Samek Art Museum, Bucknell University. Bucknell University is a private liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. The university consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, Freeman College of Management, and the College of Engineering. Bucknell was founded in 1846, and features programs in the arts, humanities, sciences, social sciences, engineering, management, education, and music, as well as programs and pre-professional advising that prepare students for study in law and medicine. It offers nearly 50 majors and over 60 minors. South of central Lewisburg, the 445-acre campus is along the west bank of the West Branch of the Susquehanna River, at an elevation of 530 feet above sea level. Primarily an undergraduate school, Bucknell has about 50 graduate students. Students come from all fifty U.S. states and from more than 66 countries; it has nearly 200 student organizations and a large Greek presence. The school's mascot is Bucky the Bison and the school is a member of the Patriot League in NCAA Division I athletics. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, Bucknell traces its origination to a group of Baptists from White Deer Valley Baptist Church who deemed it desirable that a Literary Institution should be established in Central Pennsylvania, embracing a High School for male pupils, another for females, a College and also a Theological Institution. The group's efforts for the institution began to crystallize in 1845, when Stephen William Taylor, a professor at Madison University in Hamilton, New York, was asked to prepare a charter and act as general agent for the development of the university. The charter for the University at Lewisburg, granted by the Pennsylvania General Assembly and approved by the governor on February 5, 1846, carried one stipulation-that $100,000 be raised before the new institution would be granted full corporate status. More than 4,000 subscribers ultimately contributed, including a small boy who gave 12 cents. In 1846, the school preparatory to the University opened in the basement of the First Baptist Church in Lewisburg. Known originally as the Lewisburg High School, it became in 1848 the Academic and Primary Department of the University at Lewisburg. In 1850, the department moved into the first building completed on campus, now called Taylor Hall. Built for $8,000, the building housed both women's and men's studies until the opening of the Female Institute in 1852. While studying together, women were required to face east while men faced west. The school's first commencement was held on August 20, 1851, for a graduation class of seven men. Among the board members attending was James Buchanan, who would become the 15th President of the United States. Stephen Taylor officiated as his last act before assuming office as president of Madison University. One day earlier, the trustees had elected Howard Malcom as the first president of the university, a post he held for six years. Although the Female Institute began instruction in 1852, it wasn't until 1883 that college courses were opened to women. Bucknell, though, was committed to equal educational opportunities for women. This commitment was reflected in the words of David Jayne Hill of the Class of 1874, and president of the university from 1879 to 1888: We need in Pennsylvania, in the geographical centre of the state, a University, not in the German but in the American sense, where every branch of non-professional knowledge can be pursued, regardless of distinction of sex. I have no well-matured plan to announce as to the sexes; but the Principal of the Female Seminary proposes to inaugurate a course for females equal to that pursued at Vassar; the two sexes having equal advantages, though not reciting together. Within five years of opening, enrollment had grown so sharply that the university built a new hall-Larison Hall-to accommodate the Female Institute. Women could venture into town only in the company of a female teacher who had a minimum of six years' experience in handling girls. In 1881, facing dire financial circumstances, the university turned to William Bucknell, a charter member of the board of trustees, for help. His donation of $50,000 saved the university from ruin. In 1886, in recognition of Bucknell's support of the school, the trustees voted unanimously to change the name of the University at Lewisburg to Bucknell University. Bucknell Hall, the first of several buildings given to the university by Bucknell, was initially a chapel and for more than a half century the site of student theatrical and musical performances. Today, it houses the Stadler Center for Poetry.