Heritage

One afternoon in 1880, in a garden in Daytona, Florida, Lucy Cross had a vision—a college in Central Florida. Five years later she had garnered the support of the Congregational Church and in January 1885, representatives from five Florida communities competed for the privilege of becoming the college’s home. The three-year old town of Winter Park emerged as the undisputed winner, benefiting from a generous gift offered on its behalf by a Chicago businessman, Alonzo Rollins. Named in his honor, Rollins College was incorporated on April 28, 1885. The Rev. Edward Payson Hooker, who helped establish the College, served as its first president (1885-1892).

From its inception the College has been coeducational and has attracted students both from the local communities of Central Florida and from the North. Its two objectives were to serve Florida’s educational needs and "to provide an opportunity for youth of the North, whose health demands that they should spend a considerable portion of the year in a more genial climate to pursue their studies" (Annual Catalogue, 1905-1906).

Early years saw the addition of "tasteful buildings," including residence halls that were built on the notion of a "cottage plan." One of these structures, Pinehurst Cottage, still occupies a visible place on the campus and ties the modern Rollins, with its Spanish-Mediterranean architecture, to its roots in turn-of-the-century Florida.

President George Morgan Ward (1896-1902), who later served as pastor of financier Henry Flagler's chapel in Palm Beach, Florida, guided the College through the devastating financial times following the citrus freeze of 1894-1895.

William Fremont Blackman was a faculty member at Yale University when he was called to the Rollins presidency in 1902. During his term in office (1902-1915), President Blackman faced a national depression and diminishing enrollment, yet he substantially increased the College's endowment, added to its facilities, and won the support of the Carnegie Foundation. Carnegie Hall, once the library and administration building, now serves as home to the College’s English department, as well as the human resources and international programs offices.

These early years also included strong ties to the country of Cuba. During the Spanish-American War, more Cuban students studied at Rollins than at any other American institution, and even in the 1920’s, Rollins football and basketball teams competed against the University of Havana.

President Hamilton Holt (1925-1949), a nationally recognized journalist, editor, and internationalist, brought national visibility to the College in its middle years, and left a legacy that includes a distinguished tradition of "experimental" education. During Holt's administration Rollins College established the Conference Plan, which emphasized close teacher-student contact. Under this plan, teachers and students shared the learning experience around a conference table, an activity that led students to develop clear standards by which to judge their work. The College retains aspects of this method, particularly in its program for first-year students, but not to the exclusion of other significant approaches to teaching. The Holt years brought many national figures to campus including Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Addams, author Majorie Kinnan Rawlings, Countess Alexandra Tolstoy, Justice William O. Douglas, and Edward R. Morrow. Perhaps most notably, in January 1931, Rollins hosted a Curriculum Conference, with the distinguished educator John Dewey as Chairman.

The resulting recommendations—which emphasized "Individualization in Education"—were implemented by Rollins in the fall of 1931. So provocative were these innovations, that Sinclair Lewis, in his Stockholm address accepting the Nobel Prize in literature, listed Rollins first of all the colleges in the United States doing the most to encourage creative work in contemporary literature.

During the administration of Hugh F. McKean (1951-1969), the College developed the Honors Degree program for exceptionally well-prepared and qualified students. He also established graduate programs in education and business, and the Hamilton Holt School and Brevard Campus. Although President McKean was a student and professor of art, his administration brought significant advances and general strengthening of the College programs in business administration, economics, and the sciences.

Jack B. Critchfield (1969-1978), elected president of Rollins from a position at the University of Pittsburgh, moved the College in new directions by establishing programs in environmental and interdisciplinary studies, graduate and undergraduate programs in criminal justice, and strengthening support from the business community.

Thaddeus Seymour (1978-1990) served previously as dean of Dartmouth College and president of Wabash College in Indiana. As Rollins celebrated its centennial, President Seymour defined its goal of providing superior liberal arts education in a personal and caring environment. During his administration, Rollins successfully completed a fund-raising campaign that provided facilities and endowment to support quality improvement and enhanced reputation. During this time, the faculty also completely reformulated the College’s curriculum, based on the pioneering work of the well-known educator D.S. Bloom, who conducted a national study that resulted in his publication of A Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Students pursued general education requirements in skills (composition, mathematics, foreign language, and decision-making), the cognitive area (social, natural, and physical sciences), and the affective area (arts and literature). The framework of this curriculum remains in place to this day, although it continues to be refined.

Under the leadership of Rita Bornstein (1990-2004), who was previously vice president of the University of Miami, the College focused on strengthening its commitment to excellence, innovation, and community. Standards were raised, innovative academic programs were introduced, and co-curricular activities were developed around themes of leadership education and civic engagement. In 1997, Rollins reaffirmed its role as a leader in the national conversation on liberal education, hosting leading educators for a conference entitled “The Rollins Colloquy – Toward a Pragmatic Liberal Education: The Curriculum of the Twenty-First Century.” President Bornstein also oversaw the largest fundraising effort in Rollins’ history. Widely considered to have transformed the College, The Campaign For Rollins secured $160.2 million, providing support for academic programs, scholarships, faculty chairs, and facilities, and significantly strengthening the College’s financial health. Thanks to the generosity of donors and astute financial management, the College’s endowment more than quintupled during Bornstein’s presidency.

In April 2004, Lewis M. Duncan, formerly Dean of Dartmouth College's Thayer School and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at the University of Tulsa, was elected as the fourteenth president of the College. On his appointment, President Duncan remarked that the coming years are certain to be ones of extraordinary change, challenge and opportunity in higher education. He went on to add that the world has never faced greater need for quality liberal education for a rising generation of citizen leaders and that Rollins College is exceptionally well positioned to answer this call.

As national recognition of the College’s quality has grown, both the number and quality of applicants for admission have escalated, permitting the College to be more selective while enrolling a larger, more diverse student body. Building on a tradition of excellence, innovation, and community more than a century old, Rollins College continues to offer rigorous, relevant higher-learning opportunities while holding firm to its commitment to personalized education in a nurturing environment.