Whitman College is a private liberal arts college in Walla Walla, Washington. Founded as a seminary by a territorial legislative charter in 1859, the school became a four-year degree-granting institution and abandoned its religious affiliation in 1882 and 1907, respectively. It is accredited by the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges and competes athletically in the NCAA Division III Northwest Conference. The school offers 48 majors and 33 minors in the liberal arts and sciences, and it has a student-to-faculty ratio of 9:1. Whitman was the first college in the Pacific Northwest to install a Phi Beta Kappa chapter, and the first in the U.S. to require comprehensive exams for graduation.Alumni have received 1 Nobel Prize in physics, 1 Presidential Medal of Freedom, and in the past 10 years have received 5 Rhodes Scholarships, 62 Fulbright Fellowships, 13 Watson Fellowships and a Marshall Scholarship.