Ursinus College Ursinus College is a private , independent , coeducation al , liberal arts college located in Collegeville , Pennsylvania . Founded in 1869 , Ursinus sits on a 170 - acre wooded campus approximately 25 miles from Center City Philadelphia . Ursinus is one of the eleven Centennial Conference schools , a Phi Beta Kappa college , and is a member of the Thomas J . Watson Fellowship list , Project Pericles , Project DEEP , the Bonner Leader Program , and the Annapolis Group . The college is also home to the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art , regarded as one of the nation ' s finest small - college art museums . History . 19th Century . 1867 : Members of the German Reformed Church begin plans to establish a college where " young men could be liberally educated under the benign influence of Christianity . " These founders were hoping to establish an alternative to the seminary at Mercersburg , Pennsylvania , a school they believed was increasingly heretical to traditional Reformed faith . 1869 : The college is granted a charter by the Legislature of Pennsylvania to begin operations in its current location on the grounds of Todd ’ s School ( founded 1832 ) and the adjacent Freeland Seminary ( founded 1848 ) . Dr . John Henry Augustus Bomberger , for whom the campus ' signature Romanesque building is named ( see " Gallery " , below ) , served as the college ’ s first president until his death in 1890 . Bomberger proposed naming the college after Zacharias Ursinus , a 16th - century German theologian and an important figure in the Protestant Reformation . 1870 : Instruction begins at the college in September ; on October 4 , the Zwinglian Literary Society was founded . For many years the annual opening meetings of " Zwing " and its rival society , Schaff , were the major events of the student year . 1881 : Women first admitted , as a direct consequence of the closing of the Pennsylvania Female College in 1880 , and a separate literary society for women , The Olevian , is formed . Like Zwingli and Schaff , Olevian Hall on campus is named in honor of its respective historical society . 1893 : The first meeting of the college ' s alumni association is held at the Colonnade Hotel in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . 1896 : In 1896 , the town of Freeland officially incorporated as the Borough of Collegeville , the name the Pennsylvania Railroad had given the place in 1869 — because of the Pennsylvania Female College ; and not , as many believe , because of the then brand - new Ursinus . However , in years since , the “ college ” in Collegeville has come to mean Ursinus . 1897 : " The Ruby " , Ursinus ' yearbook is first published by the Class of 1897 as a tribute to Professor Samuel Vernon Ruby , who collapsed as he was entering Bomberger Hall in 1896 and died in its chapel , surrounded by students and teachers who had gathered there for morning prayers . 20th Century . 1921 : The first aerial photograph of Ursinus is taken , by future college president D . L . Helfferich , and is published in the 1921 " Ruby " . 1938 : J . D . Salinger enrolls at Ursinus for the fall semester . As quoted from the Ursinus website , " " The late 30 ’ s also saw the arrival of someone who was perhaps Ursinus ’ most famous student ever : Jerome D . Salinger . Gallant and slim , he swooped in from New York City for a few months in 1938 , wrote a zany column for the student newspaper called “ The Skipped Diploma , ” dated a few of the coeds , then dropped out at Thanksgiving . He went on to great fame as author of The Catcher in the Rye and short stories appearing in The New Yorker . " " 1942 : Ursinus sees its male enrollment drop in half due to the start of World War II , falling from 535 to 350 . During the war , Ursinus made a concerted effort to bring in military students from across the country , even acquiring a Naval V - 12 unit . 1972 : Dr . Gerald Edelman ' 50 , wins the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work with Rodney Robert Porter on the immune system , becoming the college ' s first Nobel laureate . 1989 : The Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art opens on the Ursinus campus . 1990 : Phi Beta Kappa invites Ursinus into its ranks . Also in 1990 , the F . W . Olin Foundation awarded a $ 5 . 6 million grant to Ursinus to construct a humanities building . 1993 : Ursinus joins the Centennial Conference at its inception , a regional athletic conference , consisting of Swarthmore College , Bryn Mawr College , Haverford College , Dickinson College , Gettysburg College , Johns Hopkins University , Franklin & Marshall College and others . 1995 : The college appoints Dr . John Strassburger as its 12th president , the first president from outside the Ursinus alumni group . Dr . Strassburger was an American Historian , a graduate of Bates College , Oxford University , and Princeton University . Under President Strassburger , Ursinus initiated the Summer Fellows program in which selected students worked on individualized research projects with faculty advisors . During President Strassburger ' s tenure as president Ursinus became affiliated with numerous prestigious groups such as the Annapolis Group , the Watson Foundation , the Kemper Scholars group and Project Pericles . 21st Century . 2006 : Ursinus College is profiled among only 40 colleges in former " New York Times " education editor Loren Pope ' s popular guidebook , " Colleges That Change Lives . " 2010 : Aakash Shah ' 10 of Harvard Medical School is named Ursinus ' first Rhodes Scholar . 2011 : Dr . Bobby Fong , a graduate of Harvard and UCLA and former president of Butler University , began his tenure as the 13th president of Ursinus on July 1 , 2011 . For the third year in a row Ursinus is designated as a Top Ten " Up and Coming College " by U . S . News & World Report . Ursinus College is now independent in character with historical but no longer any operational ties to its church past , and currently operates on a growing $ 120 , 000 , 000 endowment . Academics . Ursinus established its chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in 1992 . At the time , only 242 of the nation ' s 3 , 500 colleges and universities had gained acceptance into the elite group . The school is a member of the Watson Foundation List , Project Pericles , Project DEEP , the Bonner Leader Program and the Annapolis Group . While students can choose from 60 courses of study , " biology , business and economics , and English are the three majors with the largest numbers of students . " Many graduates go on to attend law and medical schools , with over 90 percent of Ursinus applicants accepted . Common Intellectual Experience . The Common Intellectual Experience is Ursinus ' unique seminar course required of all first - year students and is a requisite for the bachelor ' s degree . The Common Intellectual Experience ( referred to as CIE ) is composed of two semester - long seminar courses which seek to investigate three of the central questions of the traditional liberal arts education : How should we live our lives ? What does it mean to be human ? What is the universe and how do we fit into it ? The courses are characterized by students in all CIE classes discussing the course texts at the same time , and studying the works in both the seminar room and through additional avenues of scientific and artistic exploration . The course is taught by faculty in all disciplines and the assigned texts and materials are altered yearly , allowing students and faculty a mutual experience of discovery and critical engagement . CIE , in combination with residential clustering of first - years , is meant to foster a sense of togetherness for incoming students , and to create introspective discussions on the core questions beyond the classroom . Ursinus also offers additional higher - level CIE classes that go beyond the three original questions , extending the discussion into new domains . Unlike the requisite classes where the questions remain constant , the questions posed by the higher level classes change from semester - to - semester . In September 2012 , Ursinus and Columbia University were awarded a joint grant from the Mellon Foundation to work together on the core of their seminar courses - Ursinus College ' s CIE , and Columbia University ' s Core Curriculum . The $ 300 , 000 grant will allow Ursinus faculty with prior experience teaching CIE classes to work with , and mentor , post - doctoral students at Columbia , will create post - doctoral fellowship program at Ursinus , and will also support campus visits and guest lectures from Columbia faculty who have expertise in the subject matter of CIE . Student life . While the first students enrolled at Ursinus were almost exclusively Pennsylvanians , today the school ' s 1 , 650 students come from 35 states and 12 countries . Twenty percent are students of color and two percent are international students . The school has a 12 : 1 student / faculty ratio . Greek life . The Ursinus College Greek community consists of five sororities , including Kappa Delta Kappa , Phi Alpha Psi , Sigma Sigma Sigma , Tau Sigma Gamma , Upsilon Phi Delta , and Omega Chi and seven fraternities , including Alpha Phi Epsilon , Beta Sigma Lambda , Delta Pi Sigma , Kappa Alpha Psi , Phi Kappa Sigma , Pi Omega Delta , Sigma Pi and Sigma Rho Lambda . The Ursinus College Inter - Greek Council serves as the elected governing body of all social Greek organizations . Clubs and organizations . The Leadership Development and Student Activities Office provides the student body with leadership opportunities through its more than 100 student clubs and organizations . Ursinus College clubs and organizations range from student government to community service , academic honor societies , political clubs and intramural sports . Ursinus is also home to a student - run newspaper , The Grizzly - the name taken from the Latin root of Zacharias Ursinus ' surname ( " ursus " translating as ' bear ' ) - as well as The Lantern , one of the oldest , continuously produced student literary journals . Athletics . Ursinus is a member of the Centennial Conference , founded in 1993 , and which now contains eleven highly - selective private colleges in the mid - Atlantic region , including Bryn Mawr , McDaniel , Johns Hopkins , Dickinson , Haverford , Franklin and Marshall , Swarthmore , Gettysburg , Muhlenberg , and Washington . In the immediate years following its founding , there were no organized athletics at Ursinus College . Baseball matches held against neighboring towns , hiking along the Perkiomen Creek and in nearby Valley Forge , and skating , bathing and boating in the Perkiomen were popular pastimes for students . Students first organized a tennis club in 1888 , and intercollegiate baseball began with play against Swarthmore College , Haverford College , and Muhlenberg College in 1890 . The college ' s first football team was also fielded in 1890 . A field house with shower and locker facilities was first built in 1909 , and a " field cage " with facilities for indoor basketball practice was built behind the field house in 1910 . The college was well known for many years for its Patterson Field endzone , in which a large sycamore tree grew undisturbed . Ripley ' s Believe it or Not featured the famous tree for being the only one on an active field of athletic play , and the seclusion " of the tree at night for generations afforded lovers a trysting place . Greek organizations initiated pledges into their mysteries under its branches . " A new sycamore , growing since 1984 from a seedling taken from the old tree , stood nearby until a recent turf field project required its removal . In 1974 , the NCAA Award of Valor was presented to the 1973 basketball team . Every member of the team had entered a burning building , with their combined efforts leading to the rescue of 14 persons . In the 2003 - 2004 season , senior shooting guard Dennis Stanton lead all NCAA Men ' s Basketball scorers , averaging 32 . 6 points per game . Ursinus ' athletic teams regularly place regionally and nationally . Its field hockey team was the 2006 National Champion for NCAA Division III . The team earned spots in the national championship game three times before , between 1975 – 77 , as a Division I program , and the United States Field Hockey Hall of Fame ' s permanent home is at the college . Ursinus ' women ' s lacrosse team were the 1986 , 1989 and 1990 NCAA Division III Women ' s lacrosse champions and the 1985 , 1987 and 1991 runners - up . Campus and facilities . The campus is northwest of Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , and is also within three hours ’ driving distance of New York City , Baltimore , Maryland and Washington , DC . Notable facilities at Ursinus include :