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This article is about the Minnesota college. For Carleton College (now a university) in Ontario, see Carleton University. Carleton College is an independent, non-sectarian, coeducational, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, USA. The school was founded on November 14, 1866, by the Minnesota Conference of Congregational Churches as Northfield College. In 1871, the name was changed to honor benefactor William Carleton of Charlestown, Massachusetts, who had given US$50,000 to the fledgling institution. The College currently enrolls about 1,900 undergraduate students, and employs 182 faculty members. Its current president is Robert A. Oden.
Defining features The college campus was begun in 1867 with the gift of two ten-acre parcels, one from Charles Goodsell and the other from Charles Augustus Wheaton. Several of Carleton's properties deserve some historical recognition. Carleton's Goodsell Observatory, built in 1887, is on the national registry of historic places. The Carleton College Cowling Arboretum, created from lands purchased in the 1920s during difficult financial times by then president Donald J. Cowling, was first called "Cowling's Folly" and, later, his legacy. It consists of approximately 880 acres (3.6 km²) of forest, floodplain, and many miles of trail. Carleton is nationally recognized as a substantial academic force. It is consistently ranked in the U.S. News and World Report's college rankings within the top ten U.S. liberal arts schools. It is also a leading source of Ph.D. recipients,• and it has also been recognized for sending an unusually large number of female students to graduate programs in the sciences.• Carleton competes in quizbowl and won the 1999 National Academic Quiz Tournaments undergraduate championship. In 1996, 1997, 1999, 2002 and 2004, the team from Carleton received Best Delegation at the Harvard World Model United Nations competition. Extracurriculars at Carleton form an integral part of student life. Though the Carleton student body is made up of fewer than two thousand undergraduates, the school's nearly 150 active student organizations include three theatre boards (coordinating as many as ten productions every term), longform and shortform improv groups and a sketch comedy troupe, seven a cappella groups, four choirs, at least seven specialized instrumental ensembles, five dance interest groups, two auditioned dance companies, seven recurring student publications, and a student-run radio station employing more than 200 termly volunteers. Also, Carleton's Mock Trial team has developed into one of the premier teams in the nation, qualifying for the top national competition in 2005 and 2006. Athletics Carleton has numerous athletic opportunities for students, including 19 varsity teams, 23 club teams, and dozens of intramural teams forming every term. Carleton competes in Division III, meaning it offers no athletic scholarships. Its men's and women's cross country teams are generally strong, with numerous all-Americans and one national championship (men's, 1980) In 2005, the women's volleyball team posted a 22-5 record, a runner-up finish in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC). This was Carleton's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1985. Club sports at Carleton are very active; turnout for teams like men's and women's rugby will often exceed 40 players per team. Of the club teams, the student-run Ultimate clubs have had the most competitive success; most notably, the Carleton Ultimate Team (CUT) and Syzygy have been national contenders every year. CUT has qualified yearly for nationals since 1990, and won the National Championship in 2001. Syzygy qualified for nationals fifteen of sixteen years (1989-2002, 2004-2005), winning the National Championship in 2000 and taking second place in 1998, 1999 and 2004. Carleton built a new Recreation Center in 2001, with a full indoor fieldhouse located above a state of the art fitness center complete with a climbing wall. In 2005, a bouldering wall was added, providing new opportunities for Carleton's climbing community while taking away a racquetball court. Traditions
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