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Six generations of students have graduated from Spartanburg’s Wofford College since it opened in the fall of 1854. Always comparatively small in size, this United Methodist-related liberal arts college has played an impressively large role in terms of service to church, state and nation. Graduates live in all 50 states and more than 25 foreign countries. Of the 15,112 living Wofford alumni in 2007, 1,121 were presidents or owners of corporations or organizations; 867 practiced medicine, dentistry or other health care professions; and 756 were attorneys or judges, including two justices of the South Carolina Supreme Court. Wofford’s tenth president, Dr. Benjamin B. Dunlap, took office in July 2000. He immediately challenged the faculty to update and enhance the curriculum with such innovations as “The Novel Wofford College Experience,” “The Success Initiative” and learning communities. Wofford consistently has scored well above average on the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), and the Open Doors 2007 report of the Institute for International Education for Students ranked the college among the top 12 campuses in the nation. Increasing the size and improving the qualifications of the faculty has been another major priority in recent years. The faculty to student ratio is now 1:11, and 93 percent of the full-time teachers hold the earned doctorate. The curriculum includes majors in accounting, art history, biology, business economics, chemistry, computer science, Chinese language and culture, economics, environmental studies, finance, French, German, government, history, humanities, intercultural studies, intercultural studies for business, mathematics, philosophy, physics, psychology, religion, sociology, Spanish, and theater. Wofford also offers pre-professional programs in education, engineering, medicine, law, the Christian ministry and veterinary science. Major capital projects in the new millennium have included the renovation of “Old Main” and the construction of the Roger Milliken Science Center. Campus housing has been transformed by the development of the award-winning Wofford Village. Thanks to the generosity of the Abney Foundation and other friends, the college also has been very successful in strengthening its financial aid program, which provides assistance to 90 percent of the student body, and the endowment, which had a July 2007 market value of almost $170 million. Jerry Richardson, owner and founder of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, is a 1959 Wofford graduate. In 1995, Wofford became the team’s summer training camp home. Since then, beautiful new athletic facilities such as Gibbs Stadium, Russell C. King Field, and the Reeves Tennis Center have made it possible for the college to compete as a member of NCAA Division I. The Terriers won Southern Conference championships in football and baseball in the early 2000s. Working with local committees, the college brought the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas to Spartanburg and Gibbs Stadium on a continuing basis. One of the few four-year institutions in the United States founded before the American Civil War, Wofford still operates on its original campus, a designated national arboretum. Its motto, adopted in the 1850s, continues to inspire students: Intaminatis, Fulget Honoribus – “Shining with Untarnished Honor.” For more information about Wofford College, visit its website at: www.wofford.edu .
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