the new science building the Alfred Nobel Hall of Science as a memorial to the Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel. Permission was granted, and the facility's dedication ceremony in 1963 included officials from the Nobel Foundation and 26 Nobel Laureates. Following the 1963 Nobel Prize ceremonies in Stockholm, college representatives met with Nobel Foundation officials, asking them to endorse an annual science conference at the college and to allow use of the Nobel name to establish credibility and high standards. At the urging of several prominent Nobel laureates, the foundation granted the request, and the first conference was held at the college in January 1965. Presidents Eric Norelius, 1862–63, Founder Andrew Jackson, principal 1863–73, acting principal 1874–76 John J. Frodeen, principal 1873–74 Jonas P. Nyquist, 1876–81 Matthias Wahlstrom, 1881–1904 Peter A. Mattson, 1904–11 Jacob P. Uhler, acting president 1911–1913, 1927 Oscar J. "O.J." Johnson, 1913–42 Walter Lunden, 1942–43 O.A. Winfield, acting president 1943–44 Edgar M. Carlson, 1944–1968 Albert Swanson, acting president 1968–69 Frank Barth, 1969–75 Edward A. Lindell, 1975–80 Abner W. Arthur, acting president 1980–81 John S. Kendall, 1981–91 Axel D. Steuer, 1991–2002 Dennis J. Johnson, interim president 2002–03 James L. Peterson, 2003–08 Jack R. Ohle, 2008–14 Rebecca M. Bergman, 2014–present Academics The Gustavus Adolphus College curriculum aims to "prepare students for fulfilling lives of leadership and service in society." Students choose from over 70 programs of study with 75 majors in 25 academic departments and three interdisciplinary programs (including 17 honors majors), ranging from physics to religion to Scandinavian studies. Gustavus has been among the top 10 liberal-arts institutions nationally as the baccalaureate origin of physics PhDs. The college has 170 faculty, of whom 94% are tenure-track. The student-to-faculty ratio is 11:1, creating an average class size of approximately 15. The college's Writing Across the Curriculum program fosters writing skills in all academic disciplines. Since 1983, the college has had a chapter of the academic honor society Phi Beta Kappa. Its most popular majors, by 2021 graduates, were: Psychology (66) Biology/Biological Sciences (52) Business/Commerce (43) Speech Communication and Rhetoric (36) Education (31) Political Science and Government (30) English Language and Literature (29) Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse (29) Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness(27) Gustavus Adolphus College alumni have won Fulbright, Goldwater, Marshall, Rhodes, Truman, National Science Foundation, and NCAA Postgraduate fellowships and scholarships. In 2015, the college successfully applied for the voluntary Carnegie classification of "community-engaged". Rankings In 2017, Gustavus was ranked