Student Handbook > Welcome & College History
Welcome & College History
Dear Student:
Welcome – or welcome back to Macalester for the 2008-2009 academic year. Whether you are joining us for the first time or returning to the community, I hope you anticipate the year as one filled with challenge and promise.
You all know the values that embody this institution. These values can only be realized through the active participation of each member of our community. The success of the Macalester experience is a collaborative effort – between faculty, students and staff – which takes place in the classroom, residence halls, laboratories, athletic fields and beyond. I urge you to be an active member of this community, taking advantage of every available opportunity.
The Student Handbook is designed to acquaint you with the range of services, regulations and expectations that exist here. You will find information on academic expectations and requirements, services that will assist your success both in and out of the classroom, the governing structure of the College and the standards that help us abide responsibly as a learning community.
Best wishes for a good year.
Laurie B. Hamre
Vice President for Student Affairs
Jim Hoppe
Dean of Students
Lisa Landreman
Associate Dean of Students
History
The Founder’s Vision. Macalester College was founded in 1874 with a commitment to making it one of the finest colleges in the country. Its founder, the Rev. Edward Duffield Neill, served as a chaplain in the Civil War and held positions in three U.S. presidential administrations. Journeying to the Minnesota Territory in 1849 to do missionary work, he founded two churches and served as the state’s first superintendent of public education and first chancellor of the University of Minnesota.
Having shaped the education of the Northwest’s citizens, Neill turned to the education of its leaders. He believed that only a private college could offer both the academic quality and the values needed to prepare for leadership. He planned a college which would be equal in academic strength to the best colleges in the East. It would be Presbyterian-affiliated but nonsectarian, making it inclusive by the standards of his day.
Charles Macalester, a prominent Philadelphia businessman and philanthropist, made the establishing gift by donating the Winslow House, a noted summer hotel in Minneapolis. With additional funding from the Presbyterian Church and from the new College’s trustees, Macalester opened in 1885 with five professors, six freshmen, and 52 preparatory students.
Defining Excellence. In 1887, a young classical scholar named James Wallace joined the faculty and forever changed the future of Macalester College. Over the next 50 years, as faculty member, president, fund-raiser, donor, and role model, James Wallace helped the College define its special values and its standards of excellence.
Wallace quickly established himself as a fine and demanding teacher, and he earned a national reputation for scholarship when he published two Greek textbooks that were widely used across the country. When he took on added duties as dean of the College and then as president, he dedicated himself to creating the strongest possible academic experience for Macalester students. He recruited excellent faculty members and carefully added new areas of study to the curriculum.
In spite of academic success, James Wallace’s early years at Macalester were financially difficult. Gradually, his unceasing efforts built up a group of donors whose support, together with tuition from a growing student body, put the college on steady footing. By the time he rejoined the faculty in 1906, Wallace had enabled the college to pay off its debt, maintain a balanced budget, and begin to establish an endowment to offer some protection against hard times.
Until shortly before his death in 1939, James Wallace taught religion, Greek and political science. He inspired students to set high aspirations, strive for the best, and serve humanity on a global basis. His interest in world affairs intensified throughout his lifetime, and just before his 90th birthday he published a third book, this one on international peace and justice.
Distinguishing Values. In the 1940s and 1950s President Charles J. Turck gave new focus to the College’s internationalism by recruiting foreign students, creating overseas study opportunities, and hiring faculty from diverse backgrounds. Under his leadership, the College broadened its base of community service and intensified its continuing interest in civic and national affairs.
Macalester engaged in a remarkable period of advancement throughout the 1960s. Under the leadership of President Harvey M. Rice, the College strengthened the academic credentials of its faculty, enhanced the academic program, and increased its visibility, attracting students from across the nation and around the world. A major building campaign resulted in a fine arts center and new science facilities which were among the best in the United States. All of this was made possible by the generous gifts of many friends, led by DeWitt and Lila Wallace, founders of the Reader’s Digest and major benefactors of Macalester. Mr. Wallace, who died in 1981, was the son of President James Wallace and a member of the College’s class of 1911.
Along the way, Macalester committed itself to a liberal arts curriculum and asserted five traditional and distinguishing values: involvement of students with faculty in the pursuit of learning; creation of a diverse campus community; incorporation of an international perspective in the curriculum and campus life; involvement of the College in the life of the metropolitan area; and espousal of service as a way of life.
The stories of four alumni provide evidence of the historic nature of those values:
Catharine Deaver Lealtad became Macalester’s first African American graduate in 1915; as a physician she spent a long career treating children affected by poverty, war and famine around the world.
Esther Torii Suzuki was admitted to Macalester in 1942, freeing her from the internment camp where her Japanese American family was placed during World War II; she became a social worker and human rights activist.
Walter Mondale, who grew up in southern Minnesota, was part of the Class of 1950; he went on to become vice president of the United States, a U.S. senator, and U.S. Ambassador to Japan.
Kofi Annan came to Macalester from Ghana; after his 1961 graduation he began a career with the United Nations culminating in his election to the post of U.N. Secretary General and his receipt of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize.
Unprecedented Strength. The 1990s were another period of significant advancement for Macalester. In 1991, the College’s endowment became significantly stronger than it had been, enabling Macalester to pursue its high ideals with renewed vision and confidence. The College increased the number of faculty positions, adding new depth and more broadly diverse perspectives to the educational program. The improved student-faculty ratio also made possible more flexible and personalized teaching approaches, including significant enhancement of an already strong emphasis on faculty-student collaborative research and writing. The College also increased international study opportunities for students and faculty and strengthened co-curricular programs from athletics to residential life to community service.
Through a comprehensive campus improvement program, virtually every academic and residential building on campus was renovated, as were the athletic facilities. Extensive renovation of the science facilities, which merged two buildings into the Olin-Rice Science Center, was completed in 1997. George Draper Dayton residence hall opened in 1998, the Ruth Stricker Dayton Campus Center in 2001, and the renovated Kagin Commons student services building in 2002. A comprehensive fund-raising campaign completed in 2000 raised $55.3 million to help support some of those building projects as well as scholarship funds, student-faculty research stipends, academic programs, and annual operations.
A recent planning process has reaffirmed Macalester’s core values and key strengths, and under the leadership of President Brian Rosenberg the college continues to seek new ways to apply those values and strengths to the challenges of the 21st century. With the help of financial support from its alumni and friends, Macalester continues the traditions begun by its founders and carried forward throughout its history: providing an education of uncompromising academic quality to capable students from a wide range of social and cultural backgrounds and preparing them to make a significant and positive difference in the world.