Carthage College
Carthage College is a private college in Kenosha, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1847, it is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Carthage awards bachelor's degrees with majors in more than 40 subject areas and master's degrees in three areas. Carthage has 150 faculty and enrolls approximately 2,600 students. It is an affiliate of the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium.
History
Carthage College was founded in Hillsboro, Illinois, by Lutheran pioneers in education, and chartered by the Illinois General Assembly on January 22, 1847. Originally known as The Literary and Theological Institute of the Lutheran Church in the Far West, its name was soon shortened to Lutheran College and known locally as Hillsboro College. With a two-person faculty and 79 students, Hillsboro promised "a course of study designed to be thorough and practical, and to embrace all the branches of learning, usually pursued in the best academies and colleges".In 1852, the college moved to Springfield, Illinois, and was renamed Illinois State University, not to be confused with the institution in Normal, Illinois, under the same name. During this period Abraham Lincoln served briefly on the board of trustees from 1860 to 1861, while his son Robert Todd Lincoln was a student in Illinois State University's preparatory academy from 1853 to 1859. Illinois State University's enrollment dwindled during the Civil War and closed in 1868. In 1870, several faculty reestablished the college in the rural west-central city of Carthage, Illinois, where the college acquired its current name, Carthage College.
The Great Depression and World War II lowered enrollment to 131 students in 1943, but enrollment increased again after the war as a result of the G.I. Bill.
After years of financial challenges, shifts in Lutheran synodical support, and searches for a suitable location, Carthage's board of trustees voted unanimously in 1957 to open a campus in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The lakeshore campus was dedicated on October 14, 1962.
By 1962, the college launched an era of growth. The next decade brought a period of continuous expansion. Enrollment increased fivefold, endowment tripled, and physical assets increased 600 percent. In fall 1995, Carthage enrolled 1,527 full-time students, setting a new record. Since 2001, the college has invested more than $130 million in new construction, major renovations, and technological acquisition.
Expansion
In 2001, the Hedberg Library opened its doors, adjoining the H. F. Johnson Center for the Fine Arts. The library won Wisconsin Library of the Year in 2004. The library also won the Highsmith Award in 2007 for Family Fun Night, a program for community members that encourages learning for children from 2 to 13. The former Ruthrauff Library was renovated into the A. W. Clausen Center for World Business, opening in 2004.The Tarble Athletic and Recreation Center opened in 2001, and the former Physical Education Center was rebuilt and renamed the Tarble Arena, opening in 2009.
In fall 2011, a new student union opened on the site of the former W. F. Seidemann Natatorium. It houses a new press box, new bleachers, a new and larger bookstore, new dining options, a campus "living room", a new dining room, a 200-seat theatre, an art gallery, and a gaming area. In April 2012 the student center was formally dedicated and named the Campbell Student Union in honor of retiring President F. Gregory Campbell and his wife, Barbara, for their 25 years of service to Carthage. President Campbell retired in August 2012.
The Oaks, a new student residence village overlooking Lake Michigan, opened in 2012, containing six villas with semi-private suites and a media lounge on each floor.
In fall 2015, a new science center opened in the newly renovated David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Natural and Social Sciences. Originally built in 1962, the former Science Hall was renovated and renamed in honor of David A. Straz, Jr., in 1995. The latest $45 million expansion added a new planetarium, twelve new science labs, new classrooms, faculty offices, and student gathering and exhibition spaces.
In fall 2018, the newest residence hall, The Tower, was opened. The Tower provides students with apartment-style suites with personal bathrooms, as well as media lounges on each floor and communal kitchens on every other floor. The new building also presented students with the Terrace, a new studying space with televisions, laptop bars, and a functioning fireplace.
Presidents
Carthage has had 23 presidents since its founding:- Francis Springer — 1847–1855
- Simeon W. Harkey — 1855–1857
- William M. Reynolds — 1858–1862
- Simeon W. Harkey — 1862–1866
- David Loy Tressler — 1873–1880
- J. A. Kunkelman — 1881–1883
- J. S. Detweiler — 1883–1884
- E.F. Bartholomew — 1884–1888
- Holmes Dysinger — 1888–1895
- John M. Ruthrauff — 1895–1900
- Frederick L. Sigmund — 1900–1909
- Harvey D. Hoover — 1909–1926
- N. J. Gould Wickey — 1926–1929
- Jacob Diehl — 1929–1933
- Rudolph G. Schulz — 1935–1943
- Erland Nelson — 1943–1949
- Morris Wee — 1950–1951
- Ruth Wick — 1951–1952
- Harold H. Lentz — 1952–1976
- Erno J. Dahl — 1977–1986
- Alan R. Anderson — 1986–1987
- F. Gregory Campbell — 1987–2012
- Gregory S. Woodward — 2012–2017
- John R. Swallow — 2017–present
Academics
- Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse
- Marketing/Marketing Management
- Business Administration and Management
- Psychology
- Exercise Science and Kinesiology
- Biology/Biological Sciences
- Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement Administration
The academic calendar spans two 14-week semesters, separated by a month-long January term. During January Term, known on campus as "J-Term", participating students select one class and attend it daily. In addition to on-campus courses, many students travel with faculty on study tours in either January or the summer months. Destinations in 2016 included Cuba, Nicaragua, and World War II battle sites in Europe. All students must complete two J-Term courses, including one during their freshman year.
All students must complete a senior thesis. This capstone project can take the form of a research project, music recital, art exhibit, or some other original demonstration of scholarship or creativity. All Carthage students were required to take Western Heritage, a year-long course sequence in which they read, discussed, and wrote about major Western texts. The reading list included works by Plato, Homer, Shakespeare, Thomas Jefferson, and W. E. B. DuBois, in addition to the Bible. In the 2020–2021 school year, this was replaced with Intellectual Foundations, which has the same purpose but includes more texts written by non-white authors.
Admissions
In fall 2016, Carthage had enrollment of 2,818 undergraduate students and 112 graduate students. The student body is 55 percent female and 45 percent male. 70% of applicants are accepted for admission.Faculty
The college has a student-to-faculty ratio of 13 to 1. In fall 2016, the college employed 160 full-time professors and 162 part-time faculty members. In the summer of 2020, the college announced a plan to reduce "total full-time faculty by 10 to 20 percent. That reduction would include a mix of tenured and contract faculty." It is to be effected via a "reorganization" affecting ten departments, including Biology, Classics, English, Modern Languages, Music, Philosophy and Great Ideas, Physics and Astronomy, Political Science, Religion, and Sociology and Criminal Justice. In fall 2021, the college employed 142 full-time professors and 145 part-time faculty members.Tuition
Undergraduate tuition for the 2019–2020 academic year was $45,100. On September 17, 2019, the college announced that it was resetting the sticker price of tuition for the 2020–21 academic year by 30% to $31,500. The college made this decision in an effort to make its pricing more transparent and to attract students that may have been deterred by the high listed tuition.Rankings
Carthage College was tied for 37th among Regional Universities Midwest in the 2025 U.S. News & World Report rankings of Best Colleges. The Institute for International Education placed Carthage 4th among baccalaureate institutions for student participation in short-term study abroad in 2013–2014. In The Princeton Review's 2016 rankings, Carthage was among 159 schools listed as a Best Midwestern College.From 2008 through 2016, 17 students from the college won Fulbright fellowships. In 2016, the college was named a top Fulbright producer.
Traditions
The Old Main Bell
For decades, the Old Main Bell sat in the tower at the top of Old Main, the first building on the campus in Carthage, Illinois. After athletic victories, students would race down Evergreen Walk to ring the bell. When Carthage moved from Illinois to Wisconsin in the 1960s, the Tau Sigma Chi fraternity helped move the victory bell to Kenosha. In 2004, the victory bell found a new home in the scoreboard on Art Keller Field.Kissing Rock
Kissing Rock has been a part of Carthage since 1913. Dennis Swaney and other members of the Class of 1913 found the 2 ½-ton chunk of granite in a farmer's field and moved the stone to the campus.Stationed prominently at the entrance to Evergreen Walk, the rock quickly became part of Carthage life. One tradition recounts that any woman sitting on the rock was obligated to kiss the man who found her there and countless marriage proposals have been made and accepted near it. Members of the Beta Phi Epsilon fraternity moved Kissing Rock to the Kenosha campus in the mid-1960s. It now sits facing Lake Michigan between Lentz and Tarble Halls.
Today, Kissing Rock is a multifaceted symbol of the Carthage spirit. Students paint the Rock to promote their organizations and causes, publicize upcoming events, and celebrate. Kissing Rock has served as a memorial to beloved alumni, an expression of protest against injustice, a tribute after 9/11, and more.