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Wagner College

{{Short description|Private college in Staten Island, New York}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}}

{{Use American English|date=May 2024}}

{{Infobox university

| name = Wagner College

| former_names = Lutheran Proseminary of Rochester (1883–1886)

| image = Wagner College 2018 seal.svg

| image_upright = 0.7

| established = {{start date and age|1883}}

| type = Private university

| religious_affiliation = Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

| academic_affiliations = {{hlist|Campus Compact|CIC|CUMU|NAICU}}

| faculty = 130 full-time, 193 part-time (2023)

| president = Jeffrey Doggett{{Cite web|url=https://wagner.edu/about/leadership/president-office/|title=Office of the President|first=Wagner|last=College|website=About Wagner College}}

| provost =

| endowment = $83.7 million (2020)As of June 30, 2020. {{cite report |url=https://www.nacubo.org/-/media/Documents/Research/2020-NTSE-Public-Tables--Endowment-Market-Values--FINAL-FEBRUARY-19-2021.ashx |title=U.S. and Canadian Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year 2020 Endowment Market Value and Change in Endowment Market Value from FY19 to FY20 |publisher=National Association of College and University Business Officers and TIAA |date=February 19, 2021 |access-date=February 20, 2021}}

| students = 1,932 (2023)

| undergrad = 1,592 (2023)

| postgrad = 340 (2023)

| city = Staten Island

| state = New York

| country = United States

| coor = {{Coord|40.615|-74.094|type:edu_region:US-NY|display=inline,title}}

| campus = 105 acres (42 ha)

| colors = Green and white{{cite book |url=http://wagner.edu/communications/files/2015/02/StyleGuide_December_14.pdf |title=Wagner College Style Guide |access-date=2016-09-23}}
{{color box|#004331}} {{color box|white}}

| sporting_affiliations = NCAA Division I – NEC – MAAC – USA Triathlon

| nickname = Seahawks

| website = {{URL|wagner.edu}}

| logo = Wagner College wordmark.svg

}}

Wagner College is a private university in Staten Island, New York. It was established in 1883 and, as of the 2023–2024 academic year, it enrolled approximately 1,932 students, including 1,592 undergraduates and 340 graduates.{{Cite web |title=Wagner College Student Life |url=https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/wagner-college-2899 |website=U.S. News and World Report}} Its theatre program consistently ranks among the top collegiate programs and was awarded the #2 spot in The Princeton Review's 2025 rankings.{{Cite web |date=2024-08-27 |title=Wagner College Theatre Soars to #2 in The Princeton Review's 2025 Edition of The Best 390 Colleges |url=https://wagner.edu/performing-arts/wagner-college-theatre-soars-2-princeton-reviews-2025-edition-best-390-colleges/ |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=Theatre and Speech Department |language=en-US}} Additionally, Wagner offers strong academic programs in nursing and business. The institution is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

History

Wagner College was founded in 1883 in Rochester, New York, as the Lutheran Proseminary of Rochester. Its purpose was to prepare young men for admission to Lutheran seminaries and to ensure that they were sufficiently fluent in both English and German to minister to the large German immigrant community of that day. The school's six-year curriculum (covering the high-school and junior-college years) was modeled on the German gymnasium curriculum. In 1886, the school was renamed Wagner Memorial Lutheran College, after a building in Rochester was purchased for its use by John G. Wagner in memory of his son.{{Cite web|url=https://www.slideshare.net/WagnerCollegeNYC/founding-faces-places-10501789|title="Founding Faces & Places: An Illustrated History of Wagner Memorial Lutheran College, 1869–1930" (NYC: Wagner College, 2008)|date=2008|access-date=1 March 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.slideshare.net/WagnerCollegeNYC/wagner-college-four-histories|title="Wagner College: Four Histories" (NYC: Wagner College, 2008)|date=2008|access-date=1 March 2019}}

In 1918, at the behest of then-college president Frederick Sutter, the college moved to the 38-acre (15 ha) former Cunard estate on Grymes Hill, Staten Island. An Italianate villa called Westwood, the Cunard mansion ({{circa|1851}}), is extant (now Cunard Hall), as is the neighboring former hotel annex that was built in 1905 (initially named North Hall, now called Reynolds House). The college soon expanded to 57 acres (23 ha) after it acquired the neighboring Jacob Vanderbilt estate in 1922. In the 1920s, the curriculum began to move toward an American-style liberal arts curriculum that was solidified when the state of New York granted the college degree-granting status in 1928. The college admitted women in 1933 and introduced graduate programs in 1951. The college expanded further when it purchased the W.G. Ward estate in 1949 (current site of Wagner College Stadium), and again in 1993, when the college acquired the adjacent property of the former Augustinian Academy, which has largely remained wooded green space and athletic fields. The campus now occupies 105 acres (42 ha) on the hill and has commanding views of the New York Harbor, the Verrazzano Bridge, Downtown Brooklyn, and Lower Manhattan.

New York City Writers Conference

From 1956 through the late 1960s, Wagner College was the home of the New York City Writers Conference, which brought some of the leading lights of the literary world to campus each summer. Instructors included Saul Bellow, Robert Lowell, Edward Albee, Kay Boyle and Kenneth Koch. From 1961 to 1963, while English professor Willard Maas directed the conference, it served as a training ground for poets of the New York School.{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of the New York School Poets|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopedianewy00digg|url-access=limited|last=Diggory|first=Terence|publisher=Facts on File|year=2009|isbn=978-0-8160-5743-6|location=New York, NY|pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopedianewy00digg/page/n358 342]}}

Maas himself was a significant figure in the New York avant-garde world of the 1950s and 1960s; Edward Albee used Maas and his wife, experimental filmmaker Marie Menken, as the models for his lead characters in the early masterwork, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?{{Cite web|url=https://wagner.edu/wagnermagazine/whos-the-source-for-virginia-woolf/|title=Who's the Source for 'Virginia Woolf'?|last=Wagner Magazine|date=Winter 2014|access-date=1 March 2019}}

The Stanley Drama Award, which began as a prize given at the conclusion of the NYC Writers Conference, has provided encouragement for several notable playwrights, including: Terrence McNally for This Side of the Door (1962), an early version of "And Things that Go Bump in the Night"; Adrienne Kennedy for Funnyhouse of a Negro (1963); Lonne Elder III for an early version of Ceremonies in Dark Old Men (1965), and Jonathan Larson in 1993 for an early version of Rent.{{Cite web|url=https://wagner.edu/newsroom/stanley-drama-award-complete-history-1957-2018/|title=Stanley Drama Award: Complete History, 1957–2019|date=4 February 2019|website=Wagner College Newsroom|access-date=1 March 2019}}

Campus

File:Wagner College, Grymes Hill, Staten Island, N.Y (NYPL b15279351-105033).tiff

Prominent early buildings include Cunard Hall (ca. 1851); Reynolds House (1905); Kairos House (1918), a Craftsman Style cottage; and Main Hall (1930, restored 2012) and Parker Hall (1923), built in the Collegiate Gothic style. Main Hall provides classroom and office space and a theater auditorium. Parker Hall, first built as a dormitory, is used for faculty offices.

Two cottages built in the early 1920s provide administrative space for the institution's Campus Safety and Lifelong Learning offices.

Three dormitory facilities were constructed during the college's major building drive in the middle of the twentieth century: Guild Hall (1951), Parker Towers (1964) and Harbor View Hall (1969), later complemented by Foundation Hall (2010), a residence hall for upperclassmen. About two-thirds of undergraduates live on campus.

Another dormitory building, Campus Hall (1957), now provides classroom and office space.

The Horrmann Library (1961) contains over 200,000 volumes and holds the collection and personal papers of poet Edwin Markham.

The Megerle Science Building and Spiro Hall were opened in 1968, followed by the Wagner Union in 1970.

Two building projects have expanded earlier structures. In 1999, a significant expansion of the 1951 Sutter Gymnasium created the modern Spiro Sports Center. And in 2002, a pair of Prairie Style cottages constructed around 1905 were refurbished and joined by a bridge building into Pape Admissions House.

Three substantial resources on the physical history of the Wagner College campus have been published:

  1. "Founding Faces & Places: An Illustrated History Of Wagner Memorial Lutheran College, 1869–1930," first published for Wagner College's 125th anniversary commemoration in 2008,{{Cite web|url=https://www.slideshare.net/WagnerCollegeNYC/founding-faces-places-10501789|title=Founding Faces & Places|last=Manchester|first=Lee|date=26 September 2018|website=Wagner College Slideshare|access-date=1 March 2019}}
  2. "Wagner College Memories: A Photographic Remembrance of Grymes Hill" (2011),{{Cite book|url=http://www.blurb.com/b/2452181-wagner-college-memories|title=Wagner College Memories|last=Manchester|first=Lee|date=1 September 2011|access-date=1 March 2019}} and
  3. "Wagner College History Tour," a three-part series published in the Winter 2015–2016, Fall 2016 and Summer 2017 issues of Wagner Magazine.{{Cite web|url=https://wagner.edu/wagnermagazine/wagner-college-history-tour-part-i/|title=Wagner College History Tour, Part I: The College's New Home on Grymes Hill|last=Manchester|first=Lee|date=Winter 2016|website=Wagner Magazine|access-date=1 March 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://wagner.edu/wagnermagazine/history-tour-part-2-birth-american-college/|title=History Tour, Part 2: The Birth of an American College|last=Manchester|first=Lee|date=Fall 2016|website=Wagner Magazine|access-date=1 March 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://wagner.edu/wagnermagazine/history-tour-part-iii-boom-years/|title=History Tour, Part III: The Boom Years|last=Manchester|first=Lee|date=Summer 2017|website=Wagner Magazine|access-date=1 March 2019}}

Rankings

In the 2025 edition of U.S. News & World Report's Best Colleges, Wagner College is ranked #60 in Regional Universities North (tie) and #49 in Best Value Schools.{{Cite web |last1=Island |first1=Wagner College Work One Campus Road Staten |last2=Ny 10301 |date=2024-09-24 |title=Rankings rise continues for Wagner |url=https://wagner.edu/newsroom/rankings-rise-continues-wagner/#:~:text=Wagner%20College%20continues%20to%20excel,2024%20rankings%20released%20last%20fall. |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=Newsroom |language=en-US}}

Wagner College Theatre has consistently ranked among the top collegiate theatre programs, securing the #2 spot in The Princeton Review's 2025 rankings.{{Cite web |date=2024-08-27 |title=Wagner College Theatre Soars to #2 in The Princeton Review's 2025 Edition of The Best 390 Colleges |url=https://wagner.edu/performing-arts/wagner-college-theatre-soars-2-princeton-reviews-2025-edition-best-390-colleges/ |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=Theatre and Speech Department |language=en-US}}

Athletics

{{Main|Wagner Seahawks}}

Wagner College offers athletic scholarships and competes at the NCAA Division I level in all intercollegiate athletics. Football competes at the NCAA Division I FCS – formerly I-AA – level.

Wagner is a member of the Northeast Conference. Men's varsity intercollegiate teams are fielded in 10 sports: baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, lacrosse, tennis, and track & field (indoor and outdoor) and men's water polo, which was established in fall 2016. Women's varsity intercollegiate teams are fielded in 14 sports: basketball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field (indoor and outdoor), and water polo, in addition to three newly added sports in fencing (2016), triathlon (2018) and field hockey, which was reinstated in 2018.

Walt Hameline, in 38 years (1982–present) as the director of athletics and 34 years as head football coach at Wagner (1981–2014), won the school's only National Championship with a 19–3 victory over the University of Dayton in the 1987 NCAA Division III Championship game (also known as the 1987 Stagg Bowl). He was named NCAA Division III Coach of the Year in 1987. During his 34-year coaching career, Hameline amassed an all-time record of 223–139–2 (.615) at Wagner College. Upon his retirement as head football coach following the 2014 regular season, those 223 victories ranked fifth among active head Football Championship Subdivision head coaches and remains in the top 10 among all Division I-FCS coaches in the United States.

Notable Wagner sports coaches of the past include former Seton Hall University, NBA head coach and current TV analyst P.J. Carlesimo (head basketball coach 1976–1982), former Marquette University and Wagner head coach Mike Deane, Jim Lee Howell (head football coach 1947–1953), and former University of Florida head football coach Dan Mullen (assistant football coach 1994–1995). In 2019, two NFL coaches who had previously been Wagner assistant coaches were elevated to defensive coordinator positions. As of 2025, Lou Anarumo heads the Indianapolis Colts' defense, while Patrick Graham is defensive coordinator for the Las Vegas Raiders.

The football team's home venue is Hameline Field (designated in 2012) at Wagner College Stadium, while the basketball teams play their home games in the Spiro Sports Center's Sutter Gymnasium.

Six of Wagner's student athletes have been NEC Student-Athlete of the Year winners (2013–2018).

In March 2025, Wagner College fencer Redmond Sullivan was involved in a widely reported incident at the Cherry Blossom Open fencing tournament in Maryland. An opposing fencer, Stephanie Turner, refused to compete against Sullivan, who is a transgender woman, and was disqualified after kneeling in protest on the piste. The incident received national media attention and sparked debate over USA Fencing's policies on transgender athletes.{{cite news |last=Colarossi |first=Natalie |title=Female Fencer Disqualified After Refusing to Compete Against Trans Athlete |url=https://www.newsweek.com/female-fencer-disqualified-transgender-athlete-2054540 |work=Newsweek |date=March 31, 2025 |access-date=April 5, 2025}}{{cite news |title=Fencer disqualified for refusing to duel trans opponent |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/fencer-disqualified-for-refusing-to-duel-trans-opponent-wdfsc65cl |work=The Times |date=April 1, 2025 |access-date=April 5, 2025}} The institution shortly thereafter released a statement saying that Sullivan was no longer a part of the fencing team.{{Cite web |last=Porpora |first=Tracey |date=2025-04-08 |title=Wagner College confirms transgender fencer at center of controversy is no longer on women's team |url=https://www.silive.com/news/2025/04/wagner-college-confirms-transgender-fencer-no-longer-on-womens-team.html |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=silive |language=en}}

Photos

File:The Path at Wagner College Covered in snow.jpg|{{center|A pedestrian walkway on campus after a fresh snow storm}}

File:Winter Dormitory Views at Wagner College.jpg|View from residence hall: Downtown Brooklyn and Brooklyn Br.

File:Early Morning Dorm View at Wagner College.jpg|View from residence hall: Verrazzano-Narrows Br. and Atlantic Ocean

File:View of the bridge from the Wagner College Harborview Dormitory, Staten Island.jpg|Verrazzano-Narrows Br. from Harborview Residence Hall

Image:Wagner College From End of Parking Lot.jpg

Notable alumni

{{Excessive examples|section|date=April 2025}}

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Filming location

Wagner's campus has been featured in several films, television-show episodes, and advertisements. Shoot dates (where shown) are from Wagner College location contracts on file on campus:

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  • "Silent Madness," 1984 film{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088116/|title=Silent Madness (1984)|website=Internet Media Database (IMDb)|access-date=20 March 2019}}
  • "Naked in New York," 1993 film{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110623/|title=Naked in New York (1993)|website=Internet Media Database (IMDb)|access-date=20 March 2019}}
  • "Cadaverous," 2000 short film{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0221047/|title=Cadaverous (2000)|website=Internet Media Database (IMDb)|access-date=20 March 2019}}
  • "The Sopranos," Ep. 39, "Army of One," 2001. Wagner College was used for the Hudson Military Institute campus.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sopranos-locations.com/locations/hudson-military-institute/|title=Sopranos filming location - Hudson Military Institute|website=The Sopranos Location Guide|access-date=20 March 2019}}
  • "The Education of Max Bickford," 2001. CBS drama series starring Richard Dreyfuss and Marcia Gay Harden. Wagner College (along with Brooklyn College) was the fictional Chadwick College.
  • "School of Rock," 2003 film starring Jack Black and Joan Cusack. The Horace Green School exterior portrayed in the movie is Wagner College's Main Hall.{{Cite web|url=http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/s/School-Of-Rock.php|title=School of Rock (2003)|website=movie-locations.com|access-date=20 March 2019}}
  • "Poster Boy," 2004 film which won the Outfest Grand Jury Award for Best Screenwriting.
  • "Four Lane Highway," 2005 film (shot on campus April 18, 2004){{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435645/|title=Four Lane Highway (2005)|website=Internet Media Database (IMDb)|access-date=20 March 2019}}
  • "Exposing the Order of the Serpentine," 2006 film (shot on campus Jan. 5–6, 2005){{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0764847/|title=Exposing the Order of the Serpentine (2006)|website=Internet Media Database (IMDb)|access-date=20 March 2019}}
  • "Illegal Tender," 2007 film (shot on campus May 25–26, 2006){{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0775488/|title=Illegal Tender (2007)|website=Internet Media Database (IMDb)|access-date=20 March 2019}}
  • "The Visitor," 2007 film distributed by Overture Films (shot on campus Oct. 9, 2006){{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0857191/|title=The Visitor (2007)|website=Internet Media Database (IMDb)|access-date=20 March 2019}}
  • "Comedy Central on Campus: Starring Christian Finnegan" (shot on campus Dec. 6, 2006)
  • "Little New York" (orig. title "Staten Island)"), 2009 independent film starring Ethan Hawke and Vincent D'Onofrio (shot on campus May 2 and June 8, 2007){{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0976246|title=Little New York (2009)|website=Internet Media Database (IMDb)|access-date=20 March 2019}}
  • "Rescue Me," TV series, "Play" (S5, E7, 2009) (shot on campus July 11, 2008){{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1135718/|title=Rescue Me: Play|website=Internet Media Database (IMDb)|access-date=20 March 2019}}
  • "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," TV series, "Swing" (S10, E3, 2008) (shot on campus Sept. 4–9, 2008){{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1248636/|title=Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Swing|website=Internet Media Database (IMDb)|access-date=20 March 2019}}
  • "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," TV series, "Lunacy" (S10, E4, 2008) (shot on campus Sept. 4–9, 2008){{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1248637/|title=Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Lunacy|website=Internet Media Database (IMDb)|access-date=20 March 2019}}
  • "An Invisible Sign," 2010 film (shot on campus July 18–19, 2009){{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1212454/|title=An Invisible Sign (2010)|website=Internet Media Database (IMDb)|access-date=20 March 2019}}
  • "You Don't Know Jack," 2010 made-for-TV biopic (shot on campus Sept. 17–21, 2009){{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1132623/|title=You Don't Know Jack (2010)|website=Internet Media Database (IMDb)|access-date=20 March 2019}}
  • "AmeriQua" (also titled "Eurotrapped"), a 2013 film featuring Alessandra Mastronardi (shot on campus Dec. 4, 2010){{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1721672/|title=AmeriQua (2013)|website=Internet Media Database (IMDb)|access-date=20 March 2019}}
  • "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," TV series, "Gridiron Soldier" (S15, E16, 2014) (shot on campus March 5, 2014){{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3508744/|title=Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Gridiron Soldier|website=Internet Media Database (IMDb)|access-date=20 March 2019}}
  • "The Rewrite," 2014 film starring Hugh Grant and Marisa Tomei (shot on campus 2013){{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2509850/|title=The Rewrite (2014)|website=Internet Media Database (IMDb)|access-date=20 March 2019}}
  • "Mayhem: We're Going to the Playoffs!" Allstate TV ad (shot on campus Aug. 27, 2016){{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSPPuU66Qpk |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/QSPPuU66Qpk |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live|title=Allstate TV ad, "Mayhem: We're Going To The Playoffs!"|date=26 September 2016|website=YouTube|access-date=20 March 2019}}{{cbignore}}
  • "Crashing," HBO series, "NACA" (S2, E7, 2018) (shot on campus Aug. 11, 2017){{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7130246/|title=Crashing: NACA|website=Internet Media Database (IMDb)|access-date=20 March 2019}}
  • "Jimmy," Clear biometric ID system commercial (2019) (shot on campus Aug. 25 & 26, 2018){{Cite web|url=https://www.ispot.tv/ad/dWRZ/clear-jimmy|title=Clear TV commercial, 'Jimmy'|date=2018|website=iSpot.tv|access-date=20 March 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.clearme.com/|title=Clear website|website=clearme.com|access-date=20 March 2019}}
  • "Bull," CBS TV series, "Behind the Ivy" (S4, E12, 2020). Filmed on campus November 18, 2019.{{Cite web|title="Bull: Behind the Ivy"|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11564976/|access-date=22 June 2020|website=Internet Media Database (IMDb)}}
  • "The King of Staten Island" (2020), loosely biographical film based on life of film's lead, Pete Davidson, directed by Judd Apatow. Filmed on campus June 10–17, 2019.{{Cite web|title="The King of Staten Island"|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9686708/|access-date=22 June 2020|website=Internet Media Database (IMDb)}}

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References

{{reflist}}

External links

{{Commons category}}

  • {{Official website}}
  • [http://www.wagnerathletics.com/ Wagner Athletics website]

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