History
Ithaca College's Gannett Library. (Credit/The Journal)
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William G. Egbert, a child prodigy on the violin in the mid-1870s,
wasn't delighted about the prospect of having to move away from
his Danby home to receive the kind of music instruction he needed.
He confided to his mother that some day he should establish a conservatory
of music in Ithaca, "so that small boys should never have to
go away from home to study music." Some day turned out to be
Sept. 19, 1892. Egbert, by then a world-class violinist, returned
to Ithaca from Germany and founded the Ithaca Conservatory of Music,
renting four rooms in a house on East Seneca Street as a campus.
In 1921, the conservatory became the Ithaca Conservatory and Affiliated
Schools, with the addition of a school of physical education and
the Martin Institute for Speech Correction. A decade later, the
name Ithaca College took hold and the institution began awarding
a bachelor of science degree.The school, a bunch of scattered buildings
in downtown Ithaca, moved to South Hill beginning in 1961, when
enrollment was around 2,000, and has become the largest private
residential college in New York state.
IC Today
The college is divided into five schools, the largest being the
School of Humanities and Sciences. It is well-known for its School
of Music and its professional programs, especially in physical therapy,
physical education, communications and theater. The college offers
about 2,000 courses in more than 100 programs of study.
- Enrollment: 5,650 undergraduates; 250 graduate students.
- Schools and enrollments: School of Humanities and Sciences:
2,000; School of Business: 450; Roy H. Park School of Communications:
1,200; School of Health Sciences and Human Performance: 1,550;
School of Music: 450; Graduate studies: 250.
- Tuition: $18,410
- President: Peggy Williams
- Campus: More than 60 buildings on a 750-acre campus on
South Hill in the Town of Ithaca.
- Faculty: 537 full and part time
- Staff and Administration: 803 full and part time
- Student-faculty ratio: 12:1
- Control and accreditation: Privately supported, nondenominational;
accredited by appropriate professional associations and agencies,
including the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary
Schools.
- Graduation rate: Seventy-one percent of entering freshmen
graduate from IC within five years.
- Academic calendar: Two 15-week semesters: Late August
to mid-December and mid-January to mid-May.
- IC's mission: Address two primary aspects of education:
The need for rigorous academic preparation in highly specialized
professional fields and the need for students to prepare themselves
for the complex demands of modern society by acquiring breadth
beyond the bounds of their chosen profession.
- Information: Phone 274-3011 or Web site at www.ithaca.edu
IC facts
- Williams, the first woman president of the college, began in
July 1997, succeeding James J. Whalen, who had been president
since 1975.
- Emmy-winning television writer and creator of the "Twilight
Zone" Rod Serling was a guest lecturer at Ithaca College,
which now maintains a Serling archive in its Roy H. Park School
of Communications. Serling's wife, Carol, is a member of the college's
Board of Trustees.
- Other well-knowns on the board: Robert Iger, president of ABC-Capital
Cities, and Robert Kur, a reporter for NBC News.
- The college has more than 30,000 alumni.
- Students come from almost every state and over 40 countries.
- There are more than 130 student organizations at clubs at IC.
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