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| Former names | DeLand Academy (1883–1885) DeLand College (1885–1886) DeLand University (1886–1889) John B. Stetson University (1889–1994) |
|---|---|
| Motto | Pro Deo et Veritate (Latin) |
| Motto in English | "For God and Truth" |
| Type | Private university |
| Established | 1883; 141 years ago (1883) |
| Founder | Henry Addison DeLand |
| Accreditation | SACS |
| Religious affiliation | Protestant (Southern Baptist) (1885–1907; 1919–1995) No affiliation (1995–present) |
| Academic affiliations | ICUF |
| Endowment | $387 million (2022) |
| President | Chris Roellke |
| Provost | Elizabeth A. Skomp |
| Academic staff | 265 |
| Students | 4,330 |
| Undergraduates | 3,084 |
| Postgraduates | 1,246 |
| Location | DeLand, Florida, United States 29°02′06″N 81°18′09″W / 29.0350°N 81.3026°W / 29.0350; -81.3026 |
| Campus | Small city, 185 acres (75 ha) |
| Other campuses | |
| Colors | Green and white |
| Nickname | Hatters |
| Sporting affiliations | |
| Mascot | John B. |
| Website | stetson.edu |
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Stetson University is a private university with its main campus in DeLand, Florida, United States. Established in 1883 as DeLand Academy, it was later renamed John B. Stetson University in honor of a donor. The university's main campus in DeLand spans 175 acres and has Florida's oldest collection of education-related buildings. The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and is composed of four colleges and schools: the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Music, the School of Business Administration, and the Stetson University College of Law, Florida's first law school.
History
Stetson University was founded in 1883 as DeLand Academy, after the principal founder of the town, Henry Addison DeLand. In 1887, the institution was incorporated as DeLand University, but in 1889, its name was changed to John B. Stetson University. to honor John B. Stetson, the well-known hat manufacturer who made generous donations to the university and served alongside Henry A. DeLand as a founding trustee.
The first director of the academy was John H Griffith, a minister. When the college was founded, John Franklin Forbes took over as the first President. Lena B. Mathes was an early faculty member. Lincoln Hulley served as president from 1904 to 1934.
Until 1995, Stetson had an affiliation with the Florida Baptist Convention and was considered a “Baptist school".
Campus
Stetson University is located roughly halfway between Orlando and Daytona Beach, Florida in a town called DeLand, Florida. The main campus sits just north of the downtown area. The DeLand campus is home to the university's College of Arts and Sciences, School of Business Administration, School of Music, and most graduate programs.
The 175-acre (0.71 km) campus in DeLand is nationally designated by the National Register of Historic Places as the Stetson University Campus Historic District for Florida's oldest collection of education-related buildings.
DeLand Hall
Main article: DeLand HallDeLand Hall opened in 1884. The original cost of the building was $4,000. DeLand Hall was known as the first academic building on campus. Today, it is known as the oldest building in Florida in continuous use for higher education. DeLand Hall houses the Office of the President and the offices of other administrators.
Lynn Business Center
The Lynn Business Center is home for the university's School of Business. The Lynn Business Center is known on campus as the LBC. Constructed in 2003, Stetson's Lynn Business Center earned LEED certification and became not only Stetson's first green building on campus, but also the first green building in the state of Florida.
Lee Chapel
Lee Chapel is located in the historic Elizabeth Hall. It is a 100-year-old performance hall that seats 700. The acoustical properties are well-suited for classical music performances. It was built in 1897 and dedicated to the memory of John B. Stetson's late son, Ben, who died at age 6. It is currently named after H. Douglas Lee, who served as Stetson's eighth president from 1987 until 2009. It accommodates up to 787 people. William Sharp, an art professor, designed all the stained glass windows in the chapel. The organ is a 1961 Beckerath Organ. It is made up of 2,548 pipes and came here in 56 crates from Hamburg, Germany.
Stetson University College of Law
Main article: Stetson University College of LawThe Stetson University College of Law, was founded in 1900 in DeLand. In 1954, the law school was relocated to Gulfport, Florida where Stetson Law still exists today. The Stetson University College of Law was the first law school in Florida.
Academics
Stetson University offers more than 55 majors and minors leading to the Bachelor of Arts (B.A), Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Bachelor of Music (B.M.), Bachelor of Music Education (B.M.E.), and Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.) degree. There are 18 graduate programs in Business, Law, Education, Counseling, and Master of Fine Arts. The Juris Doctor and Master of Laws are offered by the Stetson College of Law, which guarantees admission to Stetson graduates who meet certain academic requirements. Dual degree programs are offered in law and business administration, and in pharmacy and business administration.
The university is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The student-faculty ratio is 12–1. Total full-time faculty in all Stetson's colleges and schools is 265.
College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts and Sciences is the liberal arts heart of the university, with 19 academic departments and several interdisciplinary programs. The College of Arts and Sciences is the largest college on campus in terms of total undergraduate majors and total number of faculty. The College of Arts and Sciences is the largest and most diverse of Stetson University's colleges and schools; it includes the humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, education and the arts. There is a student to faculty ratio of 12:1.
School of Music
Rated one of the finest undergraduate-only music schools in the country, Florida's first collegiate school of music has an enduring tradition of top-notch instruction. Its small size allows an intimate atmosphere and interaction between students and faculty. There is a select enrollment of just over 300 majors and minors and 52 artist-scholar faculty. Performance opportunities for students include the symphony orchestra, band, choirs, opera, musical theater, jazz, chamber music, and solo recitals. The curriculum includes degree options in performance, education, theory, and composition. Music students may combine music study with business, pre-law, and many other fields. The School of Music has been an accredited member of the National Association of Schools of Music since 1938, and is included in Parade Magazine's national "College A-List" in the category highlighting Arts Programs.
School of Business Administration
The School of Business Administration opened its doors in 1897 and today is one of 178 business schools worldwide to be accredited in both accounting and business by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (A.A.C.S.B.). The School of Business Administration features a range of traditional and non-traditional majors. Each major offers a customized field of study for a specific business discipline. Undergraduate majors include accounting, management, finance, international business, management information systems, marketing, family business, and general business. Masters programs include MBA, EMBA, and MAcc. The accounting program is one of only 182 worldwide that is accredited by AACSB International. The School of Business Administration is recognized by The Princeton Review as a Best Business School (Southeast).
College of Law
Main article: Stetson University College of LawFlorida's first law school, the ABA-accredited College of Law has educated lawyers, judges and community leaders for over a century. Consistently placing in the top tier in achievement for trial advocacy and legal writing, the college has been a member of the Association of American Law Schools since 1931.
Libraries
History
Before the first library was established in 1887, DeLand University had started to accumulate a small collection of books. At this time, fewer than 1,300 volumes were housed on bookshelves in Deland Hall, sharing space with the science lab. The library collection began to expand rapidly in November 1887 when the college was selected to become Florida's first repository for federal government documents.
DeLand University was renamed John B. Stetson University in 1889 and was the first university in Florida to employ a full-time librarian. In 1888, Warren Stone Gordis was hired by the university to be a language professor. In addition to teaching Greek and Latin, Gordis built and organized the library's collections and trained library assistants.
In 1906, the university received $40,000 from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Elizabeth S. Stetson, wife of John B. Stetson, matched Carnegie's contribution allowing for the Sampson Library to be built as a Carnegie library, one of fourteen in the state. Opening in 1908, it was named after university trustee C.T. Sampson, who was a major donor to the Stetson library fund. In 1964, the duPont-Ball Library became the campus's new main library building.
duPont-Ball Library
The duPont-Ball Library's databases provide access to 50,000 full-text journals, magazines and newspapers. As of October 2022, the library's physical collection contains 934,251 items organized by Library of Congress Classification.
The Stetson University Archives include memorabilia, photographs, yearbooks, newsletters and other documents related to the university's history. The archives also contain special collections not directly related to the university's history, including the Treasure Collection of Rare Books, the Max Cleland Collection, the Regar collection, and the Greenlaw Collection, which includes signed, first-edition children's books.
The duPont-Ball Library is the oldest federal depository in Florida, established in 1887. The library has been receiving State of Florida publications since 1968.
The library also houses the Innovation Lab, a makerspace for students, faculty and staff to use to create projects for classes, labs, research projects, or just for fun. The Innovation Lab features 3D printers, virtual reality technology, and workstations for soldering, woodworking, sewing, and more. The library also provides 3D scanning and printing, Google Glass, a variety of tablets, and lifeloggers (small wearable cameras that shoot high-definition photos that can be streamed live across the Internet).
Dolly & Homer Hand Law Library
The Stetson University College of Law libraries in Gulfport and Tampa support the research efforts of students, faculty, staff, bench and bar. The Gulfport campus library is open to the public. The combined collections of statutes, court reports, journals and treatises, in a variety of formats, is above the median size of academic law libraries in the United States.
Undergraduate research
In addition to the completion of a "senior thesis" project compulsory for graduation, students have the opportunity to develop their own research projects and be involved in faculty research. Two distinct programs foster undergraduate research: the SURE (Stetson Undergraduate Research Experience) Grant competition, which provides summer stipends and faculty mentors for selected student research projects; and Stetson Showcase, a day-long event that encourages undergraduates to share their research.
Continuing education
The university offers departments and program that specialize in services to lifelong learners and organizations outside the Stetson community.
- The Elderhostel – or Road Scholar – program allows individuals older than the traditional university age to attend classes on campus and in the region for a week, and offers specialized courses based on the university's curriculum.
- Each February, the departments of Continuing Education and Religious Studies co-host the Florida Winter Pastors’ School, which in 2010 celebrated its 25th anniversary.
- Each summer, week-long Destination Science camps are offered for youth ages 6–11, who attend sessions such as "Robots vs. Aliens" and "'G' Force Rockets and Moon Blasters."
- Stetson Lifelong is a program that provides community residents an educational place for intellectual discussion and social interaction. Launched at the Celebration campus in 2012.
- Stetson HATS (High Achieving Talented Students) is a year-round academic enrichment program that provides educational opportunities for high-achieving Florida students.
Rankings
| Academic rankings | |
|---|---|
| Master's | |
| Washington Monthly | 316 |
| Regional | |
| U.S. News & World Report | 4 |
| National | |
| Forbes | 439 |
| WSJ/College Pulse | 368 |
Student life
| Race and ethnicity | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| White | 56% | 56 | |
| Hispanic | 19% | 19 | |
| Black | 9% | 9 | |
| Other | 7% | 7 | |
| Foreign national | 6% | 6 | |
| Asian | 2% | 2 | |
| Economic diversity | |||
| Low-income | 37% | 37 | |
| Affluent | 63% | 63 | |
Stetson has approximately 20 honorary academic and professional organizations and over 100 other student organizations on campus. The Greek Community at Stetson consists of approximately 30 percent of the student body.
Patrick Smith Model United States Senate
Stetson University hosts the nation's first and oldest college-level Model United States Senate program (established in 1970) every year in March.
Athletics
Main article: Stetson Hatters | |
| Men's Teams Basketball Baseball Rowing|Crew Cross country Golf Soccer Tennis Football |
Women's Teams Basketball Softball Rowing|Crew Cross country Golf Soccer Tennis Volleyball Sand Volleyball Lacrosse |
Stetson is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and the university's 18 intercollegiate men's and women's teams compete on the Division I level in the ASUN Conference, the Pioneer Football League (Football Championship Subdivision - FCS) and MAAC – Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The school's mascot is "John B.", a stylized version of John B. Stetson, the benefactor for whom the university is named. The basketball, baseball, men's and women's tennis, women's golf, men's and women's soccer, sand volleyball and softball teams have either earned conference championships or gained national rankings or recognition.
One of the high-profile sports at Stetson is baseball. Since 1970, the baseball program has earned seven ASUN Conference championships and 16 trips to the NCAA Regionals. In 2013, women's basketball made its third NCAA tournament appearance. The team won the A-Sun Conference Championship in 2005, 2011, and 2013. Stetson also has a signature win in the 2024 NCAA regional against the University of Alabama. Stetson participated in football from 1901 until 1956 achieving an all-time record of 155–127–27 (.545). The football team earned its 100th victory in 1935. In 2010, university officials gathered information and evaluated the feasibility of starting a Division I-AA (now Football Championship Subdivision) non-scholarship program. In March 2011, SU President Wendy B. Libby announced the return of Hatters Football. and the addition of women's lacrosse. In July 2011, Stetson named Roger A. Hughes as head football coach. Stetson's sand volleyball team had its inaugural season in 2012, after the sport was officially approved for conference play. In 2013, both the lacrosse and football teams played their first games.
In popular culture
Several movies have been filmed on the Stetson campus, as well as in the City of DeLand. Among them are Ghost Story (1981), starring John Houseman and Fred Astaire; The Waterboy, featuring Adam Sandler; Walt Before Mickey, which starred Thomas Ian Nicholas, Jon Heder and Armando Gutierrez; From Earth to the Moon; First of May; and Estás nominado: Cuando la realidad supera a la ficción.
Notable alumni
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Notes
- Other consists of Multiracial Americans & those who prefer to not say.
- The percentage of students who received an income-based federal Pell grant intended for low-income students.
- The percentage of students who are a part of the American middle class at the bare minimum.
References
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- 1887 Fla. Laws ch. 3308
- 1889 Fla. Laws ch. 3985.
- "Tampa Women in Kindergarten Work". The Weekly Tribune. 7 November 1901. p. 8. Retrieved 18 February 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
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- "Government Docs". Stetson University duPont-Ball Library website. Online, available: https://www2.stetson.edu/library/about-us/departments/government-docs/
- "Innovation Lab". Stetson University duPont-Ball Library. Online, available: https://www2.stetson.edu/library/innovation-lab/
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- news-journalonline.com
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- "Hatters Ready to Hit the Sand For Inaugural Season – The Official Athletics Web site of Stetson University". Gohatters.com. 2012-02-29. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
- "A-Sun Adds Sand Volleyball as Championship Sport – The Official Athletics Web site of Stetson University". Gohatters.com. 2011-10-28. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
- "Hatter Lax Hosts Liberty on Sunday in First Game – The Official Athletics Web site of Stetson University". Gohatters.com. 2013-02-09. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
- "Inaugural Football Game Suspended Until Sunday – The Official Athletics Web site of Stetson University". gohatters.com.
- "Ghost Story (1981)". IMDb.
- "The Waterboy (1998)". IMDb.
- "Independent movie being filmed at Stetson". .stetson.edu. Archived from the original on 2015-07-11. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
- "From the Earth to the Moon (TV Mini-Series 1998)". IMDb.
- "Cannon, Arthur Patrick (Pat), (1904 - 1966)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
- "Mack Cleveland Jr., state legislator, 'Southern gentleman,' dies at 86". Sanford Herald, October 2010. Archived from the original on March 20, 2012. Retrieved September 6, 2011.
- Department of the Army, Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel (May 15, 1985). Department of the Army Pamphlet 360-10, Army Executive Biographies. Headquarters, Department of the Army: Washington, D.C. p. 563.
Further reading
- Lycan, Gilbert L. (1983). Stetson University: The First 100 Years. DeLand, Florida: Stetson University Press.
External links
| Atlantic Sun Conference | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full members |  | |
| Men's lacrosse associates | ||
| Women's lacrosse associates | ||
| Men's swimming & diving associates | ||
| Women's swimming & diving associates |
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| Related |
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| Division I college sports teams of Florida | ||
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- Stetson University
- Private universities and colleges in Florida
- Universities and colleges in Volusia County, Florida
- Universities and colleges established in 1883
- Music schools in Florida
- Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
- DeLand, Florida
- Library buildings completed in 1908
- 1883 establishments in Florida