Editing Berea College

{{Short description|Work college in Berea, Kentucky, US}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}}{{Use American English|date=September 2024}}

{{Infobox university
 | name                   = Berea College
 | image                  = 20140310_CampusShots_CAC_(4)_(13090607645).jpg
| image_size = 
 | caption                = 
 | motto                  = ''God has made of one blood all peoples of the earth.''<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.berea.edu/about/our-motto/ | title=Our Motto | access-date=2020-02-20 | archive-date=2018-07-19 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180719084244/https://www.berea.edu/about/our-motto/ | url-status=dead }}</ref>
 | established            = {{start date and age|1855}}
 | type                   = [[Private college|Private]] [[Liberal arts colleges in the United States|liberal arts]] [[work college]]
 | academic_affiliations  = [[National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program|Space-grant]]
 | religious_affiliation  = 
 | president              = [[Cheryl L. Nixon]]
 | coordinates            = {{coord|37.573|N|84.292|W|type:edu_region:US-KY|display=inline,title}}
 | endowment              = $1.7 billion<ref name=endowment>As of September 30, 2024. {{cite report |url=https://www.academicsearch.org/wp-content/uploads/formidable/8/ASI-Berea-College-Provost-Profilep3.pdf#:~:text=Berea%20is%20proud%20of%20its%20commitment%20to,the%20endowment%20value%20was%20almost%20$1.7%20billion. |title=SEARCH PROFILE: Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs |website=academicsearch.org |access-date=2025-03-21}}</ref> (2024)
 | city                   = [[Berea, Kentucky|Berea]]
 | state                  = [[Kentucky]]
 | country                = United States
 | undergrad              = 1,454<ref name=enrollment>{{Cite web|url=https://4efrxppj37l1sgsbr1ye6idr-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/ira/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2021/11/Enrollment.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://4efrxppj37l1sgsbr1ye6idr-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/ira/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2021/11/Enrollment.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Enrollment Fall 2021}}</ref>
 | faculty                = 139<ref name=academicstaff>{{Cite web|url=https://4efrxppj37l1sgsbr1ye6idr-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/ira/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2022/01/Faculty.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://4efrxppj37l1sgsbr1ye6idr-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/ira/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2022/01/Faculty.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Faculty Fall 2021}}</ref>
 | campus                 = Exurban (140 acres)
 | sports_nickname        = Mountaineers
 | colors                 = {{Color box|#005A8B}} {{Color box|white}}<br>(Blue and white)
 | sporting_affiliations  = [[NCAA Division III]]—[[Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference|HCAC]]
 | website                = {{URL|https://www.berea.edu/|berea.edu}}
| logo = Berea college full logo.png
| logo_size = 150
}}

'''Berea College''' is a [[Private college|private]] [[Liberal arts colleges in the United States|liberal arts]] [[work college]] in [[Berea, Kentucky]]. Founded in 1855, Berea College was the first college in the [[Southern United States]] to be [[coeducation]]al and [[racial integration|racially integrated]].<ref name="QuickFacts">{{cite web |date=June 28, 2022 |title=Our Inclusive History |url=https://www.berea.edu/about/1855-to-today/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808080653/https://www.berea.edu/about/1855-to-today/ |archive-date=August 8, 2022 |access-date= |website=www.berea.edu |publisher=Berea College |url-status=dead }}</ref> It was integrated from as early as 1866 until 1904, and again after 1954.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wills |first=Matthew |date=2021-08-20 |title=How a Southern College Tried to Resist Segregation |url=https://daily.jstor.org/how-a-southern-college-tried-to-resist-segregation/ |access-date=2024-02-08 |website=JSTOR Daily |language=en-US}}</ref> 

The college participates in federal work-study and [[work college]] programs that cover the remaining tuition fees after subtracting the total sum a student received from [[Pell Grant]], other grants, and scholarships.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Funding Opportunities |url=https://www.berea.edu/giving/funding-opportunities |access-date=2023-06-03 |website=www.berea.edu}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Berea College |title=Earnings from Work |url=https://berea.smartcatalogiq.com/2021-2022/catalog/admissions-and-financial-aid/financial-aid-and-student-accounts/scholarships-grants-labor-earnings-and-loans/earnings-from-work/ |access-date=2023-06-03 |website=berea.smartcatalogiq.com}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Cost of Attendance |url=https://www.berea.edu/student-financial-aid/cost-of-attendance |access-date=2023-06-03 |website=www.berea.edu}}</ref> Berea's primary service region is southern [[Appalachia]] but students come from more than 40 states in the [[United States]] and 70 other countries. Approximately half of students identify as people of color.

Berea offers [[bachelor's degree]]s in 33 majors. It incorporates a mandatory work-study program that requires students to engage in a minimum of 10 hours per week of work for the college.<ref name=":2" />

==History==
Founded in 1855 by the [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]] and [[Augusta College (Kentucky)|Augusta College]] graduate [[John Gregg Fee]] (1816–1901), Berea College admitted both black and white students in a fully integrated [[curriculum]], making it the first non-segregated, [[coeducational]] [[college]] in [[Southern United States|the South]] and one of a handful of institutions of higher learning to admit both male and female students in the mid-19th century.<ref name=":1" /> The [[college]] began as a one-room schoolhouse that also served as a church on Sundays on land that was granted to Fee by politician and [[abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]] [[Cassius Marcellus Clay (politician)|Cassius Marcellus Clay]]. Fee named the new community after the biblical [[Berea (Bible)|Berea]]. Although the school's first articles of incorporation were adopted in 1859, founder John Gregg Fee and the teachers were forced out of the area by pro-[[Slavery in the United States|slavery]] supporters in that same year.

Fee spent the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] years raising funds for the school, trying to provide for his family in [[Cincinnati]], [[Ohio]], and working at [[Camp Nelson Civil War Heritage Park|Camp Nelson]]. He returned afterward to continue his work at Berea. He spent nearly 18 months working mostly at Camp Nelson, where he helped provide facilities for the freedmen and their families, as well as teaching and preaching. He helped get funds for barracks, a hospital, school and church.

In 1866, Berea's first full year after the war, it had 187 students, 96 Black and 91 white. It began with preparatory classes to ready students for advanced study at the college level. In 1869, the first college students were admitted, and the first [[bachelor's degree]]s were awarded in 1873. Almost all the private and state colleges in the South were racially segregated. Berea was the main exception until [[Day Law|a new state law in 1904]] forced its segregation.<ref>Richard Allen Heckman and Betty Jean Hall. "Berea College and the Day Law." Register of the Kentucky Historical Society 66.1 (1968): 35–52. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23376786 in JSTOR] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161007131458/http://www.jstor.org/stable/23376786 |date=2016-10-07 }}</ref> The college challenged the law in state court and further appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in ''[[Berea College v. Kentucky]]''. When the challenge failed, the college had to become a segregated all-white school, but it raised funds to establish the [[Lincoln Institute (Kentucky)|Lincoln Institute]] in 1912 in [[Simpsonville, Kentucky]], to educate Black students.<ref name=":1" /> In 1950, when the [[Day Law]] was amended to allow integration of schools at the college level, Berea promptly resumed its integrated policies.<ref name=":1" />

[[File:BereaCollegeAd1900.png|thumb|170px|An advertisement for Berea College from 1900, placed in a [[African American newspapers|Black newspaper]] in [[Minnesota]]]]
In 1911 the college restricted students to eating at college-owned facilities. A local businessman sued but the Kentucky Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that the college's restriction was legal. ([[Gott v. Berea College]]).

In 1925, famed advertiser [[Bruce Barton]], a future congressman, sent a letter to 24 wealthy men in America to raise funds for the college. Every single letter was returned with a minimum of $1,000 in donation. During [[World War II]], Berea was one of 131 colleges nationally that took part in the [[V-12 Navy College Training Program]] which offered students a path to a navy commission.<ref name="berea">{{cite web |url=http://www.berea.edu/alumni/navyv12/deceased.asp |title=Navy V-12 List of Deceased |publisher=[[Berea, Kentucky]]: Berea College |access-date=September 25, 2011 |year=2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120331124016/http://www.berea.edu/alumni/navyv12/deceased.asp |archive-date=March 31, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Prior to 1968, Berea provided pre-college education in addition to college level curriculum. That year, the elementary and secondary schools (Foundation School) were discontinued in favor of focusing on undergraduate college education.<ref name=History_ArchivedVersion>{{cite web |url=http://www.berea.edu/about/history/ |title=About Berea College - History |publisher=Berea College |access-date=2014-02-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140217105519/http://www.berea.edu/about/history/ |archive-date=2014-02-17 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Presidents===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! !! Name !! Years as president
|-
| 1 || [[Henry Fairchild]] || (1869–1889)<ref name=":1" />
|-
| 2 || [[William Boyd Stewart]] || (1890–1892)
|-
| 3 || [[William Goodell Frost]] || (1892–1920)
|-
| 4 || William J. Hutchins || (1920–1939)
|-
| 5 || [[Francis S. Hutchins, Berea College President (1939-1967)|Francis S. Hutchins]]|| (1939–1967)
|-
| 6 || Willis D. Weatherford || (1967–1984)
|-
| 7 || [[John B. Stephenson]] || (1984–1994)
|-
| 8 || [[Larry Shinn]] || (1994–2012)
|-
| 9 || [[Lyle D. Roelofs]] || (2012–2023)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lyle Roelofs: A Presidential Report Card – Berea College Magazine |url=https://magazine.berea.edu/winter-2023/lyle-roelofs-a-presidential-report-card/ |access-date=2023-05-28 |website=magazine.berea.edu}}</ref>
|-
| 10 || [[Cheryl Nixon]] || (2023–Present)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Berea College names 10th president|url=https://www.berea.edu/news/berea-college-names-10th-president\|access-date=2023-07-01|website=www.berea.edu}} {{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
|}
Source:<ref name="History">{{cite web |title=Berea College Early History |url=http://www.berea.edu/about/history/ |access-date=2020-07-10 |publisher=Berea College |archive-date=February 17, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140217105519/http://www.berea.edu/about/history/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Academics==
[[File:DraperHallBerea.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Draper Building]]

Berea College offers 33 majors and 39 minors from which its 1,600 students can choose. Students who wish to pursue a field of study that cannot be met through an established Berea College major have the option to submit a proposal for an independent major, provided they meet the criteria in the college catalog's definition of a major. The student must secure independent major advisers (primary and secondary). Its most popular majors, based on 2021 graduates, were:<ref>{{cite web |url=https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=berea&s=all&id=156295#programs |website=nces.ed.gov |publisher=U.S. Dept of Education |title=Berea College |access-date=February 22, 2023}}</ref>
*Business Administration and Management (30)
*Computer and Information Sciences (28)
*Biology/Biological Sciences (21)
*Psychology (20)
*Human Development and Family Studies (19)
*Mass Communication/Media Studies (16)
*Engineering Technologies/Technicians (14)
*Political Science and Government (14)

To ensure every student has access to fully experience a liberal arts education, the college provides significant funding to assist students in studying abroad.<ref>{{cite web |title=Center for International Education: Berea College |url=https://www.berea.edu/cie/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090915181402/http://www.berea.edu/cie/ |archive-date=2009-09-15 |access-date=2009-10-14}}</ref> Berea students are also eligible to win the [[Thomas J. Watson Fellowship]], which provides funding for a year of study abroad following graduation.<ref>{{cite web |title=Thomas J. Watson Fellowship: CIE-Berea College |url=https://www.berea.edu/cie/thomas-j-watson-fellowship/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612211517/http://community.berea.edu/cie/abroad/scholarships/watson.php |archive-date=2010-06-12 |access-date=2009-10-14}}</ref> Like some private colleges, Berea does not enroll students based upon semester hours. Berea College uses a course credit system, which has the following equivalencies:
* A 0.25 credit course is the equivalent of 1 semester hour.
* A 0.50 credit course is the equivalent of 2 semester hours.
* A 0.75 credit course is equivalent to 3 semester hours.
* A 1.00 credit course is the equivalent to 4 semester hours.<ref>{{cite web |title=Academic Services Advisor Guide: Berea College |url=https://www.berea.edu/academics/student-academic-support-services-guide/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719142701/http://www.berea.edu/academicservices/adviserguide/transferadvising/tcwcpe.asp |archive-date=2011-07-19 |access-date=2009-10-14}}</ref>

All students are required to attend the college on a full-time basis, which is 3.00 course credits of enrollment, or 12 semester hours. Students must be enrolled in at least 4.00 course credits to be considered for the Dean's list. Enrollment in 4.75 or more course credits requires the approval of the Academic Adviser, and a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.30. There are also optional Summer opportunities to engage in study. Students may take between 1 and 2.25 credits during Summer. One Berea course credit is equivalent to four semester hours (6 quarter hours). Part-time enrollment is not permitted except during Summer term. A cumulative [[GPA]] of 2.0 is required in all majors in order to graduate with a bachelor's degree.

Students are required to attend at least 7 convocation events each semester and receive academic credit. The convocations are designed as a supplement to the curriculum by encouraging educational experience and cultural enrichment. Topics range across academic fields and include lectures, symposia, concerts, and the performing arts. These events are free to Berea College students and open to the public.<ref>{{cite web |title=About Convocations |url=https://www.berea.edu/convocations |website=Berea College |access-date=9 October 2023}}</ref> 

===Rankings and outcomes===
{{Infobox US university ranking
| Forbes = 453
| USNWR_LA = 40
| Wamo_LA = 2
| THE_WSJ = 311
}}

In 2024, ''[[Washington Monthly]]'' ranked Berea College first in the U.S. among national liberal arts colleges based on its contribution to the public good, as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://washingtonmonthly.com/2024-college-guide/liberal-arts/|title=2024 Liberal Arts Colleges Ranking|date=25 August 2024|publisher=Washington Monthly|access-date=25 August 2024}}</ref> The [[The New York Times|New York Times]] also ranked Berea first in its 2023 College Access Index based on economic diversity.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Leonhardt |first=David |last2=Wu |first2=Ashley |date=2023-09-07 |title=The Top U.S. Colleges With the Greatest Economic Diversity |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/09/07/magazine/college-access-index.html |access-date=2025-02-28 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>  The 2025 annual ranking of ''[[U.S. News & World Report]]'' categorizes Berea as 'more selective' and rates it 40th overall, first in "Service Learning," second for "Most Innovative Schools," tied for 9th in "Best Undergraduate Teaching" and fifth in "Top Performers in Social Mobility" among liberal arts colleges in the U.S.<ref>{{cite web | title=2024 Best National Liberal Arts Colleges | website=US News & World Report| url=https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges?_sort=rank&_sortDirection=asc | access-date=29 January 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=2024 Top Universities Impacting Social Mobility | website=US News & World Report| url=https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/social-mobility?_sort=rank&_sortDirection=asc | access-date=29 January 2024}}</ref> ''[[Kiplinger's Personal Finance]]'' places Berea 35th in its 2019 ranking of 149 best value liberal arts colleges in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-best-college-values-college-finder/school/5322/berea-college/ |magazine=Kiplinger's Personal Finance |title=Kiplinger's Best College Values |date=July 2019 |access-date=2019-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190821080001/https://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-best-college-values-college-finder/school/5322/berea-college/ |archive-date=2019-08-21 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

According 2022 data from [[College Scorecard]], Berea College graduates earn a median salary of $40,000 ten years after their entry into the institution.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=College Scorecard: Berea College |url=https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?156295-Berea-College |access-date=2023-06-03 |website=collegescorecard.ed.gov |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Berea College: US News and World Report |url=https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/berea-college-1955 }}</ref> Mathematics majors earn around $18,000, biology $29,000, psychology $35,000, and nursing $57,000.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Data Home {{!}} College Scorecard |url=https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/data/ |access-date=2023-07-01 |website=collegescorecard.ed.gov |language=en}}</ref> 51% of Berea graduates earn higher than a typical high school graduate of the corresponding area.<ref name=":4" />

===Scholarships and work program===
Berea College provides all students with full-tuition scholarships and many receive support for room and board as well. Berea College charges no tuition beyond the total amount a student receives in Pell Grant and other grants and scholarships. Every admitted student at Berea College is granted the equivalent of a four-year, full-tuition scholarship that covers the remaining tuition fees after deducting any grants and scholarships the student may have received. Admission to the college is granted only to students who need financial assistance (as determined by the [[FAFSA]]); in general, applications are accepted only from those whose family income falls within the bottom 40% of U.S. households. About 75% of the college's incoming class is drawn from the Appalachian region of the South and some adjoining areas, and about 8% are international students. Generally, no more than one student is admitted from a given country in a single year (with the exception of countries in distress such as [[Liberia]]). This policy ensures that 70 or more nationalities are usually represented in the student body of Berea College. All international students are admitted on full scholarships with the same regard for financial need as U.S. students.<ref>{{cite web |title=Admission Requirements: Prospective Students |url=https://www.berea.edu/admissions/academic-requirements/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091025171003/http://www.berea.edu/prospectivestudents/admissioninfo/requirements.asp |archive-date=2009-10-25 |access-date=2009-10-14}}</ref>

In order to support its extensive scholarship program, Berea College has one of the largest financial reserves of any American college when measured on a per-student basis. The endowment was $1.6 billion as of June 30, 2021.<ref name=nacubo>As of June 30, 2018. {{cite web |url=https://www.nacubo.org/-/media/Nacubo/Documents/research/2018-Endowment-Market-Values--Final.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.nacubo.org/-/media/Nacubo/Documents/research/2018-Endowment-Market-Values--Final.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=U.S. and Canadian Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Endowment Market Value and Change in Endowment Market Value from FY 2017 to FY 2018 |publisher=National Association of College and University Business Officers and Commonfund Institute |year= 2018 |access-date=2019-07-03}}</ref> The base of Berea College's finances is dependent on substantial contributions from alumni and from individuals, foundations, and corporations that support the mission of the college. A solid investment strategy increased the endowment from $150 million (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=150000000|start_year=1985}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) in 1985 to its current amount.<ref>Brull, Steven. (September 2005). "Appalachian spring". ''Institutional Investor'', p. 35.</ref>

In 2017 the [[Tax Cuts and Jobs Act]] enacted an excise tax of 1.4% of endowment incomes that exceed net assets of at least $500,000 per student. Due to the size of Berea's endowment and number of full-time enrolled students, this tax bill would have reduced the number of students it could serve. The [[Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018]] provided an exemption for colleges and universities with fewer than 500 tuition-paying students, making Berea College exempt as it provides tuition-free education to all students.<ref>{{cite news |last1=King |first1=Critley |title=Berea College endowment receives tax exemption |url=https://www.richmondregister.com/news/berea-college-endowment-receives-tax-exemption/article_5c78404a-0def-11e8-9b12-53b423e0ebd7.html |access-date=9 October 2023 |work=Richmond Register |date=9 February 2018 |language=en}}</ref>

As a [[work college]], Berea has a student work program in which all students work on campus 10 or more hours per week. Berea is one of nine federally recognized work colleges in the [[United States]] and one of two in [[Kentucky]] ([[Alice Lloyd College]] being the other) to have mandatory work study programs. Employment opportunities range from busing tables at the [[Boone Tavern|Boone Tavern Hotel]], a historic business owned by the college, to leading campus tours for visitors and prospective students, or making brooms, ceramics and woven items in Student Craft. Other job duties include janitorial labor, building management, resident assistant, teaching assistant, food service, gardening and grounds keeping, [[information technology]], [[woodworking]], and secretarial work. Berea College has helped make the [https://visitberea.com/ town] a center for quality arts and crafts.<ref>{{cite web |title=About Our Labor Program- Berea College |url=https://www.berea.edu/labor-program-office/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091005042755/http://www.berea.edu/laborprogram/about.asp |archive-date=2009-10-05 |access-date=2009-10-14}}</ref>

As of 2022, students are paid an hourly wage from $5.60 to $8.60 by the college, based on the WLS ("Work, Learning, and Service") level attached to individual labor positions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.berea.edu/labor-program-office/pay-schedule-scale/|title=Pay Schedule & Scale|access-date=2020-07-10}}</ref> The college regularly increases student pay on a yearly basis, but it has never been equivalent to the federal minimum wage in the school's history. Because of the scheduling demands of both an academic requirement and a labor requirement, students are not allowed to work at off-campus jobs.

===Folk dance===
Berea is widely known for being a folk dance hub, teaching [[Square dance|square]], [[Contra dance|contra]], [[Country dance|English]], and other kinds of movement. The college offers community folk dances most weekends. The campus has ten dance groups (including Middle Eastern, Swing, Latino, African, and hip hop), a minor in dance, and 25 dance classes.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=About Berea College Country Dancers |url=https://countrydance.berea.edu/about/ |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=Country Dancers – Berea College}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web |title=Dance Programs |url=https://www.berea.edu/academics/departments-programs/health-and-human-performance/dance-programs |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=Berea College}}</ref>

Physical education instructor Oscar Gunkler brought folk dance to Berea in the 1920s. The Berea College Country Dancers were founded in 1938 by Frank Smith.<ref name=":6" /> Berea’s annual [[Christmas Country Dance School]] was started the same year by Smith and [[May Gadd]], the first director of the [[Country Dance and Song Society]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025 |title=A Brief Organizational History of CCDS |url=https://bereaccds.org/a-brief-organizational-history-of-ccds-2/ |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=Christmas Country Dance School}}</ref>

Berea’s [[Country Dancers]] go on tour each semester and danced at the [[White House]] in 1963.<ref name=":5" /> Dance programs were established as part of the college’s Health and Human Performance Department in 1995 by Dr. Susan Spalding.<ref name=":6" /> International dance caller and writer [[Bob Dalsemer]] is one of many who got his start at a Berea dance.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |last=Keely |first=Harrison |date=2024-09-23 |title=Bob Dalsemer – contra and square dance writer and caller |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guQAB-lOMUA |access-date=2024-09-24 |website=YouTube}}</ref>

===Christian identity===
Berea was founded by Protestant [[Christians]]. It maintains a Christian identity separate from any particular [[Christian denomination|denomination]]. The college's motto, "[[God]] has made of one blood all peoples of the earth," is taken from [[Acts of the Apostles|Acts]] [[s:Bible (King James)/Acts#Chapter 17|17:26]]. One General Studies course is focused on Christian faith, as every student is required to take an Understandings of Christianity course. In an effort to be sensitive to the diverse preferences and experiences of students and faculty, these courses are designed to be taught with respect for the unique spiritual journey of each individual, regardless of religious identification.

===Library collections===
The Hutchins Library maintains an extensive collection of books, archives, and music pertaining to the history and culture of the Southern Appalachian region. The Southern Appalachian Archives contain organizational records, personal papers, oral histories, and photographs. Included are the papers of the [[Council of the Southern Mountains]] (1912–1989) and the [[Appalachian Volunteers]] (1963–1970).

==Student life==
{| class="wikitable floatright sortable collapsible"; text-align:right; font-size:80%;"
|+ style="font-size:90%" |Student body composition as of September 2024
|-
! Race and ethnicity<ref>{{cite web |title=College Scorecard: Berea College |url=https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school?156295-Berea-College |publisher=[[United States Department of Education]] |access-date=March 1, 2025 }}</ref>
! colspan="2" data-sort-type=number |Total
|-
| [[Non-Hispanic whites|White]]
|align=right| {{bartable|44|%|2||background:gray}}
|-
| [[African Americans|Black]]
|align=right| {{bartable|19|%|2||background:mediumblue}}
|-
| [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic]]
|align=right| {{bartable|15|%|2||background:green}}
|-
| Other{{efn|Other consists of [[Multiracial Americans]] & those who prefer to not say.}}
|align=right| {{bartable|10|%|2||background:brown}}
|-
| [[Foreign national]]
|align=right| {{bartable|8|%|2||background:orange}}
|-
| [[Asian Americans|Asian]]
|align=right| {{bartable|4|%|2||background:purple}}
|-
! colspan="4" data-sort-type=number |[[Economic diversity]]
|-
| [[American lower class|Low-income]]{{efn|The percentage of students who received an income-based federal [[Pell grant]] intended for low-income students.}}
|align=right| {{bartable|82|%|2||background:red}}
|-
| [[Affluence in the United States|Affluent]]{{efn|The percentage of students who are a part of the [[American middle class]] at the bare minimum.}}
|align=right| {{bartable|18|%|2||background:black}}
|}Since 2002,{{Cn|date=May 2025}} all students at Berea have received laptops that they take with them when they graduate. Students are not required to pay for the computers, though they do provide a small fee to support the technological infrastructure. Students must have a special permit to have a car on campus. Such permits are rarely granted to first- or second-year students.

Since 1875, Berea College celebrates Mountain Day, a holiday set aside to enjoy being together in nature. Students take off from classes for a sunrise hike to the top of the Pinnacle Mountain and engage in games, performances, food, and other festivities.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mountain Day |url=https://forestryoutreach.berea.edu/the-center/culture-of-caretaking/mountain-day/ |website=Forestry Outreach |date=30 January 2018 |access-date=9 October 2023}}</ref> Another unique holiday to Berea College is Labor Day, where the campus takes a break from classes to recognize and celebrate the value of student work. Established in 1921, it has expanded to help students find labor placements for the following academic year and soon-to-be graduates prepare for life after college.<ref>{{cite web |title=Labor Day |url=https://legacy.berea.edu/labor-program-office/labor-day/ |website=Berea Labor Program Office |access-date=9 October 2023}}</ref>

==Athletics==
{{Main|Berea Mountaineers}}
[[File:Berea College 06Quad-3 (20739403886).jpg|thumb|right|College grounds]]The Berea athletic teams are called the Mountaineers. The college is a member of [[NCAA Division III|Division III]] of the [[National Collegiate Athletic Association]] (NCAA), and joined the [[Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference]] (HCAC) in July 2024 after two years in the [[Collegiate Conference of the South]] (CCS). They were also a member of the [[United States Collegiate Athletic Association]] (USCAA). The Mountaineers previously competed in the [[USA South Athletic Conference]] (USA South) from 2017–18 to 2021–22; as an [[NCAA Division III independent schools|NCAA D-III Independent]] from 2014–15 to 2016–17; and in the [[River States Conference|Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference]] (KIAC; now currently known as the River States Conference (RSC) since the 2016–17 school year) of the [[National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics]] (NAIA) from 1916–17 to 2013–14.

Berea competes in 14 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis and track & field; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, soccer, softball, tennis, track & field and volleyball.<ref name="BereaAthletics">{{Cite web|url=https://bereaathletics.com/|title=Berea College - Official Athletics Website|website=Berea College|accessdate=29 January 2024}}</ref>

===Move to NCAA Division III===
On February 20, 2012, the NCAA announced it had granted Berea permission to begin a one-year period exploring membership in its Division III, non-scholarship athletic program.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/resources/latest+news/2012/february/diii+panel+suggests+consequences+for+not+meeting+conference+requirements |title=DIII panel suggests consequences for not meeting conference requirements |publisher=NCAA.org |access-date=October 12, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120831051040/http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/NCAA/Resources/Latest+News/2012/February/DIII+panel+suggests+consequences+for+not+meeting+conference+requirements |archive-date=August 31, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

On May 4, 2016, the USA South announced that Berea would join the league effective in the 2017–18 school year.<ref>{{cite press release |url=http://www.usasouth.net/general/2015-16/releases/20160503vi1mmb |title=Berea College and Pfeiffer University Set to Join USA South |publisher=USA South Athletic Conference |date=May 4, 2016 |access-date=May 6, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160509105718/http://usasouth.net/general/2015-16/releases/20160503vi1mmb |archive-date=May 9, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Joining the CCS===
The USA South announced in February 2022 that it would split into two leagues the following July, with eight of its then 19 members, including Berea, establishing the new [[Collegiate Conference of the South]].<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://www.usasouth.net/general/2021-22/releases/20220215h90h97 |title=USA South Announces Conference Restructuring |publisher=USA South Athletic Conference |date=February 18, 2022 |access-date=February 26, 2022 |archive-date=February 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221165722/https://usasouth.net/general/2021-22/releases/20220215h90h97 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Move to the HCAC===
On June 1, 2023, Berea and the [[Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference]] announced that the Mountaineers would join that league after the 2023–24 school year.<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://heartlandconf.org/news/2023/6/1/general-hcac-welcomes-berea-college-as-its-newest-member.aspx |title=HCAC Welcomes Berea College as its Newest Member |publisher=Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference |date=June 1, 2023 |access-date=August 1, 2024}}</ref>

===Men's basketball===
On February 4, 1954, Irvine Shanks was in the lineup for Berea against Ohio Wilmington, breaking the color barrier in college basketball in Kentucky.

==Notable alumni and faculty==<!-- New links in alphabetical order please -->
* [[Daniel S. Bentley]] (1850–1916), American minister, writer, newspaper founder<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Gerald L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-0AoCgAAQBAJ |title=The Kentucky African American Encyclopedia |last2=McDaniel |first2=Karen Cotton |last3=Hardin |first3=John A. |date=2015-08-28 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=978-0-8131-6066-5 |pages=41–42 |language=en}}</ref>
* [[John "Bam" Carney]] – educator; member of the [[Kentucky House of Representatives]] from [[Campbellsville, Kentucky|Campbellsville]]
* [[Dean W. Colvard]] – former president of [[Mississippi State University]], notable for his role in a [[Game of Change|1963 controversy]] surrounding the participation of the university's basketball team in the NCAA Tournament
* [[Frances Berry Coston]] (1876–1960), journalist, suffragist, educator
* [[John Courter]]  – educator; an American composer, organist, and carillonneur, considered one of the leading contemporary composers for the carillon
* [[John Fenn (chemist)|John Fenn]] – recipient of 2002 [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]]. Despite his future success, Fenn always felt that he was limited by the lack of meaningful math education in his undergrad years.<ref>{{cite web | last1 = Herschbach | first1 = Dudley R. | last2 = Kolb | first2 = Charles E. | title = John Bennett Fenn | publisher = National Academy of Sciences | date = 2014 | url = http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/fenn-john.pdf | access-date = 2016-12-04 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161220053755/http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/fenn-john.pdf | archive-date = 2016-12-20 | url-status = live }}</ref><ref name=bio>{{cite web|title=John B. Fenn - Autobiography|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2002/fenn.html|publisher=The Nobel Foundation|access-date=April 2, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101221074047/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2002/fenn.html|archive-date=December 21, 2010|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Derby Chukwudi]] - [[Miss New Jersey USA]] 2023
* [[Finley Hamilton]] – [[United States Representative]] from Kentucky.<ref>{{Cite web|title=HAMILTON, Finley {{!}} US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives|url=https://history.house.gov/People/Listing/H/HAMILTON,-Finley-(H000109)/|access-date=2022-01-01|website=history.house.gov|language=en}}</ref>
* [[Alix E. Harrow]] — sci-fi writer and winner of a 2019 Hugo Award. 
* [[bell hooks]] (Gloria Jean Watkins) – Distinguished Professor in Residence in Appalachian Studies, author of over thirty books<ref>{{Cite web |title=Get to know bell hooks |url=https://www.berea.edu/centers/the-bell-hooks-center/about-bell/ |access-date=2024-02-12 |website=Berea College}}</ref> 
* [[Julia Britton Hooks]] – second African-American woman in the [[United States]] to graduate from college and paternal grandmother of [[Benjamin Hooks]]
* [[Silas House]] – [[NEH]] Chair in Appalachian Studies, author and activist<ref>{{Cite web|title=Berea College (StudentsReview) - Comments, Reviews and Advice, Student Life at Berea College|url=http://www.studentsreview.com/KY/BAC_comments.html|access-date=2022-01-01|website=StudentsReview}}</ref>
* [[Akilah Hughes]] – Writer, comedian, [[YouTuber]], [[podcaster]], and actress
* [[George Samuel Hurst]] - A health physicist and professor of physics at the University of Kentucky<ref>Ellis, Normandi. (Spring 2007). Sam Hurst touches on a Few Great Ideas. Berea College Magazine. Berea College. Berea, KY. 77(4): 22–27.</ref>
* [[Juanita M. Kreps]] – [[U.S. Secretary of Commerce]] under President [[Jimmy Carter]]
* [[Gyude Moore|W. Gyude Moore]] - Liberian Minister of Public Works under President [[Ellen Johnson Sirleaf]]
* [[C.E. Morgan]] – author of ''All the Living''<ref>[http://www.nationalbook.org/5under35.html The National Book Foundation's "5 Under 35" Fiction Selections for 2009] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100727171351/http://www.nationalbook.org/5under35.html |date=2010-07-27 }}, [[National Book Foundation]], accessed July 27, 2010</ref> and ''The Sport of Kings''<ref>{{Cite web |date= |title=The Sport of Kings by C. E. Morgan |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780374281083 |access-date=2022-08-04 |website=www.publishersweekly.com}}</ref>
* [[Tharon Musser]] – [[Tony Award]]-winning lighting designer known especially for her work on ''[[A Chorus Line]]''
* [[Rude Osolnik]] (1915–2001) woodturner, educator<ref name="SCToday">{{Cite web |title=Rude Osolnik, a master wood "turner", dies at 86 |url=https://www.southcoasttoday.com/story/news/nation-world/2001/11/22/rude-osolnik-master-wood-turner/50350575007/ |access-date=2023-11-28 |website=[[New Bedford Standard-Times]] |publisher=AP Press |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="Obit">{{Cite web |date=November 21, 2001 |title=Obituaries |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/692680461/ |url-access=limited |access-date=2023-11-28 |website=Lexington Herald-Leader |page=18 |language=en |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
* [[Willie Parker (physician)|Willie Parker]] – [[abortion]] provider and [[reproductive rights]] activist<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.berea.edu/news/willie-parker-m-d-speak-berea-college-convocation/|title=Willie Parker, M.D. to Speak at Berea College Convocation|date=2016-11-07|website=Berea College - First Interracial/Coeducational College in the South|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328202427/https://www.berea.edu/news/willie-parker-m-d-speak-berea-college-convocation/|archive-date=2019-03-28|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[K.C. Potter]] – academic administrator and LGBT rights activist
* [[Jeffrey Reddick]] – American screenwriter, best known for creating the ''[[Final Destination]]'' series<ref>{{IMDb name|id=0714695|name=Jeffrey Reddick|section=bio}}</ref>
* [[Jack Roush]] – founder, CEO, and owner of [[Roush Fenway Racing]], a [[NASCAR]] team
* [[Green Pinckney Russell]] (1861–1939), American school administrator, college president, and teacher<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Hardin |first=John A. |date=1995 |title=Green Pinckney Russell of Kentucky Normal and Industrial Institute for Colored Persons |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2784634 |journal=Journal of Black Studies |volume=25 |issue=5 |pages=610–621 |doi=10.1177/002193479502500506 |jstor=2784634 |s2cid=143448048 |issn=0021-9347}}</ref>
* [[Tijan Sallah]] - Gambian poet, short story writer, biographer and economist at the [[World Bank]]
* [[Helen Maynor Scheirbeck]] – Assistant Director for Public Programs at the Smithsonian Institution's [[National Museum of the American Indian]]
* [[Chasteen C. Stumm]] (1848–1895) minister, newspaper journalist, publisher, teacher; attended Berea but did not graduate<ref name="Pegues">{{Cite book |last=Pegues |first=Albert Witherspoon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aJA-AAAAYAAJ |title=Our Baptist Ministers and Schools |date=1892 |publisher=[[Wiley Company|Willey & Company]] |pages=472–481 |language=en |chapter=Rev. C. C. Stumm}}</ref>
* [[Djuan Trent]] – [[Miss Kentucky]] 2010
* [[Horace M. Trent]] - American physicist<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1965|volume=18|number=2|journal=Physics Today|title=Obituaries, Horace M. Trent|page=86|doi=10.1063/1.3047224|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* [[Rocky Tuan]] – Vice-chancellor of [[The Chinese University of Hong Kong]]
* [[C. C. Vaughn]] - Kentucky educator and minister
* [[Muse Watson]] – American actor<ref>{{Cite web|last=Writer|first=Crystal WylieRegister News|title=Theater students hear actor, Berea alum Muse Watson|url=https://www.richmondregister.com/news/local_news/theater-students-hear-actor-berea-alum-muse-watson/article_0d48189c-0dcd-5c28-b613-9af6a27983bb.html|access-date=2022-01-01|website=Richmond Register|date=16 April 2014 |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Billy Edd Wheeler]] – songwriter, performer and writer
* [[Carter G. Woodson]] – African American historian, author, journalist and co-founder of [[Black History Month]]

<!-- ==See also== -->== Notes ==
<references group="lower-alpha" />
==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==

* {{cite journal | last1 = Adams | first1 = John D | year = 2012 | title = The Berea College Mission to the Mountains: Teacher Training, The Normal Department, and Rural Community Development | journal = Register of the Kentucky Historical Society | volume = 110 | issue = 1| pages = 33–66 | doi=10.1353/khs.2012.0005| s2cid = 154827109 }}

* Burnside, Jacqueline Grisby. "Philanthropists and politicians: A sociological profile of Berea College, 1855-1908" (PhD dissertation, Yale University) ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1988. 8917149.

* {{cite journal |last1=Harris |first1=Adam |title=The Little College Where Tuition Is Free and Every Student Is Given a Job |journal=The Atlantic |date=October 2018 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/10/how-berea-college-makes-tuition-free-with-its-endowment/572644/}}
* Lucas, Marion B. "Berea College in the 1870s and 1880s: Student Life at a Racially Integrated Kentucky College." ''Register of the Kentucky Historical Society'' 98.1 (2000): 1–22. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23385446 online]
* Nelson, Paul David. "Experiment in interracial education at Berea College, 1858–1908." ''Journal of Negro History'' 59.1 (1974): 13–27.
* Peck, Elizabeth. ''Berea's First Century, 1855–1955''. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1955.
* Wilson, Shannon H. ''Berea College: An Illustrated History''. (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2006). {{ISBN|978-0-8131-2379-0}} [https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/232571851.pdf online]

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{official website}}
* [https://bereaathletics.com/ Athletics website]

{{Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference navbox}}
{{Kentucky Higher Education}}
{{Annapolis Group}}
{{Oberlin Group}}
{{Work Colleges Consortium}}
{{authority control}}
{{Portal bar|Christianity|United States|Kentucky}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berea College}}
[[Category:Berea College| ]]
[[Category:1855 establishments in Kentucky]]
[[Category:Schools supported by the American Missionary Association]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Madison County, Kentucky]]
[[Category:Education in Madison County, Kentucky]]
[[Category:Liberal arts colleges in Kentucky]]
[[Category:Need-blind educational institutions]]
[[Category:Private universities and colleges in Kentucky]]
[[Category:USCAA member institutions]]
[[Category:Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools]]
[[Category:Work colleges]]



[[Category:Universities and colleges established in 1855]]