Quick Facts

Albion College is a private four-year college of the liberal arts, related to the United Methodist Church. Founded in 1835, Albion College was the first private college in Michigan to have a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.

College Mission Accreditation Degrees Awarded A Pioneer Among Midwestern Colleges National Recognition About Our Faculty	Talented and Involved Students Distinctive Programs The Importance of Service Guest Speakers Prominent Alumni Excellence in Athletics and Academics

Accreditation

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

American Chemical Society
National Association of Schools of Music
Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education
Michigan Department of Education

Degrees Awarded

Bachelor of Arts degree (B.A.) available in anthropology, art, art history, athletic training, biology, chemistry, communication studies, earth science, economics/management, English, exercise science, ethnic studies, French, geological sciences, German, history, international studies, mathematics, music, philosophy, physics, political science, psychology, public policy, religious studies, sociology, Spanish, theatre, and women's and gender studies.

Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) available in art and art history.

A Pioneer Among Midwestern Colleges

Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA)
Albion and the 12 other members of the GLCA (Allegheny, Antioch, Denison, DePauw, Earlham, Hope, Kalamazoo, Kenyon, Oberlin, Ohio Wesleyan, Wabash, and Wooster) established this consortium in 1961.

Michigan Campus Compact
Albion was a founding member of Michigan Campus Compact (1989) which is affiliated with the national Campus Compact that consists of 1,100 institutions dedicated to encouraging student volunteerism.

Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA)
A charter member of the MIAA, Albion is the only college to have participated continuously in the conference since its founding in 1888. The MIAA is the oldest active collegiate athletic conference in the United States.

National Recognition

Phi Beta Kappa
Founded in 1940, Albion's chapter of this national scholastic honorary was the first at a private college in Michigan and was second only to the chapter at the University of Michigan.

Annapolis Group
Albion is a charter member of this association of approximately 130 leading national independent colleges that share mutual interests and promote greater public understanding and recognition of liberal arts education.

College Guides
376 Best Colleges, Princeton Review (2012)

Fiske Guide to Colleges (2012)

"America's Top Colleges," Forbes (2011)

See below for national awards and grants to Albion faculty and students.

About Our Faculty

All Albion College classes are taught by fully qualified professors. No graduate assistants teach classes. Of Albion College's 87 tenured or tenure-track faculty members, 100% hold the Ph.D. or appropriate professional degree in their field.

Below is a sampling of faculty who have distinguished themselves through teaching, research, publications, or other scholarly contributions.

Andrew N. Christopher, Associate Professor of Psychological Science
Social psychologist with extensive research on materialistic values and Protestant work ethic endorsement. Editor of the journal, Teaching of Psychology (2008-present).

Lynne Chytilo, Professor of Art and Art History
Award-winning ceramics and sculpture artist with works in the corporate collections of the Bank of Tokyo in Washington, D.C., the Marquis Hotel in New York and AARP headquarters and the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C.

Geoffrey C. Cocks, Julian S. Rammelkamp Professor of History
Expert on the history of medical practice/societal views of illness in Nazi Germany. Author/editor of five books, including Psychotherapy in the Third Reich and The Wolf at the Door: Stanley Kubrick, History, and the Holocaust.

Andrew D. Grossman, Royal G. Hall Professor of Social Sciences/Political Science
Expert on the Cold War and civil defense/civil liberties. Author of Neither Dead nor Red: Civilian Defense and American Political Development during the Early Cold War. On the editoral board of Policy. Member of the academic consultative group to the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) program on "Migration and Security." Other areas of specialty: American institutions, civil-military relations, counter-terrorism, homeland security. Completing a second book The Delicate Balance: Homeland Security, Internal Security and Policing in the United States.

Lisa B. Lewis, Associate Professor of Chemistry
Analytical and physical chemist. Laser expert using spectrometry to study protein sequence, using laser ablation to induce ionizations of atoms, molecules and biomolecules for their detection by time-of-flight mass spectronomy. Member, Project Kaleidoscope.

Judith A. Lockyer, Professor of English
American literature specialist. Has written articles and a book on William Faulkner; presently working on a study of the literary, film, and historical accounts of 20th-century coal mining in eastern Kentucky and southwestern West Virginia in the context of broader U.S. culture. This work is funded by a Joyce Fergusson grant (2008) and a GLCA/Mellon grant (2010). Recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship.

Dean McCurdy, Professor of Biology
Behavioral ecologist with interests that relate to the ecology, evolution, and conservation of vertebrate and invertebrate animals (crustaceans, turtles, polychaete worms, frogs, shorebirds, various parasites). McCurdy investigates how life-history strategies of animals are influenced by their parasites, predators, or human disturbance. McCurdy involves students in research projects in Michigan, Nova Scotia, and Suriname, where he is establishing one of the first significant biological research partnerships with an American college in that country.

Marcy S. Sacks, Associate Professor of History
American historian with specialties in African-American history and sports in American culture. Recipient, National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship, 2006-07. Author of Before Harlem: The Black Experience in New York City Before World War I.

Gregory M. Saltzman, Professor of Economics, Department Chair
Economist whose research interests include labor law, management-union relations, employee benefits, health services, and labor union political action. Also serves as an adjunct research scientist at the Institute for Research on Labor, Employment, and the Economy for the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business.

Thomas I. Wilch, Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Professor of Sciences/Geological Sciences
Geologist who has made several trips to Antarctica to study volcanic formations and ice-sheet history. Selected in 2006-07 for ANDRILL, an international research expedition to Antarctica to study environmental changes over the past five million years.

W. Jeffrey Wilson, Professor of Psychological Science
Behavioral neuroscientist with specialty in the neurological bases for learning and behavior. Recipient of the 2004 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience.

Nicolle E.B. Zellner, Assistant Professor of Physics
Astronomer/planetary scientist with specialty in understanding asteroid and comet impacts in the Earth-Moon system. Previously worked on a Space Shuttle mission for NASA. Team member, Antarctic Search for Meteorites (ANSMET) (November 2006-January 2007).

Research Support

Since 1990, Albion faculty have received research/equipment grants from:

American Chemical Society
Andrew N. French, chemistry

Beckman Coulter, Inc.
Sheila Lyons-Sobaski, biology; Kenneth J. Saville, biology; J. Dan Skean, biology; Darren E. Mason, mathematics

Arthur Vining Davis Foundations
Charles E. Moreau, physics; Ruth E. Schmitter, biology

Hewlett-Packard
Aaron J. Miller, physics; Andrew N. French, chemistry

National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Vanessa P. McCaffrey, chemistry; Nicolle E. B. Zellner, physics

National Institutes of Health
Kenneth Saville, biology

National Science Foundation
William S. Bartels, geology; Lisa B. Lewis, chemistry; Timothy N. Lincoln, geology; Thomas I. Wilch, geology

Pew Charitable Trusts
William S. Bartels, geology; Dennis C. Gaswick, chemistry; David G. Seely, physics

U.S. Department of Energy
David G. Seely, physics

Fulbright Program
Daniel S. Christiansen, economics/management

NCUR/Lancy Initiative
Wesley A. Dick, history

National Endowment for the Humanities
Maureen Balke, music; Judith A. Lockyer, English; Marcy S. Sacks, history

Talented and Involved Students

Typically, 30 percent of first-year students rank in the top 10 percent of their high school class, and 70 percent are in the top quarter. The middle 50 percent of Albion first-year students have an ACT score range of 22-28.

Over the last two decades, Albion College has produced a Rhodes Scholar (Amy Wakeland, 1992), 10 Fulbright award winners (Stephanie Krueger, 1993; Niko Kanagawa, 2004; Rebecca Anthouard and Natalie Corbin, 2006; Sarah Heddon and Brynn Howard, 2007; Grace Keeney, Erin McLeod, and Erica Schuster, 2008; Margaret Leiby, 2009), a Goldwater Scholar (Arthur Bragg, 1999), a Jack Kent Cooke Scholar (Samata Singh, 2002 and 2006), four Truman Scholars (Steven Chalk, 1989; Amy Wakeland, 1992; Shelly Fox, 1994; Christopher Carpenter, 1996), and three Morris K. Udall Scholars (Catherine Game, 2007; Erica Tauzer, 2009; Pryce Hadley, 2011).

Recent Albion graduates have also been named National Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellows (Diane Jackson Constan, 1996; Natalie Dubois, 1997; Arthur Bragg, 1999; Nicholas Whitney, 2000; Shauna Paradine Tschirhart, 2009; Stacy L. Capehart, 2010; Lisa A. Anderson, Meagan E. Bosket, Keith L. Zabel, 2011), RISE Scholars (Shauna Paradine, 2008; Nick Herrman, 2011), a National Institutes of Health Scholar (Katie Pickworth, 2011), a Gilder Lehrman History Scholar (Chelsea Denault, 2011), and a George J. Mitchell Scholar (Catherine Fontana, 2008).

A team of Albion students received a $10,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2006-07 to develop an educational program on energy conservation. The College was one of only 42 institutions nationwide selected for the award. In addition, Catherine Fontana, '08, served as one of 26 EPA environmental management fellows in summer 2006.

Distinctive Institutes, Centers and Programs

Foundation for Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity (FURSCA) promotes student research, original scholarship, and creative efforts in all disciplines. FURSCA supports the Student Research Partners Program, for first-year students, and the Summer Research Fellowship Program, for upperclassmen. In both, students work closely with a faculty mentor to design and carry out their projects. FURSCA has been nationally recognized for the quality and breadth of its programs. The March 2003 and September 2005 editions of The CUR Quarterly, published by the Council on Undergraduate Research, recognized FURSCA as a model undergraduate research program.

Gerald R. Ford Institute for Leadership in Public Policy and Service is the only formal program at a primarily undergraduate institution that combines course work in public service with a semester-long, full-time internship. Ford Institute students have completed internships at all levels of government in the U.S., including the White House, the U.S. Congress, federal agencies, the Michigan Governor’s Office, and the Michigan state legislature, as well as with the European Parliament and Australian state governments. Other placements have included law firms, lobbying and advocacy groups, and the news media.

Carl A. Gerstacker Institute for Business and Management blends a liberal arts education and "real world" experience through a comprehensive program of course work and two semester-long, full-time internships with leading corporations and accounting firms.

Institute for Premedical Professions and Health Sciences serves as an intellectual community for students interested in becoming medical practitioners, therapists, pharmacists, public health workers, health care administrators, medical researchers, and health policy professionals to explore a variety of issues within the rapidly changing health care field and to develop an understanding of the interconnectedness of all the health care professions.

Center for Sustainability and the Environment encourages students to understand the environment and humans' place in it by combining the intellectual tradition of the liberal arts with the practical experiences gained in internships and research projects. The Center's concentrations in environmental sciences and environmental studies allow students to explore environmental questions through participatory learning and research in preparation for graduate studies and/or careers in regulation, remediation, policy formulation, education, and the law. The Center also sponsors leadership opportunities, seminars, and travel experiences designed to confirm the relationship between the liberal arts and environmental concerns.

Prentiss M. Brown Honors Program is designed for students interested in challenges and opportunities that transcend those offered by traditional lecture and laboratory courses. Through small discussion classes, field trips, retreats, guest lecturers, independent research, and individualized faculty mentoring, the Institute provides a stimulating variety of academic experiences for talented students. All Institute graduates culminate their academic experience with an extensive research or creative project. Participation in the Brown Honors Institute may be combined with any major and with any of Albion's career preparation programs in law, medicine, public service, environmental science, or business management.

Fritz Shurmur Center for Teacher Development advances the liberal arts tradition as the best foundation for teacher preparation. The Center equips students seeking teacher certification and professional preparation with a distinctive and relevant undergraduate education that combines the depth of a major in a discipline, the breadth and interdisciplinary focus of an innovative core curriculum, an array of practical skills in classroom teaching, a thorough understanding of and engagement with broad issues impacting education, and the ethics of civic responsibility and affirming diversity.

Anna Howard Shaw Women's Center was named after an Albion alumna who worked with Susan B. Anthony in the struggle for women's suffrage. The Women's Center provides special programming on gender issues and sponsors activities that promote women's interests.

Whitehouse Nature Center is a 144-acre preserve with scenic nature trails. Located on the Kalamazoo River and adjacent to the campus, it is open to the public daily from dawn to dusk. It is also used for field instruction in the sciences. An Interpretive Center houses a classroom and a place for permanent nature displays. The Nature Center is named for Dr. William W. Whitehouse, president of the College, 1945-1960.

The Importance of Service

Albion College students learn the value of service to the nation and community during projects such as Service Project Appalachia, where students travel to Appalachia during their spring break for public service projects, and the Nwagni Project, which raised funds to build a school in Cameroon in 2009; since then, Nwagni Project has been raising funds to provide clean water for the school's community. Other service projects include Make a Difference Day, where students serve the Albion community through such projects as cleaning area parks and repairing homes of the needy and elderly. In addition, Albion's chapter of Wayfarers International Group for Service (WINGS) takes students on service trips to the Caribbean and South America to assist in community development projects. The Albion College chapter of Habitat for Humanity has constructed five new homes and renovated two more in the city of Albion in the past 15 years. Over half of Albion's students participate in volunteer service annually.

In the past five years, the Michigan Campus Compact has honored 14 Albion students for their community service, including these winners of the state’s top student volunteer award for Outstanding Community Impact: Joe Brown, '08 (2006-07); Lewis Cardenas, ’02 (2001-02); Iain Charnley, ’05 (2003-04); Meredith Greene, '99 (2004-05), as a student at Wayne State University School of Medicine; and Elizabeth Mettler, ’03 (2001-02).

Guest Speakers

Guest speakers in the past several years have included:

• Barbara Bush, former United States first lady

• Sam Donaldson, veteran television journalist

• Gloria Steinem, feminist and author

• Moises Kaufman, playwright

• Mira Nair, film director and philanthropist

• Salman Rushdie, internationally acclaimed author

• Mike Krzyzewski, Duke University men's head basketball coach, author and lecturer

• James Earl Jones, distinguished actor on stage and screen

• David Trimble, Nobel laureate and former First Minister of Ireland

• Kurt Vonnegut, contemporary novelist

• Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek International editor and best-selling author

• Steven Pinker, internationally renowned psychologist and Pulitzer Prize finalist

• Desmond Tutu, South African archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner

• Robert Kennedy, Jr., attorney and environmental activist

• Regina Carter, jazz violinist and 2006 MacArthur Foundation Fellow

• Doris Kearns Goodwin, historian and television commentator

• Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, civil right activist

• Elizabeth Dole, former U.S. senator (N.C.), former American Red Cross president

• Peter Hart, public opinion pollster

• V.S. Ramachandran, director, Center for Brain and Cognition, University of California, San Diego
  
  

Prominent Alumni

Below is a selected list of some of Albion's most outstanding alumni:

Robert H. Bartlett, M.D., ’60, Professor of General and Thoracic Surgery (Emeritus), University of Michigan. Pioneer of artificial life support systems. Medallion for Scientific Achievement, American Surgical Association (2002); member, Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences.

Joyce Livak Benjamins, M.D., ’63, Professor of Neurology, Wayne State University School of Medicine.

Julie Brigham-Grette, Ph.D., ’77, Professor of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Past President, American Quaternary Association. Expert on the evolution of the Arctic climate.

Daniel Boggan, '67, Senior Vice-President (retired), National Collegiate Athletic Association, Indianapolis. Past President, National Forum for Black Public Administrators.

Robert J. Bruner, '99, City Manager, Birmingham, Michigan.

David L. Camp, J.D., '75, Member, U.S. House of Representatives, Chairman, Ways and Means Committee; Michigan's 4th District (R), Midland, Michigan.

Nancy J. Carpenter, Ph.D., '68, Director of Cytogenetics, Center for Genetic Testing, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Michael S. David, Jr., '64, Founding Partner, Dodger Productions, New York, New York. Producer of more than 100 plays and musicals on and off Broadway. Winner of 2006 Tony Award for best musical.

Cedric W. Dempsey, Ph.D., '54, President (Retired), National Collegiate Athletic Association, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Debra A. Fadool, Ph.D., '85, Associate Professor of Biology and Neuroscience, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida; 2003 Women in Neuroscience Merck Young Investigator.

Phyllis Harrison-Ross, M.D., '56, Director of Community Mental Health Center (Retired), Metropolitan Hospital; Pediatrician and Child Psychologist; New York, New York.

George Heartwell, '71, Mayor, City of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Edmund L. Jenkins, '57, Chairman, Financial Accounting Standards Board (Retired). Former Chairman, AICPA Special Committee on Financial Reporting.

Cinthia Larkin Kazee, '88, Owner and President, Universal Network Development Corp. (telecommunications), Sacramento, California.

Andy Krafsur, '83, founder, Spira Footwear, El Paso, Texas.

Ann M. Lewicki, '56, Clinical Professor of Radiology, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, D.C.; Founder, American Association for Women Radiologists.

Sherry Hood Penney, Ph.D., '59, Endowed Professor of Leadership, Center for Collaborative Leadership Development, College of Management, University of Massachusetts-Boston; Former Chancellor, University of Massachusetts-Boston, Boston, Massachusetts.

Matthew Lasorsa, '80, Senior Vice President of MGM Domestic Marketing, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Los Angeles, California.

Bernard T. Lomas, '46, President Emeritus, Albion College, Albion, Michigan.

Thomas L. Ludington, '76, Judge, U.S. District Court, Midland, Michigan.

Marty Nesbitt, '85, Founder and CEO of The Parking Spot (national airport parking service) and treasurer for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, Chicago.

Mark E. Newell, J.D., '77, Managing Partner, Latham and Watkins, LLP, Washington, D.C.

Amy Menken Nobile, '91, bestselling author of I Was a Really Good Mom Before I Had Kids, Kentfield, California.

Gary R. Noble, M.D., '57, Vice President of Medical and Public Health Affairs (Retired), Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, New Jersey. Rhodes Scholar. Former Associate Director/Washington, National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Former Assistant Surgeon General, United States Public Health Service.

Denise Cortis Park, Ph.D., '73, Director, Professor, Regents Research Scholar, Center for Vital Longevity, University of Texas, Dallas.

Douglas Parker, '84, Chief Executive Officer, US Airways.

John W. Porter, Ph.D., '53, Chief Executive Officer (Retired), Urban Education Alliance, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan. Former Michigan Superintendent of Public Instruction; President Emeritus, Eastern Michigan University.

Jon Scieszka, '76, Popular and acclaimed author of children's books, including The Stinky Cheese Man; former National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, Library of Congress.

Richard M. Smith, '68, Chairman (Retired), Newsweek, New York, New York.

Janet K. Welch, '71, Executive Director, State Bar of Michigan, East Lansing, Michigan.

James M. Wilson, M.D., Ph.D., '77, John Herr Musser Professor of Research Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Jess Womack, '65, Inspector General of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Excellence in Athletics and Academics

Albion College has had a history of producing successful scholar-athletes. Twelve Albion students have been named NCAA Postgraduate Scholars, selected from football, baseball, women’s basketball, men's soccer, women’s soccer, men's tennis and softball.

The Briton football team captured the 1994 NCAA Division III national championship, and Albion has subsequently participated in postseason competition in 1996, 1998, 2005, and 2011. With 34 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) championships and more than 570 victories, Albion is also distinguished as the league’s most successful team. Albion has had 29 Academic All-Americans in football since 1979.

The College has also produced five NCAA Division III champions in track and field and 34 All-Americans in that sport since 1982. Thirty-six women and men in the Briton swimming and diving program have earned Division III All-America status since 1984, and the 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2009 women’s soccer teams won the MIAA championship, qualifying for the NCAA tournament.

In basketball, the men won league titles in 2003 and 2005, and advanced to the round of eight in the 2005 NCAA Division III Championships. The women shared the league title in 2005 and advanced to NCAA postseason play in 2004 and 2005.

In tennis, the women earned their fourth consecutive MIAA championship in 2008 and the men's squad, led by the MIAA's most valuable player and top student-athlete, made its first-ever trip to the NCAA Division III Championships in 2007.

Albion placed 122 student-athletes on the MIAA Academic Honor Roll for the 2009-2010 academic year.

For more on Briton athletics, please visit www.albion.edu/sports.

Directory | Contact Us

Search