Rocky Mountain College (informal: Rocky or RMC), located in Billings, Montana, is a private comprehensive college offering more than 25 liberal arts- and professionally-oriented majors. In fall 2006, the college had 898 enrolled students. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the United Church of Christ.

Rocky is ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of the top 10 colleges in quality and a "best value" among comprehensive colleges in the Western United States. Rocky also maintains a 99% placement rate for students pursing graduate school educations.

Mr. Michael R. Mace, Rocky's president, announced in October 2006 that there had been a 20.8% increase in the college's assets over the total from the same time during the previous year. Mace began his presidency in October 2005 and in his first year saw the largest amount of undesignated funds raised in the history of the institution.

Some of Rocky's less traditional academic offerings include aviation programs, equestrian programs, and physician assistant programs.

Rocky Mountain College competes in the NAIA's Frontier Conference. Its athletic teams are known as the "Battlin' Bears" (usually referred to as "Bears"). In 2005 and 2007, RMC won the National Collegiate Skiing Championship.

History

Rocky Mountain College indirectly traces its history to the 1878 founding of the Montana Collegiate Institute in Deer Lodge, Montana. Later renamed College of Montana, that institution closed in 1916, and in 1923 its assets were incorporated into Intermountain Union College, located in Helena. Intermountain Union, in turn, relocated to Billings after 1935, merging with the Billings Polytechnic Institute to create today's Rocky Mountain College. The existence of a private, postsecondary institution in Billings dates from 1908, the year Billings Polytechnic was founded. ^[1] On March 25th, 2008, the Aviation Program lost one of its new 'glass cockpit' Piper Archer III aircraft in a near-fatal accident. The aircraft, N432RM, departed Billings Logan Airport on a solo training flight at night and strayed off the intended course in forecast inclement weather. The aircraft impacted rising terrain south of Billings in the Pryor Mountains. ^[2]

Notable alumnae/i

• Valeen Tippetts Avery, biographer and historian
• Bill Bowers, mime and actor
• Lane Chandler, actor.
• Al Feldstein, painter (honorary Doctorate of Arts in 1999)
• Arlo Guthrie, folksinger (did not graduate)
• Larry R. Heather, frequent Christian Heritage Party of Canada candidate
• J. Timothy Hunt, journalist and author
• John Letasky, sportswriter
• Jill McLain, Miss Montana USA 2005
• Chris Horn, wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers
• Jason Earles, actor on the television series Hannah Montana

References

External links

• Rocky Mountain College

---

Source: Wikipedia | The above article is available under the GNU FDL. | Edit this article