Ithaca College

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Ithaca College

Former name	Ithaca Conservatory of Music (1892–1931)
Motto	Commitment to Excellence
Type	Private college
Established	September 19, 1892; 132 years ago (1892-09-19)
Academic affiliations	NAICU CIC
Endowment	$356.8 million (2022)[1]
President	La Jerne Terry Cornish
Academic staff	721
Administrative staff	987
Students	6,266 (Fall 2019)[2]
Undergraduates	5,852 (Fall 2019)[2]
Postgraduates	414 (Fall 2019)[2]
Location	Ithaca, New York , U.S.
Campus	Small city, 757 acres (306 ha)
Colors	Blue, gold, gray
Nickname	Bombers
Sporting affiliations	NCAA Division III – Liberty League, USCSSA
Website	ithaca.edu

Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music. Ithaca College is known for its media-related programs and entertainment programs within the Roy H. Park School of Communications and the Ithaca College School of Music, Theatre, and Dance. The college has a liberal arts focus, and offers several pre-professional programs, along with some graduate programs.^[3]

Ithaca College was founded as the Ithaca Conservatory of Music in 1892 when a local violin teacher, William Grant Egbert, rented four rooms and arranged for the instruction of eight students. For nearly seven decades the institution flourished in the city of Ithaca, adding to its music curriculum the study of elocution, dance, physical education, speech correction, radio, business, and the liberal arts. In 1931 the conservatory was chartered as a private college under its current name, Ithaca College. The college was originally in the Boardman House; that building later became the Ithaca College Museum of Art, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.^[4]

By 1960, the college had some 2,000 students. A campus was built on South Hill in the 1960s, and students were shuttled between the old and new locations during the construction. The hillside campus continued to grow in the ensuing 30 years to accommodate more than 6,000 students.

As the campus expanded, the college also began to expand its curriculum. By the 1990s, some 2,000 courses in more than 100 programs of study were available in the college's five schools. The school attracts a multicultural student body with representatives from almost every state and from 78 other countries.^[5] In October 2020 the college announced that 130 of its 547 faculty positions would be cut to reduce the school's budget by $30 million because of declining enrollment. 4,957 undergraduate students enrolled in the fall of 2020, versus 5,852 in 2019 and 6,101 in 2018.^[6]

Ithaca's current president is La Jerne Terry Cornish. She was named the school's 10th president, in March 2022, after having served in as interim president since August 30, 2021. ^[7]

She replaced Shirley M. Collado who departed Ithaca College to become the president and CEO of College Track, a comprehensive college completion program.^[8] She was named the ninth president of Ithaca College on February 22, 2017, and assumed the presidency on July 1, 2017. She was previously executive vice chancellor and chief operating officer at Rutgers University–Newark and vice president of student affairs and dean of the college at Middlebury College. She is the first Dominican American to be named president of a college in the United States.^[9] During Collado's time as president she was the center of multiple controversies. Collado faced backlash when students and faculty discovered she was accused of sexually abusing a female patient while working as a psychologist in Washington, D.C., in 2000 and was convicted of sexual abuse in 2001.^[10] Students further questioned her transparency when she announced plans to cut 116 full-time faculty members, some of whom had worked at the school for decades, after receiving a $172,769 payment.^[11] Collado eventually announced in July 2021 that she will step down in January to become president and CEO of College Track.^[12]

Collado succeeded Thomas Rochon, who was named eighth president of Ithaca College on April 11, 2008.^[13] Rochon took over as president of the college following Peggy Williams, who had announced on July 12, 2007, that she would retire from the presidency post effective May 31, 2009, following a one-year sabbatical.^[14] During the fall 2015 semester, multiple protests focusing on campus climate and Rochon's leadership were led by students and faculty. After multiple racially charged events including student house party themes and racially tinged comments at administration led-programs, students, faculty and staff all decided to hold votes of "no confidence" in Rochon. Students voted "no confidence" by a count of 72% no confidence, 27% confidence, and 1% abstaining.^[15] The faculty voted 77.8% no confidence to 22.2% confidence.^[16] Rochon retired on July 1, 2017.^[17]

Ithaca College's current campus was built in the 1960s on South Hill. The college's final academic department moved from downtown to the South Hill campus in 1968, making the move complete.

Besides its Ithaca campus, Ithaca College has also operated satellite campuses in other cities. The Ithaca College London Center has been in existence since 1972. Ithaca runs the Ithaca College Los Angeles Program at the James B. Pendleton Center.

Former programs include the Ithaca College Antigua Program and the Ithaca College Walkabout Down Under Program in Australia.

Ithaca College also operates direct enrollment exchange programs with several universities, including Griffith University, La Trobe University, Murdoch University, and University of Tasmania (Australia); Chengdu Sport University and Beijing Sport University (China); University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong); Masaryk University (Czech Republic); Akita International University and University of Tsukuba (Japan); Hanyang University (Korea); Nanyang Technological University (Singapore); University of Valencia (Spain); and Jönköping University (Sweden).^[31] Ithaca College is also affiliated with study abroad programs such as IES Abroad and offers dozens of exchange or study abroad options to students.

The college offers a curriculum with more than 100 degree programs in its five schools:

• School of Business
• Roy H. Park School of Communications
• School of Health Sciences & Human Performance
• School of Humanities & Sciences
• School of Music, Theatre, and Dance

Until the spring of 2011, several cross-disciplinary degree programs, along with the Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity, were housed in the Division of Interdisciplinary and International Studies; in 2011, the division was eliminated and its programs, centers and institutes were absorbed into other schools.^[36]

As of 2017^[update], the most popular majors included visual and performing arts, health professions and related programs, business, management, marketing, and related support services and biological and biomedical sciences.^[37]

• The Ithacan is Ithaca College's official weekly newspaper that is written, edited and published by students. The Ithacan and its staff have won over 200 major collegiate journalism awards and is generally recognized as one of the top student-run newspapers in the country.^{[according to whom?]} Most notably, the newspaper is a consistent recipient of the Associated Collegiate Press' National Pacemaker Award; it has received the National Newspaper Pacemaker Award six times and the Online Pacemaker Award nine times (both most recently in 2015).^[38] The Pacemaker has been widely considered the "Pulitzer Prize of collegiate journalism."^[39] The Ithacan is also a five-time recipient of the Gold Crown Award from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, most recently receiving the award in 2016.^[38] The Ithacan was also ranked #3 on the 2018 The Princeton Review Best College Newspaper list.^[40]
• Ithaca College Television (ICTV) is the world's oldest student-operated college television channel. Broadcasting since 1958, ICTV is available to 26,000 cable households.^[41] It is also one of the most awarded student-run television stations, with its news program, Newswatch, receiving best news telecast accolades from organizations including the New York State Associated Press Broadcasters Association, Society of Professional Journalists and Collegiate Broadcasters Inc. The show also received ICTV's first College Emmy Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.^[42] ICTV is housed and operated in the Roy H. Park School of Communications. Approximately 15 to 20 production teams operate simultaneously, utilizing around 400 volunteers each semester. Programming varies by semester, but typically includes news, sports, entertainment, scripted, and podcast programs.
• WICB is a student-operated, 4,100 watt FM station that serves Tompkins County and beyond, reaching from northern Pennsylvania to Lake Ontario, with a potential audience of over 250,000. The majority of programming on WICB – which broadcasts from 91.7 on the FM band – is modern rock, but the station also airs a number of specialty shows, which includes a number of genres (including blues, Broadway, jam band music and "homeless" music) that is not normally heard on public airwaves. Recently, readers of the Ithaca Times voted 92 WICB "Best Radio Station." WICB has also won the MTV U's Woodie Award for Best College Radio, while the Princeton Review ranks WICB the number one college radio station in the country.^[43][44]
• VIC Radio^[45] is Ithaca College's second student-run radio station. Previously available on 105.9 FM, VIC Radio is now an online-only radio station. It is most well known for its annual 50 Hour Marathon,^[46] in which four DJs broadcast for 50 hours straight to raise money for local community organizations.^[47]
• Buzzsaw Magazine, formerly Buzzsaw Haircut, was founded in 1999 and is an independent monthly alternative magazine written, produced and distributed by Ithaca College students. It is a progressive publication with a goal to "publish original creative journalism, commentary and satire that works to deconstruct society, pop culture, politics, college life and dominant Western beliefs." The faculty adviser is media critic Jeff Cohen, who is also the founder of the college's Park Center for Independent Media. In 2011, the organization added a new multimedia section to Buzzsaw, titled Seesaw, dedicated to creating documentaries, radio pieces, interactive graphics, and other multimedia pieces to complement the print and online magazine. Buzzsaw has also won a number of national awards, including the Campus Alternative Journalism Project's award for "Best Sense of Humor" and the Independent Press Association's Campus Independent Journalism Awards for "Best Campus Publication with a Budget Under $10,000" and "Best Political Commentary."^[48]
• Park Productions is a professional production unit within the Roy H. Park School of Communications which allows students to collaborate with faculty and industry professionals to create interdisciplinary media projects. Park Productions partners with community organizations, government agencies, and higher education institutions and has produced over 200 titles including documentaries, feature films, shorts, commercials, museum exhibits, television programs, educational, corporate, and web-based media. Awards and juried screenings include LA Webfest, Mexico International Film Festival, CINE Awards, Chicago International Film Festival, Official selections at Miami, University Film and Video Festival, Cinema in Industry Awards, Multiple International Communicator Awards, Oberhausen, Montreal, Palm Springs, and Hudson Valley Film Festivals.^[49]
• Distinct Magazine is self described as Ithaca College's "fashion magazine devoted to the style and culture of the students on campus...[it aims] to break gender and social class stereotypes in the fashion world, and to build a safe space for people to express themselves."^[50] The first issue was released online in 2016. The magazine is separated into five content sections: Fashion, Beauty, Life, Culture, and Health and Fitness. Distinct is released in print twice a semester (Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer editions).
• Embrace is an IC magazine that aims "to create a platform in which underrepresented students are able to see a representation of themselves on campus and within society."^[51] The magazine is separated into content sections: LGBTQ+, Fashion, Politics and News, Mind Body Spirit, Personal Narratives and Alumni Highlight. It was first published in February 2016.

Historically, various independent and national fraternities and sororities had active chapters at Ithaca College. However, due to a series of highly publicized hazing incidents in the 1980s, including one that was responsible for the death of a student, the college administration reevaluated their Greek life policy and only professional music fraternities were allowed to remain affiliated with the school.^[52]

As of 2024^[update], professional coed music fraternity Mu Phi Epsilon is the only remaining recognized Greek organization on campus.^[53] Previously, three other recognized music and performing arts houses also existed on campus:

• Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (Delta Chapter) - became inactive in 2024
• Sigma Alpha Iota (Epsilon Chapter) - became inactive in 2024
• Kappa Gamma Psi (Iota Chapter) - became inactive in 2008

It is highly unlikely any of these houses will ever be reactivated at Ithaca, due to the college's policy on Greek life.^[54]

However, there are various Greek letter organizations at Ithaca College that are unaffiliated with the school, and therefore not subject to the same housing privileges or rules that contribute to the safety of their members such as non-hazing and non-drinking policies.^[52] Additionally, while not particularly common, Ithaca College students may rush for Greek houses affiliated with nearby Ivy institution Cornell University, subject to the rules of each individual fraternity or sorority. Some Cornell-affiliated Greek organizations actively recruit Ithaca College students.

There are a few unaffiliated fraternities that some Ithaca College students join - ΔΚΕ (Delta Kappa Epsilon), ΑΕΠ (Alpha Epsilon Pi), ΦΚΣ (Phi Kappa Sigma), ΦΙΑ (Phi Iota Alpha), ΛΥΛ (Lambda Upsilon Lambda), and ΚΣ (Kappa Sigma). There are also unaffiliated sororities including - ΓΔΠ (Gamma Delta Pi), ΠΛΧ (Pi Lambda Chi), ΦΜΖ (Phi Mu Zeta), .^{[52][55][56][57]}

Ithaca College is well-known for its music school, and offers many diverse opportunities to perform music, whether it be with ensembles within the official School of Music, Theatre, and Dance or student-organized organizations dedicated to performing music outside of the official School of Music.

The School of Music offers many audition-based ensembles, such as symphony orchestra, chamber orchestra, wind ensemble, concert band, multiple choir ensembles, multiple jazz ensembles ranging from instrumental to vocal, as well as several other chamber groups focusing on a multitude of instruments. The School of Music also offers multiple opportunities to perform opera works, such as the school's Opera Workshop, which offers a variety of focused training in such areas as audition technique, interpretation, and scene study through multiple performance opportunities.^[58]. The school also offers several non-auditioned ensembles, such as the symphony orchestra Sinfonietta, as well as several non-auditioned ensembles for band, jazz, and choir opened up to non-music majors. The School of Music, Theatre, and Dance also showcases multiple audition-based productions a year, typically featuring multiple musical theater productions and an opera.^[59]

Outside of the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, there are several student-run a cappella groups on campus, which include:

• IC Voicestream, founded in 2002, is the college's premier all-gender inclusive a cappella group.^[60]
• Ithacappella, founded in 1996, is the college's only all-male identifying a cappella group.^[61]
• Premium Blend, the college's only all-female aligned a cappella group.^[62]
• Tone Cold, an all gender inclusive a cappella group.^[63]
• Pitch Please, the college's only non-auditioned all-gender a cappella group.^[64]
• NUVO (New Voices), founded in 2024, is the college's BIPOC inclusive a cappella group.^[65]

Ithaca competes in athletics at the NCAA Division III level as a members of the Liberty League and the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC). Ithaca has one of Division III's strongest athletic programs, with the Bombers winning a total of 14 national titles in seven team sports and five individual sports.^[66] Ithaca was previously a member of the Empire 8.^[67]

The Ithaca athletics nickname "Bombers" is unique in NCAA athletics, and the origins of the nickname are obscure. Ithaca College's sports teams were originally named the Cayugas, but the name was changed to the Bombers sometime in the 1930s. Some other names that have been used for Ithaca College's teams include: Blue Team, Blues, Blue and Gold, Collegians, and the Seneca Streeters.^[68] Several possibilities for the change to the "Bombers" have been posited. The most common explanation is that the school's baseball uniforms—white with navy blue pinstripes and an interlocking "IC" on the left chest—bear a striking resemblance to the distinctive home uniforms of the New York Yankees, who are known as the Bronx Bombers. It may also have referred to the Ithaca basketball team of that era and its propensity for half-court "bombs". Grumman Aircraft also manufactured airplanes including bombers in Ithaca for many years. The first "Bombers" reference on record was in the December 17, 1938 issue of the Rochester Times-Union in a men's basketball article.^[69]

The name has at times sparked controversy for its perceived violent connotations. It is an occasional source of umbrage from Ithaca's prominent pacifist community, but the athletics department has consistently stated it has no interest in changing the name. The athletics logo has in the past incorporated World War II era fighter planes, but currently does not, and the school does not currently have a physical mascot to personify the name. In 2010 the school launched a contest to choose one. It received over 250 suggestions and narrowed the field down to three: a phoenix, a flying squirrel, and a Lake Beast. In June 2011, President Rochon announced that the school would discontinue the search due to opposition in the alumni community.^[70]

Ithaca College remodeled the Hill Center in 2013. The building features hardwood floors (Ben Light Gymnasium) as well as coaches offices. The building is home to Ithaca's men's and women's basketball teams, women's volleyball team, wrestling, and gymnastics. Ithaca also opened the Athletics & Events Center in 2011, a $65.5 million facility funded by donors. The facility is mainly used by the school's varsity athletes. It has a 47,000 square foot, 9-lane 50 meter Olympic-size pool. The building also has Glazer Arena, a 130,000 square foot event space. It is a track and field center that doubles as a practice facility for lacrosse, field hockey, soccer, baseball, tennis, and football. The facility was designed by the architectural firm Moody Nolan and began construction in June 2009.^[71]

Coached by Jim Butterfield^[72] for 27 years, the football team has won three NCAA Division III Football Championships in 1979, 1988 and 1991 (a total surpassed only by Augustana College, Mount Union and the Wisconsin–Whitewater). Bomber football teams made a record seven appearances in the Division III national championship game, the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, which has since been surpassed by Mount Union in 2003. The Bombers play the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons for the Cortaca Jug, which was added in 1959 to an already competitive rivalry. The match-up is one of the most prominent in Division III college football.^[73]

Gymnastics won the NCAA Division III national championships in 1998.^[74][75]

Women's field hockey won the 1982 NCAA Division III Field Hockey Championship.

The Men's and Women's Crew programs are housed in the Robert B. Tallman Rowing Center, a $2.6 million boathouse dedicated in 2012.^[76] The new boathouse replaced the Haskell Davidson Boathouse, which was constructed in 1974 on Cayuga Inlet. The old boathouse was razed to make room for the new facility. At 8,500 square feet, the Tallman boathouse is almost twice the size of the previous structure.^[76]

Along with Intercollegiate athletics, Ithaca College has a large intramural sport program. This extracurricular program serves approximately 25% of the undergraduate population yearly. Fourteen traditional team activities are offered throughout the year and include basketball, flag football, kickball, soccer, softball, ultimate, ski racing, and volleyball.

For most activities, divisions are offered for men's, women's, and co-recreational teams. Throughout the year usually two or more activities run concurrently and participants are able to play on a single sex team and co-recreational team for each activity.

Ithaca's School of Business was the first college or university business school in the world to achieve LEED Platinum Certification alongside Yale University, which had the second. Ithaca's Peggy Ryan Williams Center is also LEED Platinum certified. It makes extensive use of day light in occupied spaces. There are sensors that regulate lighting and ventilation based on occupancy and natural light. Over 50% of the building energy comes from renewable sources such as wind power. The college also has a LEED Gold Certified building, the Athletics & Events Center.^[77] The college composts its dining hall waste,^[78] runs a "Take It or Leave It" Green move-out program, and offers a sustainable living option.^[79] It also operates an office supply collection and reuse program,^[80] as well as a sustainability education program during new student orientation.^[81] Ithaca received a B− grade on the Sustainable Endowments Institute's 2009 College Sustainability Report Card^[82] and an A− for 2010.

In 2017, Ithaca College was listed as one of Princeton Review's top "green colleges" for being environmentally responsible.^[83]

In the spring of 2007, then-President Peggy R. Williams signed the American College & University President's Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), pledging Ithaca College to the task of developing a strategy and long-range plan to achieve "carbon neutrality" at some point in the future. In 2009 the Ithaca College Board of Trustees approved the Ithaca College Climate Action Plan, which calls for 100% carbon neutrality by 2050. In 2009, the Ithaca College Board of Trustees approved the Ithaca College Climate Action Plan, which calls for 100% carbon neutrality by 2050 and offers a 40-year action plan to work toward that ambitious goal.^[84]

The college purchases 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources. Including offsets from a solar farm, the college's overall energy usage is 45 percent carbon neutral.^[85]

The college aims to optimize investment returns and does not invest the endowment in on-campus sustainability projects, renewable energy funds, or community development loan funds. The college's investment policy reserves the right of the investment committee to restrict investments for any reason, which could include environmental and sustainability factors.^[86]

While the Ithaca College Natural Lands has issued a statement that Ithaca College should join efforts calling for a moratorium on horizontal drilling and high volume ("slick water") hydraulic fracturing, or fracking,^[87] the college as a whole has refused to issue a statement regarding the issue.

Ithaca College has over 70,000 alumni,^[88] with clubs in Boston, Chicago, Connecticut, Los Angeles, Metro New York, National Capital, North and South Carolina, Philadelphia, Rochester (NY), San Diego, and Southern Florida.^[89] Alumni events are hosted in cooperation with city-specific clubs and through a program called "IC on the Road".^[90]

Notable current and former Ithaca College faculty include:

• Asma Barlas, politics, director of the Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity. Specializes in comparative and international politics; women, gender, and Islam; Islam and Qur'anic hermeneutics
• Rick Beato, music educator and producer
• Jeff Cohen, journalism, and founding director, Park Center for Independent Media; media critic and commentator, author, founder of Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) media watchdog group
• Patrick Conway, early 20th-century bandleader
• Andrew Ezergailis, history; expert in 20th-century history of Latvia
• Robert Allen Iger, an American media business executive who serves as the chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company.
• A. Van Jordan, poet
• Marisa Kelly, political scientist, President of Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts
• Nicholas Muellner, media arts, sciences and studies; photographer and writer whose work has been acclaimed by Time magazine and the Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation
• Alex Perialas, sound recording technology; acclaimed audio engineer and record producer known for his extensive work during the "golden age" of thrash metal
• Rod Serling, communications; creator, producer and host of The Twilight Zone
• Saviana Stănescu, theater; poet, playwright, script analyst, journalist
• Gordon Stout, music; percussionist, composer, specializes in marimba
• Fred A. Wilcox, writing; nonfiction writer, fiction writer, expert on Vietnam War and effects of U.S. use of Agent Orange on U.S. military members and Vietnamese people (retired 2014)
• Dana Wilson, the Charles A. Dana Professor of Music; composer, jazz pianist42°25′18″N 76°29′41″W / 42.4218°N 76.4947°W / 42.4218; -76.4947

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