Knox College (Illinois)

Knox College is a private liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1837 by anti-slavery advocates and has ties to the Underground Railroad movement. With over 1,100 students enrolled representing 43 states and 56 countries, Knox College offers 99 majors and minors. History Knox College was founded as Knox Manual Labor College by Presbyterians and Congregationalists from New York state organized by George Washington Gale, who previously had founded the Oneida Institute. Gale in 1836 released a "Circular and Plan" for the founding of a manual labor colleges which described a subscriber- and land purchase-based method of funding. His plan resulted in the founding of at least one school when in 1837 subscribers settled in what became Galesburg and began to build the college. The first president was Hiram Huntington Kellogg Sr., who went on a book-buying trip to England; the books he acquired form the Knox Manual Labor College Collection. Knox opened to students in 1843 and was one of the earliest colleges to admit Black people and women. Like Gale, many of the founders of Knox College and residents of Galesburg were abolitionists and actively supported the Underground Railroad. Knox has been known by its present name since 1857. The name came about as a compromise among its founders. Though founded by a colony of Presbyterians and Congregationalists, the county where the college stands was already named Knox County, after Henry Knox, the first United States Secretary of War. Arguments have also been made that the college was named for Calvinist leader John Knox. It is not certain for which Knox it was named (if not both). George Candee Gale, a great-great-grandson of two of the founders, explains that Contrary to general belief, Knox was not named for either General Knox or the Scottish Presbyterian Knox, according to my father.... Some wanted the college named for one Knox, some for the other; so they compromised on KNOX. Certainly most of them were pious enough to want the churchman, and fighters enough to want the soldier as well. Jonathan Blanchard's presidency led the school out of debt, but ignited a controversy about whether the school was loyal to the Congregational church or the Presbyterians. Gale and Blanchard were forced out of the school as a result. Knox was the site of the fifth debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas in 1858. The Old Main building is the only extant site of the debates. Two years after the debates, during his presidential campaign, Lincoln was awarded Knox College's first honorary doctorate, a Doctor of Laws degree announced at the commencement exercises of July 5, 1860. In 1841, a female seminary was built. The building burned down in 1843 but the college continued to provide classes for women, first in co-ed preparatory classes, then, by 1850, in the Female Collegiate Department. In 1857, a new 5-story Female Seminary building was constructed which accommodated up to ninety women. In 1867, the Knox College president William Curtis assaulted the Principal of the Female Seminary, Ada Howard. Curtis resigned after students protested and conducted a sit-down strike. In 1872, women were awarded college degrees for the first time at the college. As more women began to attend, the building was expanded in 1885. The addition was named Whiting Hall in recognition of the Principal of the Female Seminary, M. H. Whiting. In 1891, the college became fully co-ed. In 1892, the building was expanded again and the entire building became Whiting Hall. It remained the sole women's dormitory until after World War II. Academics Knox employs a 3–3 academic calendar rather than a traditional semester-based approach. In each of the three 10-week terms, students take three courses. Faculty members teach two courses each term, giving them more time for one-on-one mentoring. All courses of study at Knox contain common elements, including an educational plan that students design. With the implementation of Renewed Knox, the 2003 curriculum overhaul, the school expanded its academic offerings to meet the needs of a 21st-century liberal arts education. In 2003, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute awarded the school $1 million to create a new major in neuroscience; in 2005, the college signed agreements with The George Washington University to create an early admission program into the university's medical school, and with the University of Rochester to create a direct admissions program into the university's Simon School of Business's MBA program; in 2007 the Peace Corps launched a new program at Knox, establishing the Peace Corps Preparatory Program, the first of its kind in the country; Chinese language instruction, Asian Studies, Environmental Studies, and Film Studies were all added; and new abroad studies programs have been created: the Japan Term, and Knox in New York. Knox is also known for its Green Oaks term, an interdisciplinary program at the 700-acre (2.8 km2; 1.1 sq mi) Green Oaks Biological Field Station. The Green Field Station began in 1955 under the guidance of zoologists Paul Shepard and George Ward. The three most popular majors at Knox, based on 2021 graduates, were Business Administration and Management (28), Psychology (28), and Creative Writing (23). Lincoln Studies Center Rodney Davis and Douglas L. Wilson established the Lincoln Studies Center in 1998. The center deals with issues relating to Lincoln's life and legacy. In August 2009, the National Endowment for the Humanities "We the People" initiative awarded Knox $850,000, "a grant that will provide the base of a permanent endowment for the Center." Admission According to the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, Knox is considered a more selective institution, with a lower rate of transfer-in students. In the fall of 2018, 2,738 students applied, 2,500 students were admitted, and 345 chose to enroll. Of the class of 2017, 34% of students were in the top tenth of their class and 66% in the top quarter. The ACT composite Mid-50% range was 24–30 and the SAT mid-50% Range 1190–1380. Student body 1,258 students were enrolled at Knox in September 2019. They came from 45 states and territories and 49 countries. Forty percent of U.S. students are of color and 19% are international students. Women make up 57% of the student body, men 43%. Student life Greek organizations Knox College is home to nine Greek-letter organizations, the oldest of which has been on campus since 1855. Traditions Pumphandle is an annual tradition dating back to 1885 during which new members of the community are welcomed to Knox. On the afternoon before the start of the academic year, all members of the Knox community gather on the south lawn outside Old Main. The president of the college "leads the welcoming line, shaking each person's hand in turn. Everyone shakes the hands of those who have gone before, and the line grows, snaking around the campus." Flunk Day is an annual spring carnival. Classes are canceled for the day as the student body turns its attention to a joke issue of the student newspaper, live music, inflatable bounce rooms, petting zoos, a mud pit, a paint fight, and a seniors vs faculty softball game. The date of Flunk Day changes every year and is a secret until the entire student body is awakened at around 5am on the day. Student media The Knox Student — a weekly student newspaper Catch — a literary magazine Cellar Door — a workshop magazine The Common Room — online journal of literary criticism Quiver — a literary magazine of genre fiction X — a visual arts journal The Knox Student has won numerous awards as one of the best college newspapers in the state of the Illinois, including numerous first-place category awards and general excellence awards from the Illinois College Press Association. Knox's radio station is WVKC. It is on the fourth floor of George Davis Hall, a former science building that now houses the social science and language departments. Its frequency in Galesburg is 90.7. The Princeton Review ranked it #7 in the nation for "great college radio station" in its 2011 Best 368 Colleges. Athletics The Knox College mascot is the Prairie Fire, a name it adopted in 1993 due to sensitivity about its previous nickname, the Old Siwash. The word Siwash is a corruption of the French term "sauvage." This was a derogatory term used by European traders to refer to indigenous people. The term Old Siwash was popularized by George Helgesen Fitch (Knox Class of 1897) in his Saturday Evening Post articles and a book At Good Old Siwash. The term was widely used to denote small midwestern liberal arts colleges because of the popularity of Fitch's writings. The Prairie Fire refers to the annual spring burning of the prairie lands at Green Oaks. First conducted in the 1950s by Knox professor Paul Shepard, the burn protects prairie grasses from intrusions of woodland scrub and competition with other species. Knox is a member of the Midwest Conference of the NCAA at the Division III level. The school offers 21 men's and women's varsity sports, as well as 11 club sports, including water polo, fencing, and ultimate frisbee. The Bronze Turkey trophy, awarded annually to the victor of their rivalry game with Monmouth College, was created in 1928 and is the brainchild of Knox football alumnus Bill Collins. ESPN named the Bronze Turkey the fifth "most bizarre college football rivalry trophy". Monmouth has dominated the rivalry in recent years, with Knox last winning the game in 1998. Campus Knox College has 45 academic and residential buildings on its 82-acre (330,000 m2) campus. It has electron microscopes, a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer, a 17-inch (0.43 m) Corrected Dall-Kirkham reflector telescope manufactured by Planewave Instruments, and a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectrometer. There is also a complete skeleton of a 55-foot-long Fin whale on display in the atrium of the Science-Mathematics building. The state-of-the-art Knox College Whitcomb Art Center opened in 2017. Students have access to the Inter University Consortium for Political & Social Research, the Strong Collection of 18th- and 19th-century maps and photographs, the Hughes Collection of manuscripts and first editions from Hemingway and his "Lost Generation" contemporaries, and a 700-acre (2.8 km2) natural prairie reserve, the Green Oaks Field Station. The centerpiece of campus is Old Main, "the oldest building on its campus, and the best preserved site of one of the 1858 senatorial debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas", a National Historic Landmark and part of the National Register of Historic Places. Built in 1928, the Seymour Library was ranked third "Best Library" in the nation by the Princeton Review in 2001. Inside its leaded glass windows and oak-paneled reading rooms, the library houses 350,000 books and more than 14,000 periodicals. Its special collections include the Finley Collection of Midwest History, the Strong Collection of 18th- and 19th-century maps and photographs, the Hughes Collection of manuscripts and first editions of Faulkner, Hemingway and his "Lost Generation" contemporaries, and an original Diderot Encyclopédie. In 2002, a major curriculum revision called "Renewed Knox" was launched. With this revision came the creation of six new academic centers: The Center for Research and Advanced Studies, The Center for Global Studies, The Center for Career and Pre-Professional Development, The Center for Community Service, The Center for Teaching and Learning, and The Center for Intercultural Life. Students established the Knox College Community Garden in 2007 as an independent study project. It continues to be tended by student volunteers, and produces a variety of annual and perennial vegetables and flowers. U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard According to the U.S. Department of Education, 21% of students who started college at Knox College later transferred to another school. This compares to the national average of over 30% of students transferring colleges. 17% of the entering class did not return after their first year. This compares to a national average of 30% of college students who do not return after their first year. African Americans make up 13.4% of the U.S. population in general, about 8% of surrounding area, and they are 6% of the Knox College student body. Knox College graduates typically earn between $18,300 and $33,100, less than the average starting salary paid to college graduates, about $50,000, although there is great variation in both of these figures based on chosen majors and career paths. Knox alumni go into fields ranging from literature to neurosurgery. Furthermore, published earning data is skewed by the fact that a significant number of Knox students do not seek full time employment immediately after graduating from Knox, instead going on to pursue graduate degree programs, including PhDs, medical school, and law school, during which time work is delayed or only part time. Notable people Alumni Arts and entertainment Government and military Journalists and activists Business leaders and innovators Sports Other alumni Edgar D. Coolidge — dentist and endodontist Frank J. Jirka Jr. 1944 — former president of the American Medical Association David A. Kolb 1939 — educational theorist whose interests and publications focus on experiential learning, the individual and social change, career development, and executive and professional education. Alexander Kuo 1961 — Distinguished Affiliated Scholar at Knox, author, winner of 2002 American Book Award Barnabas Root 1870 — one of the first black men to receive a college degree in Illinois Notable faculty Jonathan Blanchard, abolitionist, social reformer, and educator; president of Knox College and founder of Wheaton College George Washington Gale, founder of Knox College Mikiso Hane, Japanese historian and professor at Knox College Robert Hellenga, novelist and George A. Lawrence Distinguished Service Professor of English at Knox College George William Hunter, biologist and author of Civic Biology, textbook at heart of Scopes Monkey Trial; former professor at Knox College Tim Kasser, psychologist known for his work on materialism and well-being; professor at Knox College 1995–2019 Hiram Huntington Kellogg Sr., first president of Knox College Francis T. McAndrew, evolutionary psychologist and essayist; Cornelia H. Dudley Professor of Psychology at Knox College (1979–2025) Robert Seibert, Robert W. Murphy Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Knox College and coauthor of Politics and Change in the Middle East Chad Simpson, short and flash fiction author Marilyn Salzman Webb, activist, author, journalist, and professor at Knox College Douglas L. Wilson, author, co-director of Lincoln Studies Center; George A. Lawrence Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of English at Knox College References External links Official website Athletics website