Mars Hill University


Mars Hill University is a private university in Mars Hill, North Carolina. The university offers 35 undergraduate majors and includes a school of nursing and graduate schools in education, criminal justice, and management. From 1859 to 2013 the school was called Mars Hill College; in August 2013 it officially changed its name to Mars Hill University.

History

Mars Hill University was founded in 1856, and it is the oldest college or university in western North Carolina. It started as the French Broad Baptist Institute, sharing a name with the nearby French Broad River. In 1859, the university changed its name to Mars Hill, in honor of the hill in ancient Athens on which the Apostle Paul debated Christianity with the city's leading philosophers. During the American Civil War the university was closed for two years, but it reopened after the war. From 1897 to 1938 the university, under the leadership of Dr. Robert Moore, enjoyed substantial financial and physical growth. In 1921 Mars Hill became an accredited junior college. Dr. Hoyt Blackwell served as president from 1938 to 1966, and under his leadership Mars Hill became an accredited four-year college in 1962. From 1966–1996 Dr. Fred Bentley served as the college's president. Dr. Bentley was, at the time of his appointment in 1966, one of the youngest college presidents in the United States.
Dr. Dan Lunsford, a 1969 graduate of MHU, served as university president from 2002 to 2018. Under Dr. Lunsford, Mars Hill University constructed three new dormitories, a new health sciences building to house its nursing program, a new classroom building to house the business department, completely renovated and greatly expanded the math and sciences classroom building, upgraded its athletic facilities, tripled its endowment, increased its student enrollment, and started a graduate school in education. In June 2018, John Anthony "Tony" Floyd became the university's sixth president in 121 years.
Mars Hill is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's and master's degrees, and is an affiliate of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, Council of Independent Colleges, the Appalachian College Association, and other similar organizations.

Academics

The university offers six undergraduate degrees, three graduate degrees, and 35 majors. In May 2013 the university awarded its first M.Ed degrees. The university recently added a M.A. in criminal justice program, and a Master of Management program. In August 2016 the university opened a Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. The most popular majors are in the fields of business administration and management, education, social work, physical education teaching and coaching, and general psychology. The university is also known for its excellent departments in music and other fine arts. In 1932 Lamar Stringfield, a Mars Hill alumnus, formed the North Carolina Symphony, the first state-supported orchestra in the nation. The "Bailey Mountain Cloggers", the university's dance team, have won 23 national championships in clogging, and they have performed all over the United States and internationally in Canada, Mexico, England, Scotland, Ireland, Austria, France, Greece, Poland, and the Czech Republic. In 2002 the university opened the Ramsey Center for Regional Studies. Named after an alumnus who served a record four terms as the Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, the center is dedicated to preserving the heritage and culture of the people of the Southern Appalachian Mountains.
The university's enrollment is typically around 1,200 traditional students, with more than 200 students in its nontraditional degree program. In its annual survey of "America's Best Colleges", U.S. News and World Report ranked Mars Hill among the South's Top 25 Regional Colleges. US News removed Mars Hill from its 2019 rankings for misreporting alumni donor statistics, but returned Mars Hill to its annual ranking for 2020, placing the university at #22 in the Regional Colleges South category. U.S. News also rates Mars Hill as one of the Top 10 "Best Colleges for Veterans" in the South, based on its participation in "federal initiatives helping veterans and active-duty service members pay for their degrees." In 2012 and 2014 Mars Hill also ranked among the Top 20 baccalaureate colleges in Washington Monthly's annual survey of the nations' best colleges. In 2015 Washington Monthly ranked Mars Hill 23rd nationally out of 344 baccalaureate colleges surveyed; in 2016 it ranked 24th nationally out of 230 baccalaureate colleges surveyed. Mars Hill has been named to the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll five times since the award's inception in 2006, including twice "with distinction" for general community service.
In 2008, Mars Hill gained autonomy from the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina when the state convention voted to eliminate the requirement that it have final approval over who could serve as trustees for the school; this ruling allows the university to choose non-Baptists as trustees. The state convention also agreed to start transferring funds traditionally given directly to the university into a new scholarship fund for Baptist students. The move was made in conjunction with the four other remaining N.C. Baptist Colleges – Gardner–Webb University, Campbell University, Wingate University, and Chowan University. The university, while acknowledging its Baptist roots, is no longer directly associated with any Baptist church or organization, but proclaims in its mission statement that it "is an academic community rooted in the Christian faith", and that the university is "committed to an emphasis on service and Christian ethics." The college yearbook is called the Laurel, the college literary magazine is the Cadenza, and the college newspaper is The Hilltop.

Campus

The university has a scenic campus; most of the dormitories are located atop two hills, named "men's hill" and "women's hill". The main campus is located in a small valley between the two hills. The university is surrounded by the Appalachian Mountains; from various points on campus, it is possible to see Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi River. Bailey Mountain is located about a mile northwest from campus and is a local landmark. Interstate 26 is located one mile east of the university, and provides access to the nearby cities of Asheville, North Carolina, to the south, and Johnson City, Tennessee to the north.

Athletics

The university is a Division II member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and it is also a member of the South Atlantic Conference. Mars Hill's sports mascot is the mountain lion; the university's colors are royal blue and gold. In May 2011 the cycling team won the USA Cycling Collegiate Division II national championship. In 2012 they finished in second place nationally, and in May 2015 the Mars Hill cycling team finished the season ranked in first place nationally among Division II teams.
In December 2011, Mars Hill running back Jonas Randolph won the prestigious Harlon Hill Trophy, which is given each year to the best player in NCAA Division II football. The men's cross country team have also been highly successful over the last two decades; from 1997 to 2014 they won 18 straight conference championships; in 2016 they won their 19th conference championship. In 2014 the men's cross country team won the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional championship and advanced to the Division II national championship meet, and in 2015 they finished in second place in the Division II Southeast Regional championship and advanced to the Division II national meet. In June 2017, Nathan Jones, a member of the Mars Hill cross country team, won the South Atlantic Conference Man of the Year Award, and in 2018 Mars Hill baseball player Zac Brown won the SAC Man of the Year Award.

Notable alumni