Southwest Quadrant

Hoover Hall and Library

Whittier College is a private liberal arts college in Whittier, California, United States. As of January 2009, the college has approximately 1540 enrolled students.

Overview[link]

The liberal arts university was founded in 1887 by members of the Religious Society of Friends, thanks to the generosity and efforts of local business leaders Washington Hadley and Aubrey Wardman. It was named after Friends (Quaker) poet John Greenleaf Whittier. Student athletes at Whittier College are still known as the Poets in his honor.

Whittier College is one of the more diverse liberal arts colleges in the country, serving students not only of different ethnic and geographic backgrounds, but also of a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds. Minority and international students make up nearly half (49%) of the student body.^{[citation needed]} A majority of the student body hails from California, Hawaii, and the Pacific Northwest, but the College also draws a significant number of students from the East Coast and Midwest.

With more than 30 majors and 30 minors offered in 23 disciplines, Whittier's liberal arts curriculum sets high emphasis on interdisciplinary learning. Students may also apply for entry into the Whittier Scholars Program, in which each student, under the guidance of a faculty member, designs his or her own major and course of study based on individual interests and career goals. Also emphasized is learning beyond traditional classroom or lecture style of teaching; for example, professional internships and service projects are required or recommended as part of many academic programs. Study abroad is encouraged in semester- or year-long affiliated programs, and many students take advantage of Whittier's popular January Interim session, which is a four-week intensive "mini-semester" that typically involves fieldwork and faculty-led international travel.

Whittier College's Faculty Masters Program, modeled after similar programs at Oxford and Cambridge universities, delivers another optional learning experience for students. In this program, three faculty are selected as faculty-in-residence for a multi-year term, live in houses located on-campus, and create and host in their homes educational and social programs around a specific theme, such as health and society, writers and writing, alumni connections, and Spanish culture. Events feature noteworthy professionals—from artists to authors, musicians and entrepreneurs, politicians and scientists—and enable students to interact with, listen to, and often dine with an invited speaker. Recent guest participants in this program include world-class authors Maxine Hong Kingston and Ray Bradbury, and filmmaker Morgan Spurlock.

Regarding life on campus, Whittier College has about 90 registered, student-run organizations and clubs, encompassing every interest from politics to service to ultimate frisbee to rugby. The college also has four local fraternities (called "societies"): The Franklin Society, the Lancer Society, the Orthogonian Society, and the William Penn Society; as well as five local sororities: the Palmer Society, The Ionian Society, the Metaphonian Society, the Thalian Society, and the Athenian Society; and one co-ed society, the Sachsen Society. Established in the 1920s and 1930s, these societies are an indelible part of campus history, and today provide one of the strongest links between the College, current students, and alumni. Other long-standing campus groups include the Artorian Order of the Knights of Pendragon (A.O.K.P.), the Spartans, and student publications, the Quaker Campus and the Acropolis, as well as a student run radio station, KPOET radio.

President of the United States Richard Nixon remains the college's most well-known alumnus, other than Andrea Barber, who played wacky neighbor Kimmy Gibbler on the sitcom Full House.

An event reminiscent of their famous alumnus occurred at Whittier College in 2002 when an electronic bugging device was found in the office of the college newspaper, the Quaker Campus. The discovery quickly made headlines on the Drudge Report, the Student Press Law Center and other media outlets due to the similarity to the bugging of the Democratic National Convention in 1972 that brought down Nixon's presidency in the Watergate scandal.

Athletics[link]

The Whittier College Poets compete in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) of NCAA Division III. The school has fielded sports teams for over 100 years. Its current teams include football, men’s and women’s basketball, cross country, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, lacrosse and water polo; women’s softball and volleyball; and men’s baseball and golf.

The storied history of the Whittier College football program began in 1907, and since the inception of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 1915, the Poets have captured 26 conference titles. From 1957–1964, Whittier won eight straight SCIAC titles under the direction of legendary coaches, George Allen (1951–56, 32-22-5), Don Coryell (1957–59), and John Godfrey (1960–1979). Their most recent championships came back-to-back in 1997 and 1998. 23 Poets have earned All-American honors, the most recent coming in 2007. The football program plays out of Newman Memorial Field, which seats 7,000.

The Whittier Lacrosse Program was established in 1980. In 1980, the Poets became a member of the Western Collegiate Lacrosse League (WCLL). From 1980 to 1999, Whittier won ten championships. As a result of their success, Whittier decided to become the first and only NCAA lacrosse program on the west coast. In 1990, they were recognized by the NCAA, but continued to compete in the WCLL. The Poets were the team to beat throughout the 1990s and it was not until 2000 when Whittier made the decision to make their mark on the national scene by leaving the WCLL and focus on being selected for the NCAA tournament. The LAX team has been a national contender every year since 2000 in the NCAA, as a quarter-finalist in 2003, and a semi-finalist in 2004.

Whittier Law School[link]

Whittier College maintains a satellite campus for law studies in Costa Mesa, CA. Whittier Law School was founded in the Hancock Park Section of Los Angeles in 1966 as Beverly Law School. It became Whittier Law School in 1975 and moved to Costa Mesa in 1997. Whittier Law School has 4,000 alumni practicing in 48 states and 14 countries. Whittier Law School has been accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) since 1978 and has been a member of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) since 1987.

Notable alumni[link]

Government[link]

• Richard Nixon- former U.S. President
• Robert D. Durham- justice, Oregon Supreme Court
• Tony Strickland- California State Senator
• Florence-Marie Cooper - former United States federal judge
• John Fasana - mayor of Duarte, California
• Gregory Salcido - former mayor of Pico Rivera, California
• Wayne R. Grisham - Former member of the U.S. House of Representatives
• George E. Outland - Former member of the U.S. House of Representatives
• Larry J. Estrada - former mayor of Fort Collins, Colorado

Arts[link]

• Jessamyn West- author
• Zilpha Keatley Snyder -Newberry Award-winning author best known for The Egypt Game
• Salvador Plascencia- author
• Dorothy Baker- author
• Charles Bock- author
• Arthur Allan Seidelman- Emmy-winning director
• Chris Jacobs- actor and co-host of Discovery Channel's television show Overhaulin'
• Roger Lodge- television host
• Andrea Barber- actress, best known for playing Kimmy Gibbler on the ABC sitcom Full House
• Geoff Stults- actor, "October Road"
• George Stults- actor, "7th Heaven"
• Lycia Trouton- artist
• Bill Handel- Radio personality
• Linda Vallejo- artist

Business[link]

• Fred D. Anderson- former CFO of Apple Computer
• Peter L. Harris - former CEO FAO Schwartz, former CEO San Francisco 49ers

Medicine[link]

• Albert R. Behnke - U.S. Navy physician who established the U.S. Naval Medical Research Institute

Religion[link]

• R. Kent Hughes- former pastor of College Church in Wheaton, Illinois and author of numerous books
• David Moyer - bishop in the Traditional Anglican Communion

Academia[link]

• Willa Baum - Historian and pioneer of oral history
• Lilian Katz - Professor Emerita of Early Childhood Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Sports[link]

• Russ Purnell- special teams coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars
• Jim Colborn- former Major League Baseball pitcher
• Gary Jones- former Major League Baseball pitcher
• Steve Jones- former Major League Baseball pitcher
• Elvin Hutchison - former National Football League player and official
• Tony Malinosky- former Major League Baseball player, oldest living MLB player
• Ila Borders- first female pitcher to start in a professional baseball game
• Jamie Quirk- former Major League Baseball player
• Jim Skipper- assistant coach for the Tennessee Titans of the NFL
• Brian Kelly- former Major League Lacrosse player
• Chuck McMurtry- former defensive tackle in the American Football League
• Timo Liekoski - Finnish soccer coach
• Greg Jones- Whittier College baseball Hall of Famer

Patrick Noyes (soccer) former 1995 - 1998. Presently Long Beach City College Head Coach

Notable coaches[link]

• George Allen- head football coach for the Poets from 1951-'56. Former NFL head coach and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
• Jerry Burns- former head coach Minnesota Vikings. Assistant coach for Poets football team in 1952.
• Don Coryell- head football coach for the Poets from 1957-'59. First and only coach to win at least 100 games at both the collegiate level and in the NFL
• Omarr Smith- defensive backs coach for the Poets in 2004. Defensive back for the San Jose SaberCats of the Arena Football League
• Duval Love- offensive line coach for the Poets in 2008. Former NFL offensive lineman.
• Leo B. Calland - former college football and basketball coach; highest winning percentage of any basketball coach at USC
• Ty Knott- former assistant coach for the Poets. Former NFL assistant coach with the Jacksonville Jaguars, New Orleans Saints, and Green Bay Packers.
• Joe Romano- former assistant lacrosse coach for the Poets. Former head lacrosse coach at Notre Dame de Namur University. Currently lacrosse coach and college counselor at Bellarmine College Preparatory and scout for the Washington Stealth.

Notable faculty[link]

• Betty Miller Unterberger, associate professor of history from 1954-1961^[2]

References[link]

External links[link]

	Greater Los Angeles portal
	University portal

• Official website
• KPOETradio student radio station