Roanoke College history

The school was renamed Virginia Collegiate Institute in 1845, and two years later Bittle and Baughman moved the institute to Salem.

In 1847, the institute moved to Salem which was developing into a center of commerce and transportation in the region; the school moved all of its possessions in a single covered wagon.

Charted by the state of Virginia as Roanoke College in 1853, Roanoke is the second oldest Lutheran college in the nation.

The student body was organized into a corps of cadets and fought with Confederate forces near Salem in December 1863.

The college company was formally mustered into the Confederate Army, Virginia Reserves, on September 1, 1864, but the students did not see combat before the war ended.

Cornell University, in Ithaca, N.Y., opened in 1868 and was the first American university to be divided into colleges offering different degrees.

When Johns Hopkins University opened in 1876, it was divided administratively into an undergraduate college and a graduate school.

But English universities founded after 1879—commonly called “red brick” universities—have no colleges.

The first Korean to graduate from an American college or university, Surh Beung Kiu, graduated in 1898.

Morehead left the college in 1919 to lead Lutheran relief work in Europe after World War I. For this work he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Originally named Roanoke Women's College, Elizabeth was a sister Lutheran women's college destroyed by fire in 1921 and closed; the female students finished the 1921–22 academic year at Roanoke.

Roanoke opened its first women's residence hall, Smith Hall, in 1941.

Roanoke adopted the alumnae of Marion College, a sister Lutheran women's college in Marion, Virginia, when it closed in 1967.

The College established an Undergraduate Research Assistant Program and began construction on four new residence halls-the first on campus since 1968.

What started as a battle between graffiti artists and Building and Grounds personnel in 1971, the painting of The Rock, is currently a major source of information for campus events.

The seal in front of the Administration Building is a fairly recent addition to the Roanoke campus. It was built in 1995 as a way to recognize those who contribute to the Roanoke Fund.

Roanoke's tenth president, and first female president, Sabine O'Hara, took office in 2004.

O'Hara resigned in 2007 after unveiling the plan; her tenure was short, but productive with four new residence halls constructed, two academic buildings renovated, a new sports stadium completed, and records set for applications and enrollment.

In 2009, under Michael Maxey, Roanoke's current president, the College instituted a new Intellectual Inquiry core curriculum with nearly 80 courses.

A hallmark was the 2010 reopening of the renovated and expanded Lucas Hall-the College's first LEED-certified project.