Coker University

{{short description|Private university in Hartsville, South Carolina, U.S.}}

{{Infobox university

| name = Coker University

| native_name =

| image = Coker college seal.png

| image_size = 150

| caption =

| latin_name =

| motto =

| founder = James Lide Coker

| established = {{start date and age|1908}}

| closed =

| type = Private university

| affiliation =

| endowment = $29.8 million (2023)

| president = Natalie Harder{{cite news |title=Coker University Names Dr. Natalie Harder as Its 17th President |url=http://blogs.coker.edu/news-stories/coker-university-names-dr.-natalie-harder-as-its-17th-president |access-date=27 November 2020 |work=blogs.coker.edu |date=May 7, 2020 |language=en-us}}

| provost = Susan Daniels Henderson

| vice_chancellor =

| head_label =

| head =

| faculty = 49 full-time
62 adjunct

| administrative_staff =

| students = 1,160 (Fall 2022)

| undergrad =

| postgrad =

| doctoral =

| other =

| city = Hartsville, South Carolina

| country = U.S.

| coor = {{Coord|34|22|36.4|N|80|04|10|W|type:edu}}|

| campus =

| former_names = Coker College for Women (1908–1969)
Coker College (1969–2019)

| free_label =

| free =

| sports =

| colors = Navy Blue, Light Blue, & Gold
{{color box|#00457C}} {{color box|#5FAAD8}} {{color box|#FDCD08}}{{cite web|title=Coker College Brand Standards|url=https://www.coker.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Coker_College_Brand_Standards.pdf|access-date=January 15, 2023}}

| sports_nickname = Cobras

| mascot =

| athletics_affiliations = NCAA Division II – South Atlantic

| website = {{URL|https://www.coker.edu/|coker.edu}}

| logo = Coker college wordmark blue.png

| logo_size = 200

| footnotes =

}}

Coker University is a private university in Hartsville, South Carolina, United States. It was founded in 1908 and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.[http://www.sacscoc.org/details.asp?instid=22640 Commission on Colleges] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080107195040/http://www.sacscoc.org/details.asp?instid=22640 |date=January 7, 2008 }} Coker's sports teams, nicknamed the Cobras, compete in NCAA Division II.

History

Coker University began in 1894 as "Welsh Neck High School", founded by a local businessman and American Civil War veteran, Major James Lide Coker. In 1908, when South Carolina created a statewide public school system, Coker led the effort to convert the school to "Coker College for Women". Davidson Hall and Memorial Hall are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.{{NRISref|version=2010a}}

Coker was once affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention, but has been non-denominational since 1944. It officially became co-educational in 1969, although men had attended since World War II's end.{{cn|date=February 2023}}

The South Carolina Governor's School for Science and Mathematics was located on the Coker campus from its founding in 1988 until 2003 when it moved to a purpose-built campus nearby.{{cite web |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/49238644.pdf |title=S.C. Governor's School for Science & Mathematics: 2002-2003 Accountability Report |date=September 26, 2003 |access-date=June 27, 2017 }}{{cite news |first=Rusty |last=Ray |url=http://www.scnow.com/news/local/article_2ba9d694-5ff5-5186-8a53-dccb5666c4c6.html |title=Governor's School brings the best and brightest to Hartsville |website=SC Now |date=October 6, 2010 }}

Effective July 1, 2019, Coker College adopted the name Coker University.{{cite web |url=http://blogs.coker.edu/news-stories/coker-college-to-become-coker-university-july-1-2019 |title=COKER COLLEGE TO BECOME COKER UNIVERSITY JULY 1, 2019 |date=January 28, 2019 |access-date=October 7, 2019 }}

=Presidents=

James Lide Coker
E. V. Baldy (1909–1911)
Arthur Jackson Hall (1911–1914)
Howard Lee Jones (1914–1915)
E. Walter Sikes (1916–1925)
Carlyle Campbell (1925–1936)
C. Sylvester Green (1936–1944)
Donald C. Agnew (1944–1952)
Joseph C. Robert (1952–1955)
John A. Barry, Jr. (1955–1959)
Fenton Keyes (1960–1968)
Wilfrid H. Callcott (1968–1969)
Gus Turbeville (1969–1974)
C. Hilburn Womble (1975–1980)
James D. Daniels (1981–2002)
B. James Dawson (2002–2009)
Robert L. Wyatt (2009–2019)
Natalie Harder (2020- )

Academics

File:Rear of Davidson Hall at Coker College, Hartsville, SC, US.jpg, building on the NRHP]]

Coker refers to the academic program for the four-year undergraduate degree as the Trans4mations Program, with the first year being foundational, the second year requiring service and attendance at cultural events, the third year requiring at least two weeks of study off-campus, and the final year called a "capstone".Coker College, Academics, Trans4mations Program, [https://coker.edu/academics/trans4mations/year-1-personal-academic-exploration Year 1: Personal & Academic Exploration] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711210914/http://coker.edu/academics/trans4mations/year-1-personal-academic-exploration |date=July 11, 2017 }}, [https://coker.edu/academics/trans4mations/year-2-service-cultural-engagement Year 2: Service & Cultural Engagement] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711224719/http://coker.edu/academics/trans4mations/year-2-service-cultural-engagement |date=July 11, 2017 }}, [https://coker.edu/academics/trans4mations/year-3-study-away Year 3: Study Away] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711213951/http://coker.edu/academics/trans4mations/year-3-study-away |date=July 11, 2017 }}, [https://coker.edu/academics/trans4mations/year-4-capstone-experience Year 4: Capstone Experience] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711221115/http://coker.edu/academics/trans4mations/year-4-capstone-experience |date=July 11, 2017 }}, retrieved June 27, 2017. The Liberal Arts Studies Program (LASP) is divided into Core Skills, Knowledge of the Arts, Knowledge of the Behavioral Sciences, Knowledge of the Humanities, Knowledge of the Natural Sciences, Knowledge of the United States, and Knowledge of the Wider World.[https://coker.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/academic_catalog/2015_16_Academic_Catalog.pdf Coker College Academic Catalog, 2015–16] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160527192119/https://coker.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/academic_catalog/2015_16_Academic_Catalog.pdf |date=May 27, 2016 }}, pp. 97–108.

Coker offers 29 majors and 23 minors of study. The college also offers individual majors and double majors, self-designated degree programs, specializations, and pre-professional programs.{{cn|date=February 2023}}

Campus

file:Memorial Hall, Coker College, Hartsville, SC, US.jpg, building on the NRHP]]

The {{convert|15|acre|adj=on}} main campus contains mostly Georgian-style brick buildings, some of which (such as Davidson Hall, home to the college's round table classrooms) are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Alumni House (Drengaelen), The President's House, The Dean's and President's Offices (David and May Coker House), and The Registrar's Offices (Lawton-Wilson House) are all located in old mansions along the northern edge of campus.

Hartsville and Coker University owe much to the generosity of the Coker family, founders of Sonoco and Coker's Pedigreed Seed Company. The Coker family's patronage of the college has led to the vast majority of buildings on campus having Coker somewhere in the name. Students often joke to freshmen or visitors that they'll meet them "in the Coker" building as a way to gently initiate newcomers to campus.{{cn|date=May 2023}}

=Residence halls=

File:Coker College JLC III Residence Hall.jpeg

On-campus residence halls include Memorial (1914), Belk (1916), Coker (1916), Grannis (1969), and JLC (2009).{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}} Coker University’s Village at Byerly Place, consisting of George and Sullivan Halls opened in 2013.{{cite news |first=Ardie |last=Arvidson |url=http://www.scnow.com/messenger/news/article_eb0b60e4-05cf-11e3-a720-001a4bcf6878.html |title=Coker opens, dedicates Betty Y. and Charles L. Sullivan Jr. Residence Hall at The Village at Byerly Place |website=SC Now |date=August 15, 2013 |access-date=June 27, 2017 |archive-date=February 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220227131540/https://scnow.com/messenger/news/article_eb0b60e4-05cf-11e3-a720-001a4bcf6878.html |url-status=dead }} In 2011, Coker opened the Coker Downtown Lofts and in 2012 the Downtown Flats, both located in downtown Hartsville.{{cite news |url=http://www.scnow.com/news/local/article_d0b94476-e5c4-53d3-a676-e2079792f619.html |title=Ribbon Cutting Set for Coker's Downtown Lofts |website=SC Now |date=August 2, 2011 |access-date=June 27, 2017 }}{{cite news |first=Ardie |last=Arvidson |url=http://www.scnow.com/news/local/article_bc943656-935e-5f1c-a803-7f5102f256fd.html |title=Coker College celebrates opening of The Downtown Flats |website=SC Now |date=August 16, 2012 |access-date=June 27, 2017 }}

=Library=

In January 2008, the Charles W. and Joan S. Coker Library-Information Technology Center opened. The library was built using donations from a capital campaign.{{cite web|url=http://www.coker.edu/LITCenter/index.htm|title=Coker College: Library-Information Technology Center|access-date=June 28, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080830095123/http://www.coker.edu/LITCenter/index.htm|archive-date=August 30, 2008|df=mdy-all}}{{cite web|url=http://www.hartsvillemessenger.com/City/071026_citydesk1.php|title=SCNow|access-date=June 28, 2015}}{{dead link|date=June 2017}} The former James Lide Coker Memorial Library is now a residence hall.{{cite news |first=Jim |last=Faile |url=http://www.scnow.com/news/local/article_0b2496ac-808d-5d89-89f2-fc9aabf1be49.html |title=2008; The year in review part I |website=SC Now |date=December 31, 2008 |access-date=June 27, 2017 }}

Athletics

{{Infobox college athletics

| name = Coker Cobras

| logo = Coker college athletics mark.png

| logo_width = 200

| university = Coker University

| association = NCAA

| conference = South Atlantic (primary)
Conference Carolinas
(acrobatics & tumbling)

| division = Division II

| director = Lynn Griffin

| location = Hartsville, South Carolina

| first season =

| teams = 21

| mens_teams = 9

| womens_teams = 11

| coed_teams = 1

| basketballarena = DeLoach Center

| baseballfield = Tom J. New Baseball Field

| softballstadium = Saleeby-Stokes Softball Field

| soccerfield = Coker Athletic Field

| lacrossestadium = Coker Athletic Field

| tenniscourt = Coker Tennis Courts

| mascot = Striker the Cobra

| nickname = Cobras

| fightsong =

| pageurl = https://www.cokercobras.com/

| ncaa titles =

| indiv_relay ncaa champs =

}}

Adjacent to the main campus is a {{convert|22|acre|adj=on}} athletics complex with baseball, softball, soccer, and tennis facilities. Near the athletics complex is the DeLoach Center, which contains a 1,908-seat gymnasium, an auxiliary gym, interactive classrooms, a student-athlete-only weight room, a fitness center, athletic offices, and more.{{cn|date=February 2023}}

Coker has 21 varsity athletics programs, which primarily compete in The South Atlantic Conference.{{cite web|url=http://www.thesac.com/landing/index|title=South Atlantic Conference }} Sponsored programs include baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, women's field hockey, men's and women's golf, men's and women's lacrosse, men's and women's soccer, softball, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's track and field (indoor and outdoor) women's volleyball, and men's wrestling. The Cobras also host a spirit squad.

In the 2013 season, the Coker baseball team won the Conference Carolinas Tournament title, earned the team's first-ever postseason bid, won the NCAA Southeast Regional, and advanced to the NCAA DII Baseball National Championship. They finished the year with a record of 38–16.{{cite news|first=Mark|last=Haselden |url=http://www.scnow.com/sports/article_287e2994-6f4c-11e3-a18c-0019bb30f31a.html |title=2013 Year in Review: Coker's remarkable baseball run tops 2013 sports stories |website=SC Now|date=December 27, 2013|access-date=June 27, 2017}}

Notable alumni

Bonnie Ethel Cone, founder of University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Terrance Hayes, poet{{cite web|url=http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/437|title=Terrance Hayes|access-date=June 28, 2015}}
Patrick Earl Hammie, artist
Harvey Hilbert, psychologist and expert on post-Vietnam stress syndrome
Marian McKnight, Miss America 1957{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1876&dat=19560911&id=0DEsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YssEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3486,1374030 |title=Family comes first, Marian says |newspaper=Spartanburg Herald |date=September 11, 1956 |page=1 }}
Ruth Patrick, botanist and limnologist{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/24/us/ruth-patrick-a-pioneer-in-pollution-control-dies-at-105.html|access-date=August 22, 2018|title=Ruth Patrick, a Pioneer in Science and Pollution Control Efforts, is Dead at 105|newspaper=The New York Times|date=September 23, 2013|last1=Dicke|first1=William}}
Edith Mitchell Dabbs, author