Whitman College

In 1859, soon after the United States military declared that the land east of the Cascade Mountains was open for settlement by American pioneers, Cushing Eells traveled from the Willamette Valley to Waiilatpu, near present-day Walla Walla, where 12 years earlier, Congregationalist missionaries Dr. Marcus Whitman and Narcissa Whitman, along with 12 others were killed by a group of Cayuse Indians during the Whitman Massacre. While at the site, Eells became determined to establish a "monument" to his former missionary colleagues in the form of a school for pioneer boys and girls. Eells obtained a charter for Whitman Seminary, a pre-collegiate school, from the territorial legislature. From the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, he acquired the Whitman mission site. Eells soon moved to the site with his family and began working to establish Whitman Seminary.

Despite Eells's desire to locate Whitman Seminary at the Whitman mission site, local pressure and resources provided a way for the school to open in the burgeoning town of Walla Walla. In 1866, Walla Walla's wealthiest citizen, Dorsey Baker, donated land near his house to the east of downtown. A two-story wood-frame building was quickly erected and classes began later that year. The school's first principal, local Congregational minister Peasly B. Chamberlin, resigned within a year and Cushing Eells was called upon to serve as principal, which he did until 1869. After Eells's resignation in 1869, the school struggled—and often failed—to attract students, pay teachers, and stay open for each term.[10]

Whitman's trustees decided in 1882 that while their institution could not continue as a prep school, it might survive as the area's only college. Alexander Jay Anderson, the former president of the Territorial University (now the University of Washington), came to turn the institution into a college and become its president. After modeling the institution after New England liberal arts colleges, Anderson opened the school on September 4, 1882 (Marcus Whitman's birthday) with an enrollment of 60 students and three senior faculty (Anderson, his wife and son). In 1883, the school received a collegiate charter and began expanding with aid from the Congregational American College and Education Society.[10]

Despite local support for Whitman College and help from the Congregational community, financial troubles set in for the school. After losing favor with some of the school's supporters, Anderson left Whitman in 1891 to be replaced by Reverend James Francis Eaton. The continuing recession of the 1890s increased the institution's financial worries and lost Eaton his backing, leading to his resignation in 1894.[10]

Reverend Stephen Penrose, an area Congregational minister and former trustee, became president of the college and brought the school back to solvency by establishing Whitman's endowment with the aid of D. K. Pearsons, a Chicago philanthropist. By popularizing Marcus Whitman's life and accomplishments (including the false claim that the missionary had been pivotal in the annexation by the United States of Oregon Territory), Penrose was able to gain support and resources for the college. Under his leadership, the faculty was strengthened and the first masonry buildings, Billings Hall and the Whitman Memorial Building, were constructed.[10]

In 1907, Penrose began a plan called "Greater Whitman" which sought to transform the college into an advanced technical and science center. To aid fundraising, Penrose abandoned affiliation with the Congregational Church, and became unaffiliated with any denomination. The prep school was closed and fraternities and sororities were introduced to the campus. Ultimately, this program was unable to raise enough capital; in 1912, the plan was abandoned and Whitman College returned to being a small liberal arts institution, albeit with increased focus on co-curricular activities.[10] Penrose iterated the school's purpose "to be a small college, with a limited number of students to whom it will give the finest quality of education".[11] In 1920 Phi Beta Kappa installed a chapter,[10] the first for a Northwest college,[12] and Whitman had its first alum Rhodes Scholar.[10]

During World War II, Whitman was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to a Navy commission.

Named for Marcus's wife, Narcissa Prentiss Whitman, Prentiss Hall is the only all-female dorm and houses first-year residents as well as the four sororities on campus. Whitman's affiliated sororities are Kappa Kappa Gamma, Delta Gamma, Alpha Phi, and Kappa Alpha Theta.

Entrance to Penrose Library.

Olin Hall (Humanities and Mathematics).

Whitman also offers combined programs in conjunction with several institutions throughout the United States:[25]

• 3–2 programs in engineering with the California Institute of Technology, Columbia University, University of Washington, and Washington University in St. Louis;
• 3–2 programs in forestry and environmental management with Duke University, leading to a Master of Environmental Management or an MBA degree;
• A 3–2 program in oceanography at University of Washington, leading to a Whitman B.A. and a University of Washington B.S. in Oceanography.

Whitman offers a "Semester in the West" program, a field study program in environmental studies, focusing on ecological, social, and political issues confronting the American West. During every other fall semester since 2002, 21 students leave Walla Walla to travel throughout the interior West for field meetings with a variety of leading figures in conservation, ecology, environmental writing, and social justice.[26]

Whitman also offers "The U.S.-Mexico Border Program" every other June. The program is based in Arizona and Sonora, Mexico, and exposes students to a wide range of competing perspectives on the politics of immigration, border enforcement, and globalization.[27]

Since 1982, "Whitman in China" provides Whitman alumni the opportunity to teach English at Northwestern Polytechnical University, Shantou University, or Yunnan University. Participants receive an immersion experience in urban Chinese culture, where they can witness the rapid modernization of the country. At the same time, Whitman alumni give Chinese university students the rare chance to study with an English native speaker.[28]

Whitman also offers a large range of year- or semester-long off-campus study programs - 88 programs across 40 countries,[29] and a few short-term, faculty-led programs.[30]

In 2010, under the leadership of (former) President George Bridges, Whitman centralized and integrated various programs intended to help students connect their in-class learning to off-campus work, volunteer, and internship opportunities in the Walla Walla Valley. The office that emerged, the Student Engagement Center (SEC), houses community service and career services in one place. Students and alumni can get assistance with resumes, cover letters, networking, internships, interviews, grad school applications, and civic engagement in the SEC.

Admission Office in the summer of 2009.

Whitman's admission selectivity is considered "more selective" by U.S. News & World Report.[31] For the Class of 2023 (enrolling Fall 2019), Whitman received 4,823 applications and accepted 2,697 (55.9%), with 425 enrolling.[32] The middle 50% range of SAT scores for enrolling freshmen was 630-710 for evidence-based reading and writing, and 610-740 for math.[32] The middle 50% ACT score range was 25-31 for math, 30-35 for English, and 28-33 for the composite.[32]

For 2020, students of color (including non-citizens) made up 36.8% of the incoming class;[32] international students were 8.8% of enrolling freshmen.[32]

In May 2022, Whitman College announced a $10 million donation made in memory of long-time professor of 35 years J.Walter weingart. The donation is set to fund full scholarships for all in-state students with financial need. The J. Waler and Katherine Weingart opportunity scholarship will begin distribution in 2023 and will annually support 500 in-state students.[33]

Greek life has a long and storied history at Whitman, with many chapters dating back to a century or more and having the first chapters in the Pacific Northwest. Greek life is notable on campus; there is a high percentage of students, around 33% involved in the Greek system. The four sororities are all members of the National Panhellenic Conference and are housed in the Prentiss Hall. This includes Alpha Phi, Delta Gamma, Kappa Alpha Theta, and Kappa Kappa Gamma.[40] The four fraternities are Beta Theta Pi, Phi Delta Theta, Sigma Chi, and Tau Kappa Epsilon.[40] They are housed in fraternity houses north of Isaacs Avenue and are all members of the North American Interfraternity Conference.

KWCW 90.5 FM is a Class A radio station owned and operated by the Whitman Students' Union, the Associated Students of Whitman College (ASWC).[41][42][43][44]

"K-dub" as it is known to students, is located inside the Reid Campus Center on Whitman Campus. At a power of 160 watts, the station's range is approximately 15 miles (24 km), broadcasting as well as streaming online[45][46]