Davidson College Catalog

FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2009-1 Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2012 witii funding from University of Nortii Carolina at Chapel Hill http://www.archive.org/details/davidsoncollegec20092010 CATALOG OF ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2009-2010 OFFICIAL RECORD FOR THE YEAR 2008-2009 DAVIDSON Published by Davidson College Edited by the Office ofAcademic Affairs 2 — Academic Calendar 2009-2010 ACADEMIC CALENDAR Fall Semester 2009 August 20-23 Orientation August 24 Classes Begin August 31 Late drop/ add (with fee) — ends September 4 October 10-13 Fall Break (classes resume October 14) October 23 Deadline to declare course Pass/ Fail November 25-29 Thanksgiving Break (classes resume Nov 30) December 9 Fall Semester Classes End (December 7-9, classes at professor's option) December 10 Reading Day December 11 (8:40am) - Examination Period (no exams Sunday) December 17 (12:15pm) Spring Semester 2010 January 11 Classes begin January 18 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (no classes) January 18 Late drop/ add (with fee) begins — ends January 22 February 27 - March 7 Spring Break (classes resume March 8) March 19 Deadline to declare course Pass/ Fail April 3-6 Easter Break (classes resume April 7) May 5 Spring Semester Classes End (April 29-May 5, classes at professor's option) May 6 Reading Day May 7 (8:40am) - Examination Period, including Sunday afternoon May 12 (12:15pm) (Seniors must complete exams by Monday, May 10, 5:15 pm) May 15 Baccalaureate (4:45 pm) May 16 Commencement (10:00 am) Accreditation • Southern Association of Colleges and Schools: Davidson College is accredited in its awarding of baccalaureate degrees by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (1866 Southern Lane, Decahir GA 30033; Phone: 404-679-4500; Fax: 404-6794558). • American Chemical Society Nondiscrimination Policy Davidson College admits qualified students and administers all educational, athletic, financial, and employment activities without discriminating based on race, color, gender, national origin, religion, age, sexual orientation, or disability unless allowed by law and deemed necessary to the administiation of the educational programs. In addition, the college complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws governing non-discrimination. Table of Contents — 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Academic Calendar 2009-10 2 HISTORY AND STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 5 ADMISSION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION 9 Admission Requirements and Procedures 9 Financial Aid 13 Honors, Awards, and Scholarships 14 Tuition and Fees 19 CAMPUS LIFE 25 The Honor Code and the Code of Responsibility 25 Residence Halls 25 Art, Music, Theatre 28 Athletics and Physical Education 29 Religious and Spiritual Life 30 Social Life 31 Career Services 36 Health and Safety 37 ACADEMIC PROGRAMS AND POLICIES 41 The Curriculum 41 Requirements for Graduation 42 Standards of Progress 44 International Perspectives and Study Opporttmities 45 Pre-Professional Programs 51 Academic Support 56 General Information and Regulations 61 COURSES OF INSTRUCTION BY DEPARTMENTS 63 OFFICIAL RECORD 233 Trustees 233 Named Professorships 235 Retired Faculty 239 Continuing Faculty, 2007-08 242 Other Instructional Appointments, 2008-09 253 New Faculty and Instructional Appointments 256 Administrative Staff 259 Curricular Enrichment 271 Book Funds 273 Honor Societies 276 Awards 277 Class of 2009 281 Enrollment Statistics 285 Geographical Distribution 286 Alumni Association 287 Index 288 Capsule Information 291 4 — History and Statement of Purpose History and Statement of Purpose HISTORY AND STATEMENT OF PURPOSE HISTORY "When the peculiar circumstances of a community demand it, and their benevolence will justify it, the establishment of a College having the Bible for its first charter, and the prosperity of the Church and our coimtry for its great design, ought to be regarded as an enterprise of no common grandeur." — Davidson's first president, Robert Hall Morrison, in his inaugural address, August 2, 1838. Founded by Concord Presbytery, Davidson College opened as a manual labor institute in 1837. The college's name memorializes General William Lee Davidson, who died at the nearby Revolutionary War battle of Cowan's Ford in 1781. General Davidson's son provided the initial acreage for the campus. The college seal and the college motto, Alenda Lux Ubi Orta Libertas ("Let Learning Be Cherished Where Liberty Has Arisen"), recall the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence; both seal and motto resulted from the suggestion of Peter Stuart Ney, an elusive Frenchman believed by some to have been Napoleon's Marshal Ney. Original academic subjects included moral and natural philosophy, evidences of Christianity, classical languages, logic, and mathematics. Three professors, including Morrison, taught this curriculum to Davidson's sixty-five students. Although Presbyterian-originated, the college maintained from the beginning its intent to educate students without regard to their denominational affiliation. Students came from a variety of religious and regional backgrounds. By 1860, Davidson alumni lived in twelve states and two countries outside the United States. A bequest in 1856 from Maxwell Chambers of Salisbury, North Carolina, provided the college with the means to strengthen its base and expand its influence. The gift of a quarter of a million dollars made the institution, for a time, the richest college south of Princeton and helped the college survive through the Civil War years. It also provided for the construction of a central academic building that was named in honor of the college's first substantial benefactor. The present Chambers Building, which replaced the one burned in 1921, also bears his name. While the college had a student body of only twenty-four men in 1866, during the post-war recovery period there was a gradual expansion of curriculum, faculty, and students. Newly added academic disciplines included chemistry, English, history, and physics. By 1890 the teaching faculty included its first Ph.D.-holding professors. Increasing growth in enrollment gave the college a student body of over 300 by 1910. 6 — History and Statement of Purpose In 1911, the college offered the A.B. and the B.S. degrees, with the former requiring study of Greek and Latin, the latter allowing substitution of a modem foreign language in place of Latin. There were fifteen departments, though majors were not part of the curriculum until the 1920s. A stiengthened financial base was augmented by the generosity of the Rockefellers, who provided funds for replacing the original Chambers building, and by annual support from the Duke Endowment, which continues today. The 1920s and 1930s saw courses in accounting, business, economics, and music added to the curriculum, as well as honors programs and seminars. Ln 1923, Davidson was selected as the third college in North Carolina to be chartered for a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. Ciirricular revisions in the 1960s and 1980s altered the academic calendar and degree requirements, but retained Davidson's emphasis on a broad liberal arts education along with increasing opportunities for specialization, independent academic work, study abroad, and interdisciplinary programs. First admitting women as degree candidates in 1973, the college has grown to over 1,600 students on campus. The full-time teaching faculty numbers just over 160. Renovations and expansion of campus facilities have supported the college's growth in athletics, the visual arts, the sciences, residential buildings, student and community activities, and the performing arts. Recent academic program changes include the expansion of concentiations and the options for a second major or minor in many departments, small classes designed to help first-year students make the tiansition to college-level work and writing, and centers for speaking and writing. In 2007 Davidson College was the first liberal arts college in the countrs' to replace loans with grants in all of its financial aid packages. This initiative, named The Davidson Trust, allows all students, regardless of socio-economic background to graduate debt-free. Davidson's underlying philosophy appears in the college's official statement of purpose. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE Davidson College is an institution of higher learning established in 1837 by Presbyterians of North Carolina. Since its founding, the ties that bind the college to its Presbyterian heritage, including the historic understanding of Christian faith called The Reformed Tradition, have remained close and strong. The college is committed to continuing this vital relationship. The primarv purpose of Davidson College is to assist students in developing humane instincts and disciplined and creative minds for lives of leadership and service. In fulfilling its purpose, Davidson has chosen to be a liberal arts college, to maintain itself as a residential community of scholars, to emphasize the teaching responsibilitv of all professors, and to ensure the opportunity for personal relationships between students and teachers. Further, Davidson believes it is vital that all students in every class know and studv under mature and scholarly teachers who are able and eager to provide for each of them stimulation, instruction, and guidance. The Christian tiadition to which Davidson remains committed recognizes God as the source of all truth, and believes that Jesus Christ is the revelation of that God, a God bound by no church or creed. The loyalty of the college thus extends beyond the Christian communit}'

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