The University of Rio Grande and Rio Grande Community College (originally Rio Grande College) is a

private university 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. Dep ...

and

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior se ...

merged into one institution in

Rio Grande, Ohio Rio Grande ( ) is a village in Gallia County, Ohio, United States. The population was 724 at the 2020 census. It is part of the rural Point Pleasant micropolitan area. Although the town is named after the river in the southern United States, its ...

. It is

accredited Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

by the

Higher Learning Commission The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is an institutional accreditor in the United States. It has historically accredited post-secondary education institutions in the central United States: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa ...

(HLC). The University of Rio Grande offers a range of courses and majors and is known in the region for its fine arts, education, and nursing programs. Additionally, its graduate program in teacher education was one of the few national programs structured around

Howard Gardner Howard Earl Gardner (born July 11, 1943) is an American developmental psychologist and the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Research Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education at Harvard University. He is curr ...

Theory of multiple intelligences The theory of multiple intelligences proposes the differentiation of human intelligence into specific modalities of intelligence, rather than defining intelligence as a single, general ability. The theory has been criticized by mainstream psycho ...

. The university's Greer Museum hosts 5–6 visiting artists each year and houses the Brooks Jones Art Collection including works by

Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and e ...

Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Re ...

, and

Jasper Johns Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) is an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker whose work is associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and pop art. He is well known for his depictions of the American flag and other US-related top ...

. The university Sculpture Garden contains 15 large-scale outdoor works by contemporary artists including Fletcher Benton.

History

Early history

Ira Haning, a Free Will Baptist minister, persuaded Nehemiah and Permelia Atwood, along with Eustace St. James, affluent residents and entrepreneurs, to use their wealth to establish a college. Following Nehemiah's death in 1869, the responsibility for making this dream a reality fell to his wife Permelia. In 1873, Permelia Ridgeway Atwood established an endowment and deeded of land for Rio Grande College, which officially opened on September 13, 1876. In its first year, Ransom Dunn was president as well as professor of mental and moral philosophy. BobEvansFarmHallRioGrande

In its earliest years, Rio Grande provided leadership in preparing teachers and Baptist ministers.

20th century

By 1915, Rio Grande's major focus had shifted to teacher training, which continued as a virtually singular interest for nearly 60 years. The affiliation with the Baptists formally ended in the early 1950s. During the same time period, the farm adjacent to the campus which was owned by the college (students worked there to produce dairy products), was sold to provide much-needed operating funds for the institution. A young businessman, Bob Evans, was the buyer. The University Of Rio Grande's alma mater, "The Red and White" was written by Eustace St. James, a 1920 graduate and replaced a former alma mater written by Franz Josef Sucher. In 1969, the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools approved Rio Grande's Accreditation. The Davis Library was constructed and dedicated three years before the first accreditation; the library was instrumental in winning accreditation.

Recent expansion

From 1977 to 2008, Rio Grande's campus expanded to include several new buildings and a variety of academic programs. In 1989, Rio Grande College was renamed the University of Rio Grande in recognition of its expanding curriculum. Some of the new degree programs added to the university's curriculum in the last few years include interactive media, graphic design, radiologic technology, diagnostic medical sonography and respiratory therapy. From 1996 to 1998, with tremendous community support and local assistance, Rio Grande established the Madog Center for Welsh Studies on campus (1996) and the Meigs Center in Middleport (1998). In 2001, the faculty led in making changes in academic requirements for all students (the General Education curriculum) and in converting to a semester system. In 2008, a new larger Meigs Center was constructed in Pomeroy above Meigs High School replacing the one in Middleport. Courses are also offered in Vinton County. The university also offers

distance-learning Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...

programs via the Internet.

Athletics

The Rio Grande athletic teams are called the RedStorm. The university is a member of the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its st ...

(NAIA), primarily competing in the River States Conference (RSC; formerly known as the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (KIAC) until after the 2015–16 school year) since the 2014–15 academic year; which they were a member on a previous stint from 1964–65 to 1970–71. The RedStorm previously competed in the Mid-South Conference (MSC) from 2009–10 to 2013–14, and in the defunct

American Mideast Conference The American Mideast Conference (AMC) was an affiliate of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics that included eight member institutions in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts. Founded in 1949, it was known as the Mid-O ...

from 1971–72 to 2008–09. Rio Grande competes in 22 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, bowling, cross country, golf, rugby, soccer, track & field, volleyball and wrestling; while women's sports include basketball, bowling, cross country, golf, rugby, soccer, softball, track & field and volleyball; and co-ed sports include bass fishing, cheerleading and eSports.

Nickname

In 2008, prior to their current nickname and mascot, its former nickname was the ''Redmen'' (for men) and ''Redwomen'' (for women).

Men's soccer

The men's soccer team has won two NAIA Men's Soccer National Championships, in 2003 and 2015. Through the 2014 season, the men's soccer team has had 46 (NAIA) All-Americans.

Women's basketball

In the 2021–22 season, the women's basketball team won the RSC regular season and tournament championships. Their overall record was 32-3. They went on to the NAIA National Tournament and won the first ever national game in program history.

Notable alumni

* * Bernie Bickerstaff, former NBA head coach and executive. * Matthew Boyles, professional race walker. *

Frank Cremeans Frank Arnold Cremeans (April 5, 1943 – January 2, 2003) was an American small-businessman who represented Ohio in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican. He served one term in Congress, from 1995 to 1997. Cremeans was ...

, represented the state of Ohio in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

. * Bevo Francis, a legendary

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player, put Rio Grande on the map in 1954 when he scored 113 points in a single game against Hillsdale College. Francis' feat stood as an

NCAA 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 ...

record for 58 years until Jack Taylor of

Grinnell College Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1846 when a group of New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College. Grinnell has the fifth highest endowment-to-stu ...

broke the mark with a 138-point performance against Faith Baptist Bible College on November 20, 2012. * Kendell Foster Crossen,

pulp fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Vin ...

and

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

writer. * Ben Hunter, professional soccer player. *

Bernard Lepkofker Bernard Lepkofker (d. March 17, 2014) was a competitive judoka from Brooklyn, New York, in the United States. He was a two-time gold medalist at the Maccabiah Games in Israel, won a New York Judo gold medal, and twice won silver medals in the US ...

, competitive judoka *

George Poffenbarger George Poffenbarger (November 24, 1861 – March 20, 1951) was a lawyer and long-time justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. He attended Rio Grande College in Rio Grande, Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of ...

, justice of the

West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia is the state supreme court of the state of West Virginia, the highest of West Virginia's state courts. The court sits primarily at the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston, although from 1873 t ...

. * Tom Spencer, retired

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

* Robert M. Switzer, former

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from Ohio.

References

External links

*
Official athletics website
{{authority control Buildings and structures in Gallia County, Ohio Education in Gallia County, Ohio Private universities and colleges in Ohio Free Will Baptist schools