Randolph-Macon College

Randolph-Macon College, a private liberal arts institution, stands as a beacon of academic innovation and historical significance in Ashland, Virginia. Founded in 1830 by Methodists Hekeziah G. Leigh, John Early, and Gabriel Poillon Disosway, the college has a rich legacy of challenging conventional academic norms. Named after Virginia statesman John Randolph and North Carolina statesman Nathaniel Macon, the college relocated to Ashland in 1868 after its original site in Boydton was impacted by the Civil War.

Randolph-Macon is renowned for its pioneering spirit in education, having been the first college south of the Mason-Dixon line to require physical education for graduation, with its old gym (built in 1887) being the first structure in the South built solely for this purpose. Academically, it broke new ground by being the first in the South to offer English as a full discipline and to develop biology as a distinct study. Its Computer Science department, established in the 1960s, was notably one of the earliest associated with a liberal arts school, demonstrating a forward-thinking approach to emergent fields.

The college fosters an engaging student experience through its strong academic programs and a vibrant community. It became fully co-educational in 1971, enrolling 50 women and its first full-time female faculty member, a significant step in its evolution. Randolph-Macon is home to prestigious honor societies, including the Zeta of Virginia chapter of Phi Beta Kappa since 1923 and Chi Beta Phi, the national science honorary society, which was founded at the college in 1916. Under the leadership of President Michael E. Hill and supported by a $0.2 billion endowment, Randolph-Macon College continues its mission of "Building Extraordinary Futures" for its students.