and is one of 280 colleges with a chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.
Roanoke is an NCAA Division III school competing in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. The college fields varsity teams in eleven men's and ten women's sports. Roanoke's athletic nickname is Maroons and the mascot is Rooney, a maroon-tailed hawk.
== History ==
=== Early years ===
A boys' preparatory school was founded by Lutheran pastors David F. Bittle and Christopher C. Baughmann. Originally located in Augusta County near Staunton, the school was named Virginia Institute until chartered on January 30, 1845, as Virginia Collegiate Institute. In 1847, the institute moved to Salem which was developing into a center of commerce and transportation in the region; the school moved all of its possessions in a single covered wagon. The Virginia General Assembly granted a college charter on March 14, 1853 and approved the name Roanoke College, chosen in honor of the Roanoke Valley. Bittle then served as the college's first president.
Roanoke …
