About 1,300 students are enrolled at the college.[5] Students are required to live on campus for the first three years of their education in order to foster a close-knit and community oriented campus lifestyle. Austin College actively promotes study abroad programs; 70% of graduates have at least one international study experience during college, and about 82% of students are involved in research.[6] The college cultivates close interaction between students and professors via a 13:1[7] student to faculty ratio and an average class size of fewer than 25 students.[8]
Chartered in November 1849, Austin College remains the oldest institution of higher education in Texas to be operating under its original charter and name as recognized by the State Historical Survey Committee.[4] The college was profiled in all three editions of Colleges That Change Lives.
Baker named the school for the Texas historical figure Stephen F. Austin; the original land was donated by the Austin family. Two other important figures in Texas history, Sam Houston and Anson Jones,[4] served on the board of trustees.
Austin College's founding president was Irish-born Presbyterian minister Samuel McKinney, who served as the school's president a second time from 1862 to 1871.[11] Under the tenure of the fourth president of Austin College, Samuel Magoffin Luckett,[12] Austin College had several yellow fever epidemics and complications related to the Civil War. The college relocated to Sherman in 1878.
On January 21 of 1913, Old Main was set ablaze and burnt to the ground in a matter of hours. During the fire, the senior class called the student body together and they committed, in writing, to stand by the college after the fire. The faculty also committed to continue college work the next day. The event galvanized the community.[13])) Following the fire, the citizens of Sherman raised $50,000 to help the college rebuild.
In 1994, Oscar Page joined the community as its 14th president. Under his tenure, 1994–2009, Page increased the school's endowment by nearly 80%, due in large part to his dedicated fundraising efforts as evidenced by the success of the "Campaign for the New Era;" a total of $120 million were raised and the campaign was heralded as the largest fundraiser in Austin College's history. Page orchestrated the construction of Jordan Family Language House, Jerry E. Apple Stadium, the Robert J. and Mary Wright Campus Center, the Robert M. and Joyce A. Johnson 'Roo Suites, and the Betsy Dennis Forster Art Studio Complex; as well as the renovation of the David E. and Cassie L. Temple Center for Teaching and Learning at Thompson House and of Wortham Center, and creation of the John A. and Katherine G. Jackson Technology Center, the Margaret Binkley Collins and William W. Collins, Jr., Alumni Center, and the College Green in Honor of John D. and Sara Bernice Moseley and Distinguished Faculty.[12]
Marjorie Hass joined the campus in 2009 as both its first female and Jewish president. Under her leadership, the college saw the construction of the IDEA Center and two new housing complexes. The IDEA Center is a 103,000 square ft. facility which includes multi-disciplinary and multi-purpose classrooms, laboratories, lecture halls and the largest telescope in the region found in Adams Observatory. It is a LEED Gold certified facility.[14]
Listed in the U.S. News & World Report "Guide to the 331 Most Interesting Colleges", Austin College is ranked #117 on the 2019 list of National Liberal Arts Colleges. Austin College was ranked 79th in 2016. President O'Day took office in 2017, and Austin College slipped to 117th in 2020, the lowest ranking National Liberal Arts College in Texas.[19]
Academics
Austin College offers about 35 majors and pre-professional programs for study, and students can also create a specialized major to match their academic interests. The college has a music program,[20] and supports the Austin College A Cappella Choir and the Sherman Symphony Orchestra[21] made up of students and local musicians, and assorted smaller musical ensembles.
In 2007, the first year of participating in the SCAC, the Austin College baseball team won the conference tournament, beating Millsaps College 9–7 in the finals. The Roos finished the season with a win–loss record of 22–25. The tournament win was the first ever conference championship for the Roos and the first time the program had ever been in the Regional tournament.[23]Carl Iwasaki was the head coach for the Roos from 2005 until 2010. He won two coach of the year awards, the first in 2006 while the Roos were still in the ASC and the second, coming in 2007 after the Roos had joined the SCAC. Coach Iwasaki was replaced by James Rise for the 2011 season who coached for four seasons. Under Rise, the Roos went 11–24 in 2011, 8–29 in 2012, 12–29 in 2013, and 6–33 in 2014.[24]
