Cedar Crest College Informations

Cedar Crest College is a private liberal arts women's college in Allentown, Pennsylvania. At the start of the 2015-2016 academic year, the college had 1,301 undergraduates (628 traditional age, 673 adult) and 203 graduate students. Men may pursue any master's degree, bachelor's degree, certification, and certificate program offered through evening and weekend study and are welcome to study nursing and nuclear medicine by day.

Founded in 1867, the college is historically tied to the United Church of Christ, though it remains academically independent.

The college's Bachelor of Arts and science programs span more than fifty majors. The curriculum also includes programs in Pre-Law, Pre-Dentistry, Pre-Medicine and Pre-Veterinary Medicine. In addition, Cedar Crest also offers master's degrees. Undergraduate and graduate programs are also offered to adult students through the college's School of Adult and Graduate Education (SAGE).

The Theatre major at Cedar Crest College is a holistic major that encompasses both technical experience and performance in the theatre field. First Fridays are offered starting in a student's sophomore year to allow collaboration between those in the Performing Arts majors. In their senior year, students complete their Senior Capstone Project which is meant to feature their work cumulatively throughout their four years at the college.

The college stages four major stage productions which typically includes two musical productions and two straight plays. To feature the female students of the predominately women's college, productions chosen feature strong female leading, supporting, and ensemble roles with outside male performers from the surrounding Lehigh Valley community and beyond in any leading, supporting, or ensemble roles.

Directors for mainstage productions vary, but faculty at the college include Technical Theatre Professor Kevin Gallagher and Professor Roxanne Amico.

The department offers scholarships based on an audition on a Performing Arts Scholarship Day or submitted by video. These are typically $1,500 per year, four-year renewing scholarships, contingent on the student's participation in productions or classes within the Dance or Theatre majors.

Cedar Crest is located off Cedar Crest Boulevard at 100 College Drive on the western edge of Allentown. The 84-acre (34 ha) campus is adjacent to the city's Cedar Beach Park.

Some campus buildings include:

What is now known as the Allen House was built in 1927 and was originally home to college President William F. Curtis and his family. This building was later converted to a library and eventually to an office building named in honor of the late William and Roberta Ritter Allen '36, generous supporters of the College.

Blaney Hall was named after President Dorothy G. Blaney. She was the president of Cedar Crest college for 17 years and championed the cause of elevating the education of women to the kinds of rigorous academic achievement once reserved only for men. She took over the Allentown women's college in October 1989 and gave it new stature and renewed vigor.During Blaney's tenure, the college's enrollment doubled from 700 to more than 1,400 students, the number of honor students rose 35 percent, and the endowment grew fourfold, from $1.2 million to $5.7 million, with a current goal of $3.5 million. For almost all her career at the 139-year-old school, she contributed opinion columns to The Morning Call, writing on women's and local issues.During the ceremony that made her Cedar Crest's 11th president, she told the crowd to "transform knowledge into wisdom and wisdom into action. We need to expand our minds to embrace the diversity of other cultures and the ideas of the world."

On the anniversary of Donald P. Miller's death, the executive committee of Cedar Crest College's trustees announced that the school would name its planned $4 million art, science and health complex after his family. Miller, who died at age 89 from natural causes on Jan. 23, 1996, was The Morning Call's former publisher and chief executive officer. Over the years, the Miller family has provided funding and services to such Lehigh Valley institutions as the Allentown Public Library, the Allentown Art Museum, the Allentown Symphony, the Boy Scouts, the Phoebe Home, and Muhlenberg College, which is Donald Miller's alma mater.

Its ties to Cedar Crest College are deep. Miller was a college benefactor every year and for every campaign from the 1950s until he died. He was named a Cedar Crest honorary doctor of humane letters in 1968. The college's original location at 4th and Turner Streets in Allentown was previously the family homestead of Marjorie Wright Miller, Donald Miller's first wife. Marjorie Miller was a 1930 graduate of Cedar Crest who served on the Board of Trustees in the 1940s, '50s and '60s and was her class agent for decades. After she died in 1977, Miller honored her passion for poetry in 1980 through a memorial fund that helped establish the "Poet's Corner" inside the college's Cressman Library.

Inside the Miller Building is the Harmon Hall of Peace, which was donated by Elaine Oberkotter Harmon '59 and her husband, John. In the building are five large flags representing the United States; the United Nations; Croatia, for Elaine Harmon's adopted son; Japan, because Elaine Harmon supported Japanese exchange students who attended Cedar Crest; and Ghana, the home country of the then-Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, who dedicated the Miller Building and received an honorary degree from Cedar Crest. The Peace Pole, located directly outside of the Miller Building, is one of over 100,000 that exist in 60 countries as international symbols of peace. This pole represents the message "May Peace Prevail on Earth" in 12 different languages.

The Harold and Miriam Oberkotter Center for Health and Wellness, a 10,000 square foot building on the western edge of the Cedar Crest campus, added much needed laboratory and classroom space. Since 2001, Cedar Crest has experienced a 50 percent increase in traditional-aged science and nursing students. The number of students interested in forensic science alone has increased tenfold since this program's inception in 2000. The lifelong learning population at Cedar Crest has increased as well. Since the launch of the evening weekend nursing program in 2000, the number of lifelong learning students who are nursing majors has increased more than 105 percent. The main features of the facility include the 100-seat, state-of-the-art, Berta and Harold Keen Multi-Media Classroom; faculty offices including one dedicated to Lorraine Clark Laicha and given by Tom and Stephanie Zimmerer, Ed.D. '72; a forensic science-biological science lab; a biochemistry lab; a student lounge and restrooms.

Lees Hall is named in honor of Fortunetta Schlough Lees from the Class of 1897. The Basketball and Volleyball teams both compete in the gym which is located in Lees Hall. The athletic offices and Fitness Center are also located in Lees Hall. Lees has a seating capacity for athletic events for more than 300; for other events, 750. Other facilities in Lees Hall include a fitness center, athletic training room and offices for the athletic department staff. Fitness Center hours of operation are 6:00 a.m. – 1:00 a.m. Starting in the Spring of 2014, Cedar Crest College will be updating its basketball court (design to be released).

The giving of gifts to the College by the senior class is a long-standing tradition at Cedar Crest. One of the most well-known senior class gifts is the South Gate. In 1922, when President William F. Curtis learned that the highway department planned to build another road near campus, the Class of 1922 agreed to fund construction of a new entrance, incurring an expense that would take them years to pay off. After the gate's completion at the south end of campus, the highway department changed its plans, so the entrance sat useless until 1972, when it was moved to the west end of campus on Cedar Crest Boulevard, during the presidency of Pauline Tompkins, as a fiftieth reunion surprise for the Class of 1922.

The bell is a sculpture by Toshiko Takaezu that resides on the quad, in a garden that was built by the Trustees in 2005 to honor Dorothy Gulbenkian Blaney's presidency. The bell, named Dorothy, was donated by the internationally renowned sculptor to honor President Blaney. It was the first bell that Toshiko ever named. It is meant to have a calming effect and is rung at Open Door Ceremony and at the 50th Reunion memorial service.

The quad is the grassy area that flows from the front of Blaney Hall, surrounded by Hartzel Hall, Allen House, Cressman Library, Moore Hall, Curtis Hall and Butz Hall. The quad features Abe and Tretchie's Place, a gazebo that was donated by the Board of Trustees in memory of Abram Samuels and in honor of his wife, Tretchie.

In Keeping with the tradition of presenting the College with a senior class gift, the Class of 2013, in addition to raising over $6,000 for the Cedar Crest Fund, donated the Spirit Rock to start a new tradition on campus. This rock is meant to provide luck to all who rub it. Incoming freshmen are encouraged to touch the rock for luck during orientation and it is placed strategically so that all graduating seniors can touch it for luck on their way into the graduation tent. An inscription on the plaque reads: "If you want to touch the past, touch a rock. If you want to touch the present, touch a flower. If you want to touch the future, touch a life."

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