and Native American students. From its founding as a select school, the institution received a charter as Alfred Academy from the New York State Board of Regents in 1842.Focused initially on the education of teachers, the institution continued to grow. In 1855, a curriculum was created for the Academic Department and the Collegiate with courses divided into three areas: the classic, the scientific and one for women involves most subjects in the other areas. There was no theology course in the initial period, however, the desire to organize a theological seminary led the academy, through Jonathan Allen, an early teacher, later second president, to apply for a license for a government-accredited university. After facing difficulties for more than two years, he received his charter as Alfred University from the New York State Legislature in March 1857, so that years later the Department of Theology was created. Although preceded by the short-lived New York Central College, Alfred University is the oldest surviving co-educational college in New York and New England, and the oldest college in the United States to admit women to all its programs of study, rather than having female-specific programs.
In 1900, the New York State Legislature approved the formation of "a State School of Clay-Working and Ceramics" at Alfred University, with the intention of establishing a public college "to serve New York State industry and assist in developing New York State raw materials and assist its ceramic industry." The college has evolved into the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and contains certain departments of both the School of Engineering and the School of Art and Design. The engineering curriculum includes the study of ceramics and glass, while the School of Art and Design provides art practice instruction in ceramics and glass. The College of Ceramics remains part of the State University of New York system, while Alfred University also maintains a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a College of Business in its private sector.
In 1908, the New York State Legislature approved the formation of the New York College of Agriculture at Alfred University. That college became autonomous in 1941 as a junior college, and, in 1948, became a member of the State University of New York system. While a separate and autonomous institution, Alfred State College, located on the opposite side of Main Street in the Village of Alfred, maintains close relations with Alfred University, and both institutions host an annual "Hot Dog Day" in the spring.
The origin of the name "Alfred" is uncertain. Residents of the town and students at the two schools believe that the town received its name in honor of Alfred the Great, king of the Saxons, although the first documented occurrence of this connection was in 1881, 73 years after the first record of the name being used to describe the geophysical area during assignments by the state legislature. State records which might have verified the connection between the Saxon king and the university were lost in a fire in 1911. Regardless of whether the connection is historically accurate, Alfred University has embraced King Alfred as a symbol of the school's educational values, and a statue of the king stands in the center of the campus quad.
Alfred University has hosted guest lecturers, artists and musicians including Frederick Douglass, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Ghostface Killah. In April 2000, Alfred University received national attention when freshman Eric Zuckerman orchestrated a campus visit from then–First Lady, Hillary Clinton, during her campaign for the United States Senate from New York.
In the 1990s, Alfred University, together with Corning Incorporated and the State of New York, began developing the Ceramic Corridor, an incubator project designed to take advantage of the emerging ceramics industry and to create new jobs. This industrial development program has focused on developing start-up industries between Corning, NY and Alfred, NY and includes business incubator facilities in Alfred and Corning. Since its initiation, the incubator facility in Alfred has joined The Western New York Incubator Network.
File:Pumpking Alfred 2019.jpg|thumb|right|The statue of King Alfred the Great stands at the center of AU's quad, and is often decorated by students. In this picture, he has a Jack-o'-lantern on his head for Halloween 2019, leading to his temporary renaming as 'Pumpking Alfred'.
In 1971, the village of Alfred, where the university is located, became only the fourth municipality in the U.S. to ban employment discrimination based on sexuality. Amidst the dissolution of the AU Greek System, the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity chapter at Alfred University led a successful effort to ban discrimination based on religion, age, disability, and sexual orientation in the constitution of the 210 chapter international fraternity in 2002.
Alfred University's ranking by U.S. News & World Report in its 2021 edition of Best Colleges is Regional Universities North, #45, while in 2019 the university had an acceptance rate of 66% with the middle 50% of students admitted having an SAT score between 940 and 1180 or an ACT score between 20 and 27.
Events and culture
Mascot
Alfred University's athletic teams became known as The Saxons in 1929, but did not institute an official mascot when the moniker was selected.In 1940, two Kappa Psi Upsilon brothers, James Lippke and Walter Lawrence, developed a character named Lil Alf to be used on their fraternity house's signs during football games. In his original design, Lil Alf was a knight in shining armor, simplified to a small cartoonish form in a 1948 redesign.
Lil Alf was not formally adopted as a campus mascot, with many sports teams complaining that he was "too cute and not fierce enough." The use of his image was formally banned on official publications by the university's Visual Identity Standards document. In spite of opposition, his image remained ubiquitous through the 2000s and was common on unofficial sports signs and clothing.
In 2013 the university introduced Lil Alf as its official mascot. He was redesigned to feature a somewhat more historically accurate armor and helmet in Alfred University's purple and gold.
The Black Knight
The Black Knight has been a part of Alfred University folklore since the early 1900s. The relic was originally part of a parlor stove in a classroom in Kanakadea Hall. When the stove was discarded, the figure was claimed by the Class of 1908 as their mascot. They passed it on to the Class of 1910, thus causing a "war of possession" between the even and odd numbered classes. Many times over the years it disappeared and re-appeared on campus. In 2005 it was transferred to a glass case in the Powell Campus Center, along with a plaque describing its history. However, after only a few months, the glass enclosure was destroyed in the middle of the night and the Black Knight stolen.Hot Dog Day
, one of the largest yearly gatherings in Alfred, was first organized in 1972 by Mark O'Meara and Eric Vaughn as a way to bring the community together, raise money for local charities, and improve the reputations of campus Greek life. Since then the event has been organized and run by Alfred University and Alfred State College. From 2014 through 2022 the festival was held on alternating campuses, but in 2023 it resumed its original location on Main Street, Alfred. The event usually features live music, a soapbox derby, vendors, and carnival games for local children.In popular culture
Alfred University was mentioned on Saturday Night Live once in 1975 by host and Alfred University alumnus Robert Klein. When Klein hosted SNL again in 1977, he talked at length about Alfred University in his monologue.In April, 2020, an episode of the game show Jeopardy
featured Alfred University's honors course on maple syrup in a question for the category of "Unique College Courses".
Campus
There are two libraries on Alfred's campus, the Herrick Memorial Library, which primarily serves the private colleges, and the Scholes Library, which primarily serves the New York State College of Ceramics. The Alfred Ceramic Art Museum has a collection of 8,000 ceramic objects, including both ancient and modern ceramic art and craft.Alfred has an astronomy program with the 7-telescope Stull Observatory, which has one of the largest optical telescopes in New York state. Asteroid 31113 Stull was named for physics professor John Stull, who helped establish the observatory in 1966.
The Bromley-Daggett Equestrian Center, located at the Maris Cuneo Equine Park, was constructed in 2005. It hosts equine classes, an intramural equestrian team, varsity and JV for both English and Western disciplines, clinics, and horse shows. Stalls are available for boarding by university students. The facility has an indoor arena of 16000 ft2 and lighted outdoor arenas of ; the entire property consists of of land.
The Miller Performing Arts Center was dedicated in 1995.
Alfred University was once associated with the Seventh Day Baptist Church, until 1945 all presidents were admitted from among the seventh day Baptists, and had a school of theology. Formerly the campus chapel, Alumni Hall is now used primarily to house the Admissions and Financial Aid Departments, and has a place on the National Register of Historic Places. In the mid-1980s, Alumni Hall was preserved through a restoration effort.
Alfred's Davis Memorial Carillon, erected in 1937 as a tribute to longtime president Boothe C. Davis, can occasionally be heard while on campus. The bells of the carillon, purchased from Antwerp, were thought to be the oldest bells in the western hemisphere. Research later showed that the bells were of a more recent vintage, and that Alfred had been the victim of a fraud. On the brighter side, the non-historic nature of the bells allows the university to replace those that have poor tonal quality. Besides the resident carillonneur, guest carillonneurs have in the past visited and played during the summer.