The College

Juniata's Mission

Juniata's mission is to provide an engaging personalized educational experience empowering our students to develop the skills, knowledge and values that lead to a fulfilling life of service and ethical leadership in the global community.

Brief History

Juniata is an independent, co-educational college of liberal arts and sciences, founded in 1876 by members of the Church of the Brethren to prepare individuals “for the useful occupations of life.”

Juniata’s first classes were held on April 17, 1876 in a cramped, second-story room over a local printing shop. Two women and one man were in attendance. Unlike the common model at the time, Juniata was co-educational from the beginning. In 1879, classes were moved to Founders Hall (completely restored in 2009) on the present Juniata campus in Huntingdon. The town is a county seat of 10,000 and lies in the scenic Central Pennsylvania mountains, mid-way between Interstate 80 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

The Juniata community now has over 40 buildings on over 800 acres, including the 316-acre Baker-Henry Nature Preserve and Sparks Farm. In addition, the Raystown Field Station, located on Raystown Lake encompassing a complete watershed, consists of 365 acres for exclusive College use and a full 29,000 acres for additional research and study. The Field Station is leased from the Army Corps of Engineers and provides one of the most distinctive opportunities in environmental science in the nation.

Primarily residential (93% of degree seeking undergraduate students live in campus housing), Juniata maintains an enrollment of approximately 1,450 students. Sixty-three percent are from Pennsylvania. This year’s student body represents 32 states and territories, and 31 foreign countries.

 

Commendations

Juniata is mentioned in scores of diverse guides, articles, and measures of colleges and universities. Regardless of evaluation methods, the College is consistently praised as supportive, innovative, and a model for the best that liberal arts education can be.

  • We are praised for our overall offerings in The College Solution: A Guide for Everyone Looking for the Right School at the Right Price, Baron's Best Colleges, Peterson's Competitive College Guide, U.S. News and World Report, The Princeton Review, and The Fiske Guide.
  • We are recognized for our distinctive focus on experience and excellent outcomes in Lauren Pope's Colleges That Change Lives, David L. Marcus’s Acceptance, Weinstein's Making a Difference College Guide, Forbes.com’s rankings of 3,200 colleges and universities in the U.S., the Teagle Foundation's study, "The Nation's 13 Best Performing Colleges," and The Unofficial, Unbiased, Insiders Guide to the 331 Most Interesting Colleges.
  • Our accessibility and openness to students from diverse economic, social, racial and ethnic backgrounds has been recognized by the Center for Student Opportunity's College Access Guide and Leland Miles' Provoking Thought: What Colleges Should Do for Students.
  • We are lauded for our commitment to service and community in guides like Rugg's Recommendations on Colleges, usnews.com's "America's Best Colleges--A+ Options for B Students," Entrepreneur.com's "Colleges with an Entrepreneurship Emphasis," Washington Monthly's College Rankings, Don Asher's Cool Colleges, and ELLEgirl magazine's "Top 50 Colleges that Dare to be Different."
  • Our students themselves talk about the College in Vault's College Buzz Book and College Prowler.

Academic Principles

The success of students is directly linked to Juniata’s strong, dedicated faculty who consider teaching and advising their primary responsibilities.

The College supports a flexible, “value-centered” curriculum, wherein students may design their own Programs of Emphasis, which often transcend traditional majors. Programs of Emphasis may be tailored to personal goals and needs, may lead to either a B.A. or B.S. degree, and may include courses from among 19 academic departments. Each student consults with two faculty advisors and may also seek counsel from QUEST, Career Services staff and Counseling staff. Coursework takes place both on and off campus and includes such varied experiences as seminars, fieldwork, “on-the-job” internships, study abroad, independent study and research.


Juniata’s Approach to Student Development

As a community that focuses on the whole person, Juniata recognizes the importance of both curricular and co-curricular aspects of student development. Juniata has bridged the traditional higher education dichotomy between academic affairs and student affairs by merging these two branches of the College, a structural move that integrates the student’s college experience. Academic affairs and student services officers meet regularly to coordinate efforts to meet students’ educational and social development.


Accreditation

 

Juniata College is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE), 3624 Market Street, 2nd Floor West, Philadelphia, PA 19104, 267-284-5000.  The Commission on Higher Education is recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education to conduct accreditation and pre-accreditation activities for institutions of higher education in the region.  MSCHE is also recognized by the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) to accredit degree-granting institutions which offer one or more post-secondary educational programs of at least one academic year in length. 

The College is also certified by the American Chemical Society and the Council on Social Work Education. The Education Department is authorized by Pennsylvania’s Department of Education to offer teacher certification programs. The College is a member of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania, and the Council of Independent Colleges, as well as other state and national professional associations.

 

The Campus

Instructional Technology

Effectively using technology to strengthen the teaching-learning process is a high priority at Juniata. A Gigabit and fiber based network backbone provides connectivity in residence halls, classrooms, laboratories and offices. All students are automatically given accounts to access the network, print and e-mail servers, and the UNIX web servers. These accounts provide e-mail, Internet access, access to the Juniata on-line library catalogs, and web-based searches for all students and faculty. In addition, the college provides wireless access in all academic buildings and residence halls. Currently, several major public computing areas provide students access to Windows and Mac OSX, word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, statistics and database software in addition to e-mail and Internet access. All classrooms are fitted with computer projection equipment (or large screen LCD), laptop hook-ups, and sound systems. All students are required to have access to a laptop. The college portal, 'the Arch', provides students with quick and easy access to online college services such as grades, course registration, event scheduling, campus calendars and job listings.

A description of individual facilities follows:

Brumbaugh Academic Center - including Dale Hall

Geographic Information Systems Lab (B201) is a classroom/laboratory equipped with 18 Windows based machines and software focused on teaching and research using GIS tools. While this lab is primarily used for GIS, the equipment is available for general student use outside of normal class hours.

Networking and Telecommunications Lab (C102) - This room is primarily used as an Information Technology and Computer Science classroom, but is available to all disciplines for daytime academic activities. This classroom has 24 Windows-based workstations with flat panel monitors, including an instructor's podium and SmartBoard. The true benefit from this room stems from the fact that there is a complete, private, internal network that is separate from Juniata 's network (EagleNet). This network allows students to experiment with building their own servers, client workstations, and private subnetworks. There are dedicated machines, network equipment, simulated T1, and an internal wiring system to accommodate this private lab. This lab is not considered to be a public lab, but has been used to support Computer Science research projects, such as simulating a firewall and traffic-shaping design.

The Technology Solutions Center (C107) provides faculty, staff and students the latest hardware, software and training to maximize instructional and daily use of information technology. Juniata recognizes the importance of technology in today's society and brings that technology into the classroom and across campus through the Technology Solutions Center (TSC). The TSC supports most of the newest media production software as well as standard office applications. With digital video editing software, digital video cameras available for student and faculty use, and staff to support projects, the Technology Solutions Center is the hub of digital video production for classroom projects. The TSC is always investigating new technologies (hardware and software), making it a popular work study opportunity for students. The TSC has iMac workstations and 15 laptops for faculty, staff and student checkout.

In addition to the technology housed in the Technology Solutions Center, it is also home to much of the computer support and training on campus. The Help Desk provides support to campus employees and classroom technology. The TSC is responsible for the planning, deployment and maintenance of all classroom technology across campus. In addition, sound systems and other media for special events are maintained and coordinated through TSC.

Art and Theatre Studies Lab (P107) provides faculty, staff and students the latest hardware, software for theatre and arts production.  This lab houses 20 state of the art iMacs with a full compliment of software and high-end color printing. 

On Demand Education Resource and Collaboration Center (C229) is an area set aside for students specifically in the Innovations for Industry course sequence to gather in their respective teams to work on their client projects. Dedicated hardware, software and media presentation equipment is housed in this center specifically for the I4I course.

Physics Labs (P200 and P201) - Classrooms/laboratories equipped with 8 windows based machines and software focused on teaching and research in Physics. These labs are used almost exclusively by Physics students but are available to all students outside of scheduled class times.

Good Hall

Video Conference Room (G201) This room is equipped with LifeSize video conferencing equipment to facilitate distance education and online meetings.

Psychology Lab (G107) This classroom/laboratory houses 11 Windows based computers focused on teaching and research in Psychology. This room is dedicated to the Psychology students and faculty based on the nature of their research.

Beeghly Library

The library has a laptop checkout program that enables students to sign out one of 15 wireless laptops for use anywhere within the library. There are also numerous ports in the library for wired connection to the network.

Within the Reference Area are 30 computers used primarily by students and faculty for research using the library's online resources of over 100 databases and 10,000 periodicals, and access to over 200,000 e-books. The Library has six collaborative tables with large screens for group work with laptops, and two high speed printers.

The Writing Center/Library Instruction Room in the basement of Beeghly Library is a multi-purpose facility. During the day it serves as a classroom for teaching library research techniques and resources, in the evening it serves as a writing center for peer tutoring in writing skills. The room offers the capability for hands on teaching, especially of library technology skills, with MAC workstations, video presentation equipment, and several white boards. At the same time, in the evening it can provide a quiet and private place for students to go in order to receive personal help with their writing assignments. When the room is not in use for classes or tutoring, it is available as open computer lab space for the campus.

Ellis Hall

The Ellis Hall (1969 upgrades 2008) is noted for its imposing entrance columns, and honors Juniata’s sixth and seventh presidents, Charles C. and Calvert N. Ellis. A focal point of student life, Ellis houses the Career Services Office, Public Safety Office, Information Desk, Office of Conferences and Events, Office of Student Activities, the bookstore, post office, broadcasting center for WKVR radio, and offices for Student Government, Juniata Activities Board (JAB), The Juniatian, Laughing Bush, and other student organizations. In addition, the dining hall (the 680-seat Baker Refectory (renovated 2013), Eagles Landing (renovated 2008), a ballroom, student lounge areas, and conference rooms are here.

von Liebig Center for Science

Public Lab (vLCS 2073) -This classroom/laboratory is located in the von Liebig Center for Science. It contains 18 windows-based computers, SmartBoard, and a projector. This room is primarily used for science classes, but when not in use, it acts as a public lab for all students and faculty. This room is equipped with many science oriented programs, including ChemOffice, HyperChem, ISIS Draw, and many more.


Instructional Facilities

Carnegie Hall (1907; renovated in 1998), once the College library, is a center for the fine arts. Its Henry and Mabelle Shoemaker Gallery and Edwin and Susan (Rabinowitz) Malloy Gallery of Art, replete with original stained glass windows and skylight, are used for exhibits, lectures, and receptions. Carnegie Hall is home to the Worth B. Stottlemyer and Guenther Spaltmann art collections. The hall also includes studios, darkroom, and the Juniata College Museum of Art. The Sill Business Incubator (renovated 2013) was renovated to provide a spacious new home for the ceramics program.

For the musical arts, headquarters is Swigart Hall (1950), an attractive, white-brick building also on the northern side of the campus. Purchased for the College with a gift from W. Emmert Swigart ’06, it contains faculty offices, practice rooms, teaching studios, and classrooms, one of which is home to a Yamaha Piano Laboratory.

The William J. von Liebig Center for Science (2002), is a state of the art facility for biology and chemistry. The facility has strengthened Juniata’s position as a premier college for undergraduate teaching and learning in biology and chemistry. For research of all kinds, von Liebig is among the best equipped undergraduate science centers in the nation. Housed there are a cell culture facility, a shared facility for light (fluorescence, laser scanning confocal and DIC) and electron microscopy, and a fully equipped laboratory for molecular biology research. Other instrumentation includes an atomic force microscope, a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer, a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrophotometer, a liquid chromatograph-mass spectrometer, and an x-ray diffractometer.

In the Brumbaugh Academic Center (1968) , three separate wings house seven departments. The Dale Hall wing houses business/accounting/economics, communication, information technology and computer science, and mathematics; with physics, earth and environmental science, geology, and the College Academic Computer Center located in the two corresponding wings. The circular hub of BAC includes Alumni Hall, a 400-seat auditorium, and one smaller lecture hall.

In addition, the 365-acre Raystown Field Station and the Davis and Robinson residence lodges on nearby Raystown Lake provides one of the country’s most distinctive opportunities in environmental studies. The Raystown Field Station, encompassing a complete watershed, consists of 365 acres for exclusive College use and a full 29,000 acres for additional research and study.

The center for the social sciences, Good Hall (1967, renovated 2008) contains more than 30 classrooms, two computer facilities, and three instructional laboratories: psychology, modern languages, and human interaction. A second facility, the Early Childhood Education Center, is located in Maude-Lesher Hall.

The world languages are currently headquartered in the former Humanities Center (1979) now called World Languages Center (2011), Carnegie Hall (1907, renovated 1998) and Founders Hall (1878, restored 2009). The buildings house faculty offices, seminar rooms, classrooms, and art galleries while the surrounding lawn and campus areas accommodate outdoor classes and art displays.


General Facilities

Founders Hall is the oldest building on campus. Constructed in 1879 (restored 2009) on land donated by local citizens, houses most administrative offices, including the President’s Office, Provost’s Office, Dean of Students, QUEST, the Registrar's Office, College Advancement Offices and the departments of English and History.

The William E. Swigart, Jr. Enrollment Center (1975 remodeled in 1996) is located on 18th Street between Good Hall and the Brumbaugh Academic Center. It should be the first stop on any campus visit. The College Public Relations Office is located in the Pennington House, adjacent to Brumbaugh Academic Center. The Alumni Relations Office is located in the Harold B. Brumbaugh Alumni House on Mifflin Street behind Good Hall. Accounting Services, Digital Communications and Administrative Information Services are housed in The Stone House on Moore St. Business Services and Human Resources are located at 1923 Moore St.

The Oller Center for Peace and International Programs (1999) houses the offices of International Programs and Peace and Conflict Studies. The International Programs Office (IPO) coordinates Juniata’s internationalization efforts. The office staff members support the College’s international student population, maintain an active study abroad program, assist faculty in curricular and programmatic planning, and enhance the international environment of the College.

The Ellis Hall (1969 upgrades 2008) is noted for its imposing entrance columns, and honors Juniata’s sixth and seventh presidents, Charles C. and Calvert N. Ellis. A focal point of student life, Ellis houses the Career Services Office, Public Safety Office, Information Desk, Office of Conferences and Events, Office of Student Activities, the bookstore, post office, broadcasting center for WKVR radio, and offices for Student Government, Juniata Activities Board (JAB), The Juniatian, Laughing Bush, and other student organizations. In addition, the dining hall, the 680-seat Baker Refectory (renovated 2005), Eagles Landing (renovated 2008), a ballroom, student lounge areas, and conference rooms are here.

Juniata’s L.A. Beeghly Library (1963) provides the Juniata community with a web-based online public access catalog and library system, many full-text and other electronic databases, a book collection built to support undergraduate research, an extraordinary Special Collection, the College's Archives, and a staff eager to assist patrons and to collaborate. The library's online resources are accessible throughout the campus and beyond, and by study abroad students, making the library's web page a very convenient source for academic research. Laptops are available for patron checkout at the circulation desk and the basement contains an instruction room with 15 desktops.

The first floor has many desktop computers, two high speed printers, and an Information Commons built to support comfort, technology and collaboration. The library contains some 208,000 bound volumes, microforms, government documents, audio-visual resource materials, and can offer access to over 15,000 periodicals (full-text online, microfilm and print),200,000 e-books, as well as access to literally over a billion electronic documents, and several prominent rare book and document collections. The Library also has six collaborative areas with large screens and white boards for group study with laptops. Beeghly Library has the sixth ranked German-American rare book collection in the country. Study space can be found for over 400 patrons, including several interactive study rooms, and many network ports for laptops, including a wireless system. Almost all books and periodicals, except some rare editions in the W. Emmert Swigart Treasure Room, are accessible on an “open-stack” basis. The library offers interlibrary loan service, reserves, and classroom instruction, and welcomes suggestions for additions to the library collection. The library also houses the Writing Center and a Curriculum Library. The Friends of the Library is an active group which provide valuable support and is a very active group on behalf of the Beeghly Library. Many librarians teach College Writing Seminar Courses, as well as in the large library instruction program. 

For cultural events, the Halbritter Center for the Performing Arts (2006)includes both the Rosenberger Auditorium and the Suzanne von Liebig Theatre. The Rosenberger Auditorium (built in 1940 remodeled in 2006)seats 850 and is used by most visiting speakers and performers as well as for student and faculty productions. The auditorium's acoustics are rated highly and large proscenium stage is equipped with modern lighting and sound equipment. The Suzanne von Liebig Theatre (2006)is a 200 seat, free form state of the art flexible theatre. The Center also includes a dance/movement theatre studio, costume shop, scene shop, classroom, green room, dressing rooms, and gallery space in its lobby.


The Kennedy Sports+Recreation Center (1983) provides Juniata students with modern recreational facilities. A hub for out-of-classroom activity, the Kennedy Center contains two gymnasiums; a six-lane, 25-meter swimming pool; and the F. Samuel Brumbaugh and Martha A. Brumbaugh Strength and Fitness Center (1998); racquetball/handball courts; and three expanded locker rooms. Dedicated to those from the College who served in World War I and II, the Memorial Gym (1951) serves as the center for varsity sports activity with a seating capacity of 1,200 for basketball and volleyball.

Outdoor facilities include the Raffensperger Tennis Courts, several intramural and practice fields, Langdon/Goodale Field (baseball), the new Juniata/Huntingdon softball field, Goodman Field (2012) at Knox Stadium (football and field hockey), the Jefford F. Oller Track (2009) and the Winton Hill soccer fields.


Residence Halls

With Juniata’s residence halls and apartment facilities, the College can accommodate more than 1,200 students. Most on-campus residence halls have been completely renovated and all now include computer and cable hookups in each rooms. Residence halls also have lounges, and free laundry facilities. 

Among the residence halls is The Cloister (1928; renovated in 1994) located at the center of campus. An outstanding example of Pennsylvania German architecture, it vividly recalls the heritage of the College. At the other end of the architectural spectrum are the East Houses (1970; renovated in 1999), a complex of four modern sections providing apartment-style living. 

Tussey-Terrace (1966; renovated in 1997), Sunderland Hall (1955; renovated in 1992), and Sherwood Hall (1961; renovated in 1992) form part of the northern boundary of the campus. Maude-Lesher Hall (1957; renovated in 2005) is just across the street from the Ellis Hall, while South Hall (1962; renovated in 1995)overlooks College Field. Nathan Hall (2014) is the newest residence hall, located at the north end of campus next to the Winton Hill Soccer Fields. The residence hall features 77 single rooms, including suites with living rooms, as well as private and semi-private bathrooms.

 College apartment buildings within convenient walking distance include the Mission House at 18th and Washington Streets, the “Pink Palace” on Moore Street, and Hess Apartments on 14th and Washington Streets. Five additional houses were added in 2004 and 2005, some of which house the Global Village, a globally themed living and learning community.


The Raystown Field Station

The Raystown Field Station is a 365-acre reserve operated as a center for environmental research and education. Located only 20 miles south of campus, the Station provides students with access to 29,000 acres of Army Corps of Engineers property, including the 8,300-acre Raystown Lake, the largest lake in Pennsylvania. The Station has modern facilities and accommodations including Shuster Hall (2003) that features state-of-the-art green architecture. Sustainable design was a central factor in the construction of the lakefront Shuster Hall. Two lakeside lodges (2006) adjacent to Shuster Hall provide modern housing complete with internet access. The Station also provides rustic accommodations at Grove Farm, a remodeled 18th century log farmhouse. Two semester-long immersion programs are currently offered, The Environmental Field Semester in the fall, and Ecology and Organismal Biology in the spring. The Station also offers an abbreviated June semester with courses focused on wildlife biology and conservation.

Students participating in the immersion semesters take all of their courses at the Field Station and live in the lodges on the lakeshore. The Environmental Field semester provides an immersion experience into the Northern Appalachians. Course topics include ecology, geographic information systems (GIS), water resources or forestry (alternating years), field research, and the integrating seminar, A Sense of Place. Field work is integrated with course work and local projects as key educational approaches to this unique experience. Students in environmental science and studies, environmental education, geology and other natural sciences will find this semester to be central to their learning experience. Ecology and Organismal Biology is a joint venture with St Francis University, including courses in zoology or wildlife management (alternating years), plant or fish ecology (alternating years), animal behavior or marine biology (alternating years) and geographic information systems (GIS).

Other features of the Station include full internet connectivity, a series of ground water monitoring wells, a private harbor, a boat dock with a fleet of boats including a Boston Whaler, a 26' pontoon float boat and a 36' houseboat designed for aquatic laboratory work. The station also offers canoes and kayaks for student recreation. Two 4wd vehicles and a variety of field sampling gear, including microscopes, telemetry units, data loggers, laptop computers and portable water analysis labs, equip students and faculty for a wide range of field research activities. The Station hosts course activities for several academic departments, sponsors numerous faculty and student research projects and internships, provides community environmental education opportunities and is the home to the annual Juniata maple syrup program.


Baker-Henry Nature Preserve and Elizabeth Evans Baker Peace Chapel

In addition to the main campus and other buildings, Juniata owns the 316-acre Baker-Henry Nature Preserve on which is located the Elizabeth Evans Baker Peace Chapel. Architect and artist Maya Lin, who also designed the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama, designed the Baker Peace Chapel. The Chapel is a place for both private meditation and public celebration. A grassy path ties two hilltops together: on one, a single, polished granite circle set in a bed of moss; on the other, a forty-foot circle of rough-cut English granite.


The Juniata College Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (JCEL)

The Juniata College Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (JCEL) was developed to integrate entrepreneurial principles and actions into all academic disciplines; touching students and faculty alike. It promotes the “creation of value” in an economic or social sense. JCEL provides experiential learning opportunities to students by providing the tools and resources to act on their product or service idea and create businesses.  

These tools and resources include technical assistance, mentoring, seed capital and space.  Technical assistance & mentoring is provided by faculty, staff and volunteer mentors helping students move through the business planning process to ensure their plan has a reasonable chance to succeed.  JCEL has a Student Seed Capital Fund able to loan or invest up to $ 15,000 in a student business.  

The space we provide is located in the Bob & Eileen Sill Business Incubator (SBI).  SBI has 10,000 square feet of wet lab, professional office and light assembly space for undergraduate entrepreneurs, faculty members and community members. Our Next Step Fellowship Program can provide monetary support to a student who has a business idea they would like to develop. We can pay a student $ 7.25 per hour, in a work study fashion, to research & expound upon their idea. The goal of which is for the student to have developed a full business plan and present it to the JCEL Board for financial support.  

JCEL also offers internships to students from many disciplines/POEs including (but not limited to) entrepreneurship, finance, marketing, management, communications and information technology. Many students have benefited from our large network of contacts and real world tasks & interactions.

 In essence, JCEL offers many tools & resources to help students become successful here at Juniata.  Full program details can be found at https://www.juniata.edu/offices/jcel/