Covenant College is a Christian liberal arts college in Lookout Mountain, Georgia, United States.
History
Founded in 1955 in Pasadena, California, as an agency of the Bible Presbyterian Church, Covenant College and Covenant Theological Seminary moved its campus to St. Louis, Missouri the following year and following a split among the Bible Presbyterians, it became affiliated with the Bible Presbyterian Church-Columbus Synod (renamed the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in 1961). In 1964, it separated from the seminary, moving to Lookout Mountain, Georgia. In 1965, it was the site of the merger between the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and the Reformed Presbyterian Church, General Synod to form the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod. It became and remains an agency of the Presbyterian Church in America after the 1982 merger between the RPCES and the PCA. As such, Covenant stands in the Reformed and Presbyterian traditions.
Academics
Covenant College offers liberal arts education from a Reformed Christian perspective. The focus of the college is found in its motto, "In All Things Christ Preeminent." The purpose of this focus is to ground excellence in academic inquiry in a biblically grounded frame of reference.
The college offers Associate of Arts, Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Music, and Master of Education degrees, and several pre-professional programs. In addition, Covenant is home to the Chalmers Center for Economic and Community Development (established 1999), which offers courses and programs in community and economic development in the urban United States and throughout the developing world.
Covenant's faculty is composed of 67 full-time teaching faculty members, 92% of whom hold doctorates or terminal degrees in their fields. The student-faculty ratio is 13:1.
The college has been accredited since 1971 by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).
J. Derek Halvorson became Covenant's sixth president July 2012. He is the first alumnus to occupy Covenant's presidency. He has a wife, Wendy, and two kids, Banks and Whitman.
Athletics
Covenant has sports teams that compete at the intercollegiate level in men's and women's soccer, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's golf, baseball, softball and women's volleyball. Its athletic teams are known as the Scots. Covenant is a member of NCAA Division III. Covenant joined the USA South Athletic Conference in 2010 where a number of its programs have won conference championships in recent years.
Campus
The campus is located at the top of Lookout Mountain in Lookout Mountain, Georgia.
Carter Hall
Carter Hall is the signature building on campus. It was originally named The Lookout Mountain Hotel and was built in 1928 by the Dinkler Hotel Corporation and run by Paul Carter, for whom the building is now named. It was popularly known as the "Castle in the Clouds." However, since it was completed less than a year before the Great Depression, the hotel soon went bankrupt. It opened and closed several times prior to 1960, when it shut down for the last time. Bill Brock, the grandfather of the college's fourth president, Frank Brock, served on the original board of the hotel.
Both the exterior and interior of Carter Hall are Austro-Bavarian Gothic revival in style. The building has had two towers in its history. The first tower was similar in design to the Frauenkirche (Cathedral of Our Lady) in Munich. Poor maintenance before acquisition by the college required it to be rebuilt. The new tower, though considerably simpler in style, maintains the architectural style of the original tower.
Covenant College bought the building in 1964, upon relocating to Lookout Mountain, Georgia. During the first few years of Covenant's operation on the mountain, all the functions of the college were contained within Carter Hall. At that time, it housed the chapel, the library, the classrooms, the professors' offices, and all of the dorm rooms, as well as the dining hall and administrative offices, which are still located there today.
The current halls of Carter are 5th South and 5th North (men's), 4th North, Central and South (women's), 3rd North, Central and South (women's), 2nd North, Central and South (men's).
Founders Hall
Founders Hall contains three wings, each named for members of the founding generation of Covenant College.
Belz Hall, the first to be built, was completed in 1972, is named after pastor and Christian educator Max Belz, a member of Covenant College’s original board of trustees. Belz Hall houses approximately 100 students and was originally a men’s dorm. In 1990 and 1993 two new wings were added to the structure, and the building was renamed Founders Residence Hall. Currently the dorm halls for Belz are as follows: Ekklesia (a men's hall on the main floor), Brethren (a men's hall on the second floor), 1st Belz (a men's hall on the first floor), and Catacombs (a men's floor on the basement level).
Schmidt Hall, completed in 1990, is named in honor of Rudy and Collyn Schmidt, co-founders and long-time friends of the college, involved in virtually every dimension of college life since its inception. The dorm halls in Schmidt include Balcony (a women's hall on the fourth floor), Jungle (a women's hall on the main floor), and Jubilee (a women's hall on the second floor).
Rayburn Hall was completed in 1993 and is named for Robert G. Rayburn, the founding president of Covenant College. The dorm halls in Rayburn include Highlands (a women's hall on the fourth floor), Gracewell (a women's hall on the main floor), and Blackwatch (a men's hall on the second floor).
Maclellan/Rymer Hall
The Maclellan wing of the hall, built in 1998, was named in honor of the Maclellan Foundation, a longtime supporter of Covenant College. The dorm halls in Maclellan wing of the building include Sutherland (a men's hall on the second floor), Suburbs (a men's hall on the third floor), Rowan (a women's hall on the fourth floor), and Halcyon (a women's hall on the fifth floor). The Rymer wing of the building, completed in 2000, was given by Ann Caudle Rymer and her son, S. Bradford Rymer, Jr. The dorm halls in the Rymer wing include The Five Points (a men's hall on the second floor), Lawrence (a men's hall on the third floor), Harambe! (a women's hall on the fourth floor), and Chi Alpha (a women's hall on the fifth floor).
Andreas Hall
Andreas Hall, completed in 2007 as part of the BUILD campaign, is located slightly south of Maclellan/Rymer Hall, and is the newest addition to the college's residence halls. It is named for Lowell Andreas, a recent financial supporter of Covenant College. It houses over 100 students and is four stories tall. The dorm halls in Andreas include Ithaca (a men's hall on the second floor), Bloodfield (a men's hall on the second floor), Ruhama (a women's hall on the third floor), Kallah (a women's hall on the third floor), The Fritz (a women's hall on the fourth floor), and Imani (a women's hall on the fourth floor).
Notable alumni
- Aaron Belz (1993), poet
- Joel Belz (1962), founder, God's World Publications, former publisher, WORLD Magazine
- Mark David Chapman (attended one semester), criminal, found guilty in the 1980 murder of British musician John Lennon
- Michael Cromartie (1978), former chair, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, vice president, Ethics and Public Policy Center
- Wes King (1981), recording artist
- Marty Marquis (1999), guitar, keyboard, and vocals, Blitzen Trapper
- Paul Moser (1979), noted analytic philosopher
- Randy Nabors (1972), pastor, New City Fellowship, Chattanooga, Tennessee
- James Ward (1972), musician, recording artist
- Isaac Wardell (2005), musician, Bifrost Arts, The Welcome Wagon
Leadership
Presidents
- Robert G. Rayburn (1955â€"1965)
- Marion Barnes (1965â€"1978)
- Martin Essenburg (1978â€"1987)
- Frank A. Brock (1987â€"2002)
- Niel Nielson (2002â€"2012)
- J. Derek Halvorson (2012â€"present)
References
External links
- Official website
- Official athletics website