Bucknell University is a university located along the Susquehanna
River in the rolling countryside of Central Pennsylvania in the town of
Lewisburg, whose entire 19th century downtown was
recently placed on the National Registry of Historic Places. A "Little Ivy" along with the likes of Colgate, Williams, and Holy
Cross, the university was founded under the name of the University at Lewisburg in 1846 as a private Baptist university. Bucknell University later shed its Baptist roots and was renamed for its benefactor,
William Bucknell, a Philadelphian who bolstered the university during the
post-Civil War recession.Bucknell University has academic departments in the liberal arts,
engineering, management,
and animal behavior disciplines among others. Primarily an
undergraduate institution, Bucknell enrolls about 3,550 students (3,350 undergraduates and 200 graduate students) and employs
over 280 faculty members as of 2002.Bucknell University is a member of the Patriot League for Division 1
sports, Division 1-AA in football. In sports history, Bucknell University won the first
Orange Bowl (26-0 over the University of Miami on January 1, 1935). Bucknell University is also the alma mater of the primordial baseball hero, Christy Mathewson, who requested
that he be buried in a cemetery adjoining Bucknell's campus.Known for one of the most beautiful campuses in the nation, Bucknell University has a reputation for its rigorous academic
programs (especially strong in engineering and the Life Sciences). Students participate in "Greek" organizations (fraternities and sororities) at a higher than average
rate (60% of all eligible students as of 2002) compared to other Greek campuses.Bucknell ranks among the top universities in NCAA Division 1 in athletic graduation rates (No. 1 three times in the last 10
years), the number of students from Liberal Arts Colleges that go on to gain their Ph.D's, and is No. 3 on the All-Time List
(CoSida) for Producing Academic All Americans. It also ranks in the Top 100 for schools that produce America's top business
leaders.Bucknell University's newspaper is
The Bucknellian.
