McDaniel College is a

private college Private universities and private colleges are institutions of higher education, not operated, owned, or institutionally funded by governments. They may (and often do) receive from governments tax breaks, public student loans, and grants. D ...

Westminster, Maryland Westminster is a city in northern Maryland, United States. It is the seat of Carroll County. The city's population was 18,590 at the 2010 census. Westminster is an outlying community within the Baltimore-Towson, MD MSA, which is part of a greate ...

. Established in 1867, it was known as Western Maryland College until 2002 when it was renamed McDaniel College in honor of an alumnus who gave a lifetime of service to the college. The college also has a satellite campus,

McDaniel College Budapest McDaniel College Budapest is the European Campus of McDaniel College, an accredited, private selective College of the Liberal Arts and Sciences, located in Westminster, Maryland, United States. It offers a standard American four-year undergraduate ...

, in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. McDaniel College is accredited by the

Middle States Commission on Higher Education The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (abbreviated as MSCHE and legally incorporated as the Mid-Atlantic Region Commission on Higher Education) is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit membership organization that performs peer evalua ...

. The college owns and manages a shopping center and residential properties through its for-profit arm.

History

The college was founded in 1867 as Western Maryland College, and was named for the

Western Maryland Railroad The Western Maryland Railway was an American Class I railroad (1852–1983) which operated in Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. It was primarily a coal hauling and freight train, freight railroad, with a small passenger train operation. ...

because the college's first Board chairman, John Smith of Wakefield, was also the president of the railroad. (Neither the railroad nor the Methodist Protestant Church contributed funds to facilitate the establishment of the college. Some contributions, however, were received from Methodist Protestant laymen, including John Smith.) It had a voluntary fraternal affiliation with the Methodist Protestant (later United Methodist) Church from 1868 until 1974; the adjacent but separate institution, the

Westminster Theological Seminary Westminster Theological Seminary is a Protestant theological seminary in the Reformed theological tradition in Glenside, Pennsylvania. It was founded by members of the faculty of Princeton Theological Seminary in 1929 after Princeton chose to t ...

, was a principal site for training Methodist Protestant (later United Methodist) clergy in the Maryland region. The ties with the United Methodist Church were cut over a court case in which Western Maryland and other religiously affiliated schools in Maryland were being challenged over state funding received by the colleges because of their religious ties. The other schools retained their affiliations and won the case. The college's first building went up in 1866–1867, with an inaugural class of 37 men and women in September 1867. Western Maryland was the first coeducational institution south of the Mason–Dixon line and was among the first in the nation. The school's original charter read that the school would exist: "For the benefit of students without regard to race, religion, color, sex, national or ethnic origin ... without requiring or enforcing any sectarian, racial or civil test, and without discrimination on the basis of sex, national or ethnic origin, nor shall any prejudice be made in the choice of any officer, teacher, or other employee in the said college on account of these factors." However, Western Maryland College was primarily a school without minority race representation until the 1960s. Baker Memorial Chapel was dedicated April 20, 1958. The chapel, was built in memory of W.G. Baker, Joseph D. Baker, Daniel Baker, and Sarah Baker. The organ in the new chapel has been given by two alumni, father and son, Roger J. Whiteford, a prominent Washington attorney and graduate in 1906, and his son Joseph S. Whiteford a graduate in 1943, president of the

Aeolian-Skinner Æolian-Skinner Organ Company, Inc. of Boston, Massachusetts was an American builder of a large number of pipe organs from its inception as the Skinner Organ Company in 1901 until its closure in 1972. Key figures were Ernest M. Skinner (1866– ...

Organ Company, Boston, Mass. The chapel was designed by architects Otto Eugene Adams and E.G. Riggs, of Baltimore. The Chapel steeple, 113 feet tall, is visible for miles around and was originally topped by a stainless steel cross 6 feet in height. The wood panels of the chancel have been designed to complement the antique organ console which was originally in the

Bruton Parish Church Bruton Parish Church is located in the restored area of Colonial Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. It was established in 1674 by the consolidation of two previous parishes in the Virginia Colony, and remains an active Epis ...

, at Williamsburg,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. The organ, with its 2,310 pipes, is held to be the largest in the area. The Whitefords also gave the

carillon A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniou ...

installed in the steeple. In 1975 the college agreed to permanently remove religious symbols atop campus chapels and to introduce strict quotas on Methodist representation on the college board and among the faculty as a result of a settlement with the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

and Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

(formerly known as Western Maryland College Budapest), the European campus of McDaniel College was established in collaboration with

College International Budapest A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

in 1994. McDaniel College was also home to the summer training camp of the

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

and later

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

NFL team until the 2011 Season when the team relocated training camp to their Owings Mills facility. Newer buildings on campus include the Science Hall, gymnasium, library, and student union center. On January 11, 2002, the trustees announced their unanimous decision to change the name of the college. On July 1, 2002, WMC officially became McDaniel College, honoring alumnus

William Roberts McDaniel William Roberts McDaniel (August 11, 1861 – April 19, 1942) is the namesake for McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland. Biography William Roberts McDaniel was born in Talbot County, Maryland. He was the youngest child of a non-traditional f ...

and his 65-year association with the school. The naming process during the spring of 2002 included input from students, faculty and alumni about possible names. Since Roger Casey, former McDaniel President, took office in 2010, U.S. News & World Report ranking of the College decreased from 122 in 2010 to 134 in 2018. Over the same period, the enrollment decreased by 17%. In 2019 U.S. News & World Report removed McDaniel from the list of National Liberal Art Colleges. In May 2016,

Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings Inc. is an American credit rating agency and is one of the " Big Three credit rating agencies", the other two being Moody's and Standard & Poor's. It is one of the three nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (NRSRO) ...

revised its outlook for McDaniel from Stable to Negative. In June 2016 adjunct faculty at McDaniel voted to unionize. McDaniel is the second four-year university in the state with collective bargaining for the part-time employees. Adjuncts are represented by

Service Employees International Union Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a labor union representing almost 1.9 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States and Canada. SEIU is focused on organizing workers in three sectors: healthcare (over half of member ...

Local 500. In 2017 Forbes assigned McDaniel financial grade C+. Up until the 1980s, there was a specially-constructed

bunker A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. ...

in the basement of Lewis Hall, the science building, that would have housed the

Wartime Information Security Program The Wartime Information Security Program (abbreviated WISP) was a Cold War-era group that would have been responsible for censorship in the aftermath of a nuclear war. In such a situation, emergency powers would grant this group of eight officials ...

, a

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

-era group that would have been responsible for

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

in the aftermath of a nuclear war. Their newest president, Dr. Julia Jasken was inaugurated in November 2021.

Presidents

Academics

McDaniel College offers thirty-three undergraduate majors and 20-plus graduate programs. McDaniel also offers over one hundred different minors.

The McDaniel Plan

The McDaniel Plan was created in 2006 and provides a liberal education that combines a comprehensive program of general education and a rigorous program in the major. The program is complemented by electives and a range of special opportunities, that include but are not limited to directed studies, internships, and practicums. The requirements of The McDaniel Plan apply to all first-year students who enroll in college for the Bachelor of Arts degree. The redesign of the general education curriculum, The McDaniel Plan, emphasizes intellectual skills that will be crucial to graduates. The focus of The McDaniel Plan is to make studies incorporate critical thinking, cogent writing, analytic reading, persuasive public speaking, effective collaboration, the ability to adapt to change and bridge cultural differences.

2019 suspension of majors

In February 2019, the Board of Trustees at the College approved the suspension of enrollment for future students in the majors of Art History, Religious Studies, French, German, and Music. Courses in all of these programs, except for German, will still be offered. In a letter to students and faculty, McDaniel officials wrote that the number of students currently enrolled in the affected programs makes up less than 3 percent of the student body. The future of faculty in the affected programs is unclear. An online petition against the decision, “Open Letter in Support of Faculty in Art History, Religious Studies, French, German, Music, Latin, and Deaf Education at McDaniel College” collected more than 650 signatures.

Athletics

McDaniel athletic teams are the Green Terror. The college is a member of the

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

level of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA), primarily competing in the

Centennial Conference The Centennial Conference is an athletic conference which competes in the NCAA's Division III. Member teams are located in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Eleven private colleges compose the Centennial Conference. Five of ten members of the Centenn ...

(an athletic conference that it's a charter member) since the 1992–93 academic year for all sports (originally for football since the 1981–82 academic year). McDaniel has 24 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, lacrosse, soccer, swimming, tennis, track & field (indoor and outdoor) and wrestling; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, field hockey, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track & field (indoor and outdoor) and volleyball. McDaniel's nickname was rank 13th for U.S. News & World Report weirdest mascot names in 1999. The name originated from how teams would describe the Western Maryland Players as "Terrors" on the field. The name stuck and since October 1923 McDaniel College has been known as the Green Terror.

Football

The Green Terror have a long and storied program including: inventing the forward pass, Inventing the Shovel pass, first team invited to the

Orange bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in th ...

and claiming the

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

national championship. McDaniel football dates back to 1891 when the first game was played against northern rival

Gettysburg College Gettysburg College is a private liberal arts college in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1832, the campus is adjacent to the Gettysburg Battlefield. Gettysburg College has about 2,600 students, with roughly equal numbers of men and women. ...

. Until 2010 the

, and before that the

, held their training camps at McDaniel College. Head coach

John Harbaugh John William Harbaugh (born September 23, 1962) is an American football coach who is the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). Previously, he coached the defensive backs for the Philadelphia Eagles and served ...

still hosts clinics at McDaniel. In 2011, McDaniel was ranked 6th in the country for best tailgating by

The Weather Channel The Weather Channel (TWC) is an American pay television channel owned by Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Allen Media Group. The channel's headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia. Launched on May 2, 1982, the channel broadcasts weather forecas ...

. This is due to the fans being able park their cars practically on the field and grill & drink during the game, a tradition that dates to the 1920s. McDaniel College was also ranked in

Southern Living ''Southern Living'' is a lifestyle magazine aimed at readers in the Southern United States featuring recipes, house plans, garden plans, and information about Southern culture and travel. It is published by Birmingham, Alabama–based Southern Prog ...

Magazine for the top 20 of the "South's Best Tailgates." At football games McDaniel can have an average attendance over 5,000 and highs as much as 8,750 even during a losing season, ranking in the top five in the country for D3 football.

Notable alumni

* Stephen Bainbridge (1980), William D. Warren Professor of Law at UCLA *

Alan Rabinowitz Alan Robert Rabinowitz (December 31, 1953 – August 5, 2018) was an American zoologist who served as the president, CEO, and chief scientist at Panthera Corporation, a nonprofit conservation organization devoted to protecting the world's 40 w ...

(1974), Author of several books on conservation of wildlife, CEO of Panthera * Nick Campofreda, NFL player *

David Carrasco Davíd Lee Carrasco is an American academic historian of religion, anthropologist, and Mesoamericanist scholar. As of 2001 he holds the inaugural appointment as Neil L. Rudenstine Professor of Latin America Studies at the Harvard Divinity School ...

, Professor of Latin America Studies at the

Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, gov ...

. *

Whittaker Chambers Whittaker Chambers (born Jay Vivian Chambers; April 1, 1901 – July 9, 1961) was an American writer-editor, who, after early years as a Communist Party member (1925) and Soviet spy (1932–1938), defected from the Soviet underground (1938), ...

(1959–1961: adult student), Spy, author, journalist, editor, and central witness in the Alger Hiss Case *

Wayne K. Curry Wayne Keith Curry (January 6, 1951 – July 2, 2014) was an American politician. He was elected as the executive for Prince George's County, Maryland in November 1994, and served two terms as the county executive from December 1994 to De ...

(1972), Maryland politician *

Rip Engle Charles A. "Rip" Engle (March 26, 1906 – March 7, 1983) was an American football player and coach of football and basketball. He served as the head football coach at Brown University from 1944 to 1949 and at Pennsylvania State University fro ...

(1930), Head football coach at Penn State (1950–1965), member of the College Football Hall of Fame
Bernard Franklin
M.Ed.’78 executive vice president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) membership and student-athlete affairs and the chief inclusion officer *

William F. Goodling William Franklin Goodling (December 5, 1927 – September 17, 2017) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. At the time of his death, he was the Chairman of the Board of the Goodling Institute for Rese ...

(M1959), U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania (1975–2001) *

Knut Hjeltnes Knut Hjeltnes may refer to: * Knut Hjeltnes (athlete) Knut Hjeltnes (born December 8, 1951) is a former college coach and track & field athlete from Norway. Hjeltnes, who was born in Øystese, has won 20 National Championships; 11 in Discus th ...

(1973), 4x Norwegian Olympian in the discus throw. Placed fourth at the 1984 Olympics, and seventh at the 1976 and 1988 Olympics. * Wade Kach (1970), Maryland politician * Peter Mark Kendall (2008), actor in television, film, and theatre *

Robert J. Kleine Robert J. Kleine was the 43rd State Treasurer of Michigan, serving from 2006 to 2010. He was appointed to his position effective April 9, 2006, by Governor Jennifer M. Granholm. Born in Washington, D.C., on November 8, 1941, Kleine earned an ...

(1963), Treasurer of the State of Michigan * Frank M. Kratovil Jr. (1990), former U.S. Congressman from Maryland, now a judge * David Lacquement (1977), United States Army Major General * Sen. Frederick C. Malkus Jr. (1934) Maryland state legislator *

C. Dianne Martin Carol Dianne Briggs Martin is an American computer scientist, former Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs at George Washington University and first Senior Faculty Fellow of the North Carolina (NC) Study Center. She currently teaches at the Universi ...

(1965), computer scientist *

Harrison Stanford Martland Harrison Stanford Martland (September 10, 1883 – May 1, 1954) was an American pathologist who identified radium as the cause of cancer and death among watch dial painters, and also coined the term '' punch drunk'' to describe chronic head injurie ...

(1905), Pathologist noted for discoveries regarding exposure to radiation and “punch drunk” prize fighters * Joshua Weldon Miles (1878), U.S. Congressman from Maryland (1895–1897)
Otto J. Guenther
(1963),

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

, the Army's first chief information officer, Director at Widepoint, and was vice president & general manager of

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense technology company. With 90,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $30 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military techn ...

Mission Systems Tactical Systems Division, now retired * Caleb Wilson O'Connor (x1898),

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

Vice president and successful composer & lyricist of over 200 songs, including many college fight songs such as Yale's "Down the Field" and

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

"Cheer Pennsylvania." He was also a voice coach at NBC and

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

.Lighter, James E. Fearless and Bold. Westminster: McDaniel College, 2007. 133. Print. * Thomas Roberts (1994), Daytime anchor and occasional prime time fill-in on

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

, former anchor for ''CNN Headline News'' * Grace Rohrer (1946), North Carolina politician, arts advocate and

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

activist *

Wendy Ruderman Wendy Ruderman (born in 1969 on Long Island, N.Y.) is an American journalist for the '' Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News''. She won with Barbara Laker the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting. Ruderman, along with ''Inq ...

(1991), Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist of the ''Philadelphia Daily News'' * Norm Sartorius (1969), artist and woodworker known for fine art spoons *

Ellen Sauerbrey Ellen Richmond Sauerbrey (born September 9, 1937) is an American politician from Maryland and the former head of the United States Department of State's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. She was nominated to the Bureau in September 2 ...

(1959), former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, Maryland gubernatorial candidate *

Yuri Schwebler Yuri "George" Schwebler (1942–1990), was a Yugoslavia-born American conceptual artist and sculptor. He was active in the arts in the 1970s in Washington, D.C. and most notably in February 1974, he transformed the Washington Monument into a sund ...

(1942–1990), Yugoslavia-born American conceptual artist and sculptor * F. Mason Sones Jr. (1940), Cardiologist, inventor of coronary angiography
Stephen Spinelli
(1977), President of

Philadelphia University Thomas Jefferson University is a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Established in its earliest form in 1824, the university officially combined with Philadelphia University in 2017. To signify its heritage, the univer ...

, Co-founder of Jiffy Lube *

Suzanne Stettinius Suzanne Stettinius (born January 22, 1988 in Virginia Beach, Virginia) of Parkton, Maryland is a modern pentathlete who represented the United States at the 2012 Olympics in the modern pentathlon. Education Stettinius attended Hereford High ...

(2011), modern pentathlete representing the United States at the 2012 Olympics * Nancy R. Stocksdale (1956), Maryland politician *

Greg Street Greg Street is an American video game designer and Head of Creative Development for Riot Games. Street was previously employed by Blizzard Entertainment as Lead Systems Designer on the award-winning MMORPG ''World of Warcraft'', and is also kn ...

(1991), Lead game designer at

Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the company was founded on February 8, 1991, under the name Silicon & Synapse, Inc. by three graduat ...

, lead systems designer for

World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the ''Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of Warcraft'' takes place within the world of Azeroth ...

Calvin B. Taylor Calvin Bowen Taylor (December 28, 1857 – May 31, 1932) was an American banker, politician, lawyer, and educator. He served on the town council of and as mayor of Berlin, Maryland, served two terms in the Maryland House of Delegates, and fou ...

(1882), Maryland banker and politician * Joseph S. Whiteford (1943), President of the

Organ Company, Boston, Mass

References

External links

*
Official athletics website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcdaniel College Universities and colleges in Carroll County, Maryland 1867 establishments in Maryland Educational institutions established in 1867 Private universities and colleges in Maryland