108 Chapters at Best 25 Colleges
News Release
For Immediate Release
(Madison, WI) – The 2009 list of top U.S. colleges and universities, compiled annually by U.S. News and World Report, showcases the best that this country has to offer educationally. It also illustrates the fact that many Christians are getting an elite education without sacrificing their faith.
A total of 108 InterVarsity chapters offer students and faculty Christian fellowship and discipleship at the 25 schools that top the U.S. News list for 2009. (See list below.) Harvard University, this year’s number one ranked school, has eight InterVarsity chapters. That includes ethnic specific chapters, academic discipline specific graduate chapters, and a faculty chapter.
As Michael Lindsay pointed out in his book Faith in the Halls of Power (Oxford University Press, 2007), there has been “a significant shift on the campuses of America’s top universities.” Faith is a growing part of the educational experience. Lindsay quoted professor and minister Peter Gomes, who said, “There are probably more evangelicals [on Harvard’s campus today] than at any time since the seventeenth century.”
But it’s not just the elite schools where faith is growing. InterVarsity has over 865 chapters on 580 campuses, with a presence at many state schools and even two-year commuter colleges. InterVarsity is currently three years into a five-year campaign to plant 100 additional chapters at schools across the country.
“The first two years of the campaign saw 23 new chapters planted,” said InterVarsity president Alec Hill. “There are 780 students and faculty participating regularly in those chapters and we’ve seen 68 new believers come to faith because of their activities. We have a great deal to celebrate but more exciting days are ahead.”
The challenge for incoming freshmen of finding Christian fellowship on campus has also gotten easier with the new website www.liveabove.com, sponsored by the Youth Transition Network (YTN). A student or his parents can go to the website, identify a campus, and find out which ministries are operating on that campus. They can also send an email to connect with staff at that ministry. YTN is supported by InterVarsity and a number of other campus ministries.
InterVarsity is an inter-denominational ministry that has been active on U.S. college campuses since 1941. Its national office is in Madison, Wisconsin.
For more information:
Gordon Govier
608-443-3688
US News & World Report 2009 Top 25 National Universities
1) Harvard University – Cambridge, MA
- 8 InterVarsity chapters: grad, undergrad and faculty
2) Princeton University – Princeton, NJ
- 3 InterVarsity chapters – grad and faculty
3) Yale University – New Haven, CT
- 1 InterVarsity chapter – undergrad
4) Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Cambridge, MA
- 7 InterVarsity chapters: grad, undergrad and faculty
4) Stanford University – Stanford, CA
- 4 InterVarsity chapters: grad, undergrad and faculty
6) University of Pennsylvania – Philadelphia, PA
- 4 InterVarsity chapters: grad, undergrad, faculty and international
6) California Institute of Technology – Pasadena, CA
- No current InterVarsity chapter
8) Columbia University – New York, NY
- 7 InterVarsity chapters: grad, faculty, undergrad and international
8) Duke University – Durham, NC
- 7 InterVarsity chapters: grad, faculty, undergrad, and Greek
8) University of Chicago – Chicago, IL
- 7 InterVarsity chapters: grad and undergrad
11) Dartmouth College – Hanover, NH
- No current InterVarsity chapter
12) Northwestern University – Evanston, IL
- 9 InterVarsity chapters: grad, undergrad, faculty, and Greek
12) Washington University – St. Louis, MO
- 4 InterVarsity chapters: undergrad and international
14) Cornell University – Ithaca, NY
- 6 InterVarsity chapters: grad, faculty, and undergrad
15) Johns Hopkins University – Baltimore, MD
- 3 InterVarsity chapters: grad, undergrad and international
16) Brown University – Providence, RI
- 2 InterVarsity chapters: grad and undergrad
17) Rice University – Houston, TX
- 3 InterVarsity chapters: undergrad, faculty and grad/international
18) Emory University – Atlanta, GA
- 5 InterVarsity chapters: grad, undergrad, and faculty
18) University of Notre Dame – Notre Dame, IN
- 1 InterVarsity chapter: grad (Law)
18) Vanderbilt University – Nashville, TN
- 6 InterVarsity chapters: undergrad, faculty, grad/international
21) University of California at Berkeley – Berkeley, CA
- 8 InterVarsity chapters: grad, undergrad, faculty, international, Greek
22) Carnegie Mellon University – Pittsburgh, PA
- 3 InterVarsity chapters: grad, undergrad and faculty
23) Georgetown University – Washington, D.C.
- 3 InterVarsity chapters: grad, undergrad and faculty
23) University of Virginia – Charlottesville, VA
- 2 InterVarsity chapters: undergrad and Greek
25) University of California at Los Angeles
- 2 InterVarsity chapters: grad and undergrad
Chapter information taken from http://www.intervarsity.org/chapters/