Birmingham-Southern College (Birmingham, Alabama)

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www.bsc.edu/
Birmingham-Southern College is a four-year, private liberal arts institution founded in 1856 and affiliated with the United Methodist Church. For 10 straight years, Birmingham-Southern has been ranked among the top National Liberal Arts Colleges in the country by U.S. News & World Report. In 1987, the magazine ranked the college as the No. 1 Regional Liberal Arts College in the South Region. The following year, Birmingham-Southern was elevated to the Liberal Arts College-Bachelor’s category—the top category a liberal arts institution can attain in the magazine’s annual rankings. Since then, the college’s ranking has continued to improve from Tier IV to its current Tier I ranking, placing it among the top 66 liberal arts colleges in the nation. The college also has been ranked by the magazine as the most efficiently operated school in the nation and as one of the 10 Best Values in America, in addition to one of 22 private colleges in the country listed as a “Best Buy” by the Fiske Guide to Colleges.

History:
Birmingham-Southern College is the result of a merger of Southern University, founded in Greensboro, Ala., in 1856, with Birmingham College, opened in 1898 in Birmingham, Ala. These two institutions were consolidated on May 30, 1918, under the name of Birmingham-Southern College.

Campus and Location:
192 wooded acres three miles west of downtown Birmingham. The college has 45 academic, residential, administrative, and athletic buildings/facilities, including 25 new facilities/structures, additions, or renovations completed since 1976. New facilities since 1998 include a campus center, fitness center, 100,000 square-foot science center, and a new Fraternity Row. In addition, renovation was completed in Fall 2002 to reconfigure North Residence Hall to three- and four-bedroom suites for male students, and a renovation project to convert the Phillips Science Building into a center to accommodate the academic needs of the college's Division of Humanities was completed in February 2003.

Innovative Curriculum:
New general education plan known as Foundations expands the college's liberal arts mission to address the talents and skills students will need to be successful in an increasingly complex and technological society. This innovative plan provides students with the best mix of broad as well as in-depth learning experiences in the liberal arts, while emphasizing the importance of the first-year experience.

Academic Calendar:
Two semesters and a January Interim term. Four units of credit required each semester and one each Interim.

Interim Term:
The most distinctive part of the Birmingham-Southern experience is the Interim Term, a four-week period each January in which students develop their potential for creative activity and independent study by exploring one topic or interest. This intensive program of experiential learning—the middle section of the college's 4-1-4 academic calendar—offers students unique opportunities to be further enriched through on- and off-campus projects, independent study or research, foreign study experiences, and challenging and unusual internships.

Enrollment:
Approximately 1500 students from 30 states and 23 foreign countries. The student body includes 49 National Merit Finalists, and the first-year class consistently has the highest academic profile in the state. The fall 2003 first-year class included 24 valedictorians and 17 National Merit Finalists, and was the second largest freshman class since 1989.

Faculty:
Birmingham-Southern has a 12:1 student to faculty ratio, and of the full-time members of the faculty, more than 92 percent hold either a doctoral degree or the highest degree in their field.

Advising/Counseling:
Faculty advisors, academic and personal counseling, career counseling, and pre-professional guidance in church-related vocations, law, economics and business administration, and health-related careers.

Degree Programs:
Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Music Education, Master of Arts in Public and Private Management, Master of Music.

Disciplinary Majors:
Accounting, art, art education, biology, business administration, chemistry, computer science, dance, dance education, economics, education, engineering (3-2 program), English, French, German, history, mathematics, music, music education, philosophy, physics, political science, psychology, religion, sociology, Spanish, and theatre arts.

Interdisciplinary Majors:
Asian studies, biology-psychology, computer science-mathematics, history-political science, international studies, musical theatre, philosophy-politics-economics, religion-philosophy, sociology-political science, and sociology-psychology. Students who desire a more specialized or personally designed major may develop their own individualized major with the guidance of a faculty committee.

Minors:
Art, Asian studies, biology, business administration, chemistry, computer science, dance, economics, English(literature and writing), environmental studies, French, German, history, Latin American studies, mathematics, music, philosophy, physics, political science, psychology, religion, Russian, sociology, Spanish, theatre.

Special Programs:
Honors Program, Biomedical Research Scholars Program, Dual-Degree in Engineering, Dual Degree in Environmental Studies, Marine Environmental Science Consortium, Hess Center for Leadership and Service, British Studies at Oxford, Air Force ROTC, Army ROTC, 3/2 Program in Nursing, Central Europe Semester, Costa Rica Science Semester, College Fellows Program, and Study Abroad. (The college has now established relationships with 16 international schools and seven international education programs abroad, making worldwide study-abroad opportunities available to students.)

Consortia:
The college holds membership in the Associated Colleges of the South (ACS), Birmingham Area Consortium of Higher Education (BACHE), National Council on Undergraduate Research, Project Kaleidoscope, The Annapolis Group, Council of Independent Colleges, and National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, among others.

Library:
Housed in the Charles Andrew Rush Learning Center, the N.E. Miles Library includes a collection of 257,000 volumes; 57,000 government documents; 1,100 periodical subscriptions; 49,000 microfiche; 14,500 microfilm; 3,800 video and audiovisual packets; 6,300 slides; and 20,000 recordings, compact discs, and cassettes; and numerous full text, electronic databases. A total of 38 computer workstations are located in the Learning Center/Library, 28 of which are for public use. The Learning Center/Library was extensively renovated and remodeled in the summer of 1997 and includes a variety of facilities for individual and group study, research, and instruction, including an electronic classroom, seminar rooms, and research carrels.

Computer Facilities:
The campus network is comprised of over 880 college-owned, windows-based systems and more than 100 network laser printers. Additionally, connectivity for student-owned machines is available in all residence halls, sororities, and fraternities. Lab facilities include: seven residence hall computer labs, nine computer classroom labs, five small departmental labs plus computers in essentially all science labs. There are 46 classrooms with ceiling mounted computer/video projectors and computers. A fractional DS3 line provides Internet access to all members of the college community. All students receive an e-mail account and may create a personal WWW home page.

National Honor Societies:
Birmingham-Southern is a sheltering institution for a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa and is home to 20 other honorary or professional societies in various academic areas. The college established a new chapter of the business honorary Beta Gamma Sigma in 2003, joining 375 other schools, all accredited in business through AACSB International—The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, that honor top students by inducting them into lifetime membership in the society. Birmingham-Southern is one of only six baccalaureate-liberal arts institutions in the country to hold both AACSB International accreditation and the designation of Phi Beta Kappa and one of only six to hold Phi Beta Kappa and house a Beta Gamma Sigma chapter.

Student Activities:
Newspaper, yearbook, literary magazine, scholarly review, dance, theatre productions, full range of musical groups including three choirs and a variety of instrumental groups, plus numerous special interest, service, and honorary organizations. A full range of men's and women's intramural sports, as well as a variety of planned and impromptu outdoor activities.

Student Government Association:
The official organization of the student body, responsible for planning student activities and for administering regulations governing student behavior and the Honor Code through the Honor Council. The SGA enables students to play a major role in the governance of the college community and in the maintenance of the academic integrity of the college.

Religious Life:
Several weekly offerings from diverse Christian traditions held in Yeilding Chapel. Religious, academic, and social life at the college provide various additional opportunities for worship, study, service, and intentional growth in faith and understanding.

Social Life:
Six men's national social fraternity chapters, seven women's national sorority chapters, Quest II film/lecture series, Entertainment Fest, SoCo entertainment weekend, Homecoming, Black Student Union, International Student Union, SOAK outdoor activity group, and diverse schedule of social activities sponsored by the SGA.

Intercollegiate Athletics:
The college is a member of NCAA Division I and the Big South Conference, and competes in the sports of men's and women's basketball, cross-country, golf, soccer, and tennis; men's baseball; and women's softball, volleyball, and rifle.

Residence Halls:
Six residence halls on the residence hall quad, two apartment buildings, six fraternity houses on Fraternity Row, and six sorority townhouses behind the Bruno Residence Hall. Each student living on campus is automatically a member of the Residence Hall Association. RHA meets regularly to plan activities promoting "community" among on-campus residents and to hear concerns they may have.

Tuition and Fees:
Cost Summary (2005-2006):

Tuition: $20,810
Residence Hall: $4,128 to $5,229
Books and Supplies (approximate): $1,000
Meal Plans: $2,080 to $3,100
Student Activity Fee: $315
Automobile Registration: $25
Student Health Insurance: $475
Information Technology Fee : $315
Financial Aid:
More than $20 million in federal, state, and institutional programs, including scholarships, loans, grants, and work-study. More than 98 percent of students receive some form of financial aid.

Accreditation:
Birmingham-Southern College is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097; Telephone number 404-679-4501) to award bachelor’s degrees and master’s degrees. In addition, the college is on the list of institutions approved by the following organizations: Alabama State Department of Education, American Chemical Society, AACSB International—The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, National Association of Schools of Music, National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, and University Senate of the United Methodist Church.