Connecticut College

Coordinates: 41°22′42.36″N 72°06′16.81″W / 41.3784333°N 72.1046694°W / 41.3784333; -72.1046694
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Notdexterslab (talk | contribs) at 13:23, 17 October 2022 (→‎Campus: Small re-writing of the section on the student center for accuracy and conciseness. Added full name of library to library section.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article is about the liberal arts college in New London, Connecticut. For the public university in Storrs, Connecticut, see University of Connecticut.
Connecticut College
MottoTanquam lignum quod plantatum est secus decursus aquarum
Motto in English
"Like a tree planted by rivers of water" ([...]"that bringeth forth its fruit in its season." – Psalm 1:3)
TypePrivate liberal arts college
EstablishedApril 1911; 113 years ago (1911-04)
AccreditationNECHE
Endowment$316.3 million (2020)[1]
PresidentKatherine Bergeron
Academic staff
183 full-time
Administrative staff
527 full-time
Undergraduates1,861
Postgraduates0
Location
New London
,
Connecticut
,
United States

41°22′42.36″N 72°06′16.81″W / 41.3784333°N 72.1046694°W / 41.3784333; -72.1046694
CampusSuburban
ColorsNavy blue, powder blue, and white[2]
   
Sporting affiliations
MascotCamel
Websitewww.conncoll.edu

Connecticut College (Conn College or Conn) is a private liberal arts college in New London, Connecticut. It is a residential, four-year undergraduate institution with nearly all of its approximately 1,815 students living on campus.[3] The college was founded in 1911 as "Connecticut College for Women" in response to Wesleyan University closing its doors to women in 1909; it shortened its name to "Connecticut College" in 1969 when it began admitting men.

Students choose courses from 41 majors, including an interdisciplinary, self-designed major.[4] The college is a member of the New England Small College Athletic Conference.

History

Admissions Building on the Chapel Green
Harkness Chapel at sunset

The college was chartered in 1911 in response to Wesleyan University's decision to stop admitting women.[5][6] Elizabeth C. Wright and other Wesleyan alumnae convinced others to found this new college, espousing the increasing desire among women for higher education.[7][8] To that end, the institution was founded as the Connecticut College for Women. Their initial endowment came from financial assistance from the city of New London and its residents, along with a number of wealthy benefactors. The college sits on a former dairy farm owned by Charles P. Alexander of Waterford. He died in 1904 and his wife Harriet (Jerome) Alexander died in 1911, and their son Frank sold a large part of the land to the trustees to found Connecticut College.[9]

The Hartford Daily Times ran an article on October 12, 1935, marking the college's 20th anniversary: "On September 27, 1915, the college opened its doors to students. The entering class was made up of 99 freshmen students, candidates for degrees, and 52 special students, a total registration of 151. A fine faculty of 23 members had been engaged and a library of 6,000 volumes had been gathered together." The college became co-educational in 1969, and President Charles E. Shain claimed that there was evidence that women were becoming uninterested in attending women's colleges.[10]

Connecticut College is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education and has been so continuously since December 1932. (Prior to 2018, NECHE was known as the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.) Connecticut College's most recent comprehensive reaccreditation took place in spring 2018.[11]

Academics

The college's academics are organized into 31 academic departments and seven interdisciplinary programs with 41 traditional majors plus opportunities for self-designed courses of study. Starting with the class of 2020, students at Connecticut College participate in a new interdisciplinary general education curriculum called Connections.[12][13]

Connecticut College has a history of undergraduate research work and students are encouraged to make conference presentations and publish their work under the guidance of a professor.[14] The college had 182 full-time professors in 2017–18; 93% held a doctorate or equivalent. The student-faculty ratio is about 9 to 1.[15]

Admissions

Admission to the college is considered "more selective" by U.S. News & World Report.[16] The college received 6,784 applications for the Class of 2023 (entering fall 2019) and 2,538 (37.4%) were accepted; of the 68% of the entering class who submitted SAT scores, the middle 50% range was 650–710 for evidence-based reading, and 660–740 for Math.[17]

Rankings

Academic rankings
Liberal arts
U.S. News & World Report[18]55
Washington Monthly[19]27
National
Forbes[20]128
WSJ / College Pulse[21]103

In the 2022 college rankings of U.S. News & World Report, Connecticut College ranked 55th (tie) among liberal arts colleges, 63rd (tie) for "Best Undergraduate Teaching", 40th (tie) for "Most Innovative", ranked 69th for "Best Value", and tied for 144th for "Top Performers in Social Mobility".[16] Washington Monthly ranked Connecticut College 27th in 2020 among 218 liberal arts colleges in the U.S. based on its contribution to the public good, as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service.[22] Forbes ranked Connecticut College 128th overall in its 2019 list of 650 liberal arts colleges, universities and service academies; 55th among liberal arts schools, 62nd in the Northeast, and 96th among private colleges.[23] Connecticut College is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.[24]

Blaustein Humanities Center
New London Hall
Cummings Art Center

Campus

The main campus has three residential areas. The North Campus contains the newest residential halls. The South Campus contains residence halls along the west side of Tempel Green, across from several academic buildings. The oldest dorms on campus are Plant House and Blackstone House, which were founded in 1914.[25][26]

Connecticut College's two principal libraries are the Charles E. Shain Library and the Greer Music Library, which is located in the Cummings Arts Center. The Shain Library houses a collection of more than 500,000 books and periodicals and an extensive collection of electronic resources; it is also home to The Linda Lear Center for Special Collections and Archives, and to the Charles Chu Asian Art Reading Room.[27] The Lear Center has more than 50 book, manuscript and art collections including research archives devoted to Rachel Carson, Eugene O'Neill, and Beatrix Potter.[28] The Charles Chu Asian Art Reading Room serves both as a quiet reading area and as the permanent exhibition space for the Chu-Griffis Art Collection.[29]

The student center is "The College Center at Crozier-Williams" (often shortened to "Cro"), and is located in the middle of the campus. The student center houses the Connecticut College bookstore (which doubles as a small convenience store), the campus post office, the Oasis Snack Shop, and the campus bar Humphrey's (formerly The Cro Bar). There are also student services offices as well as faculty offices and performance spaces for the Dance department.

The Charles E. Shain Library was originally dedicated in 1976 and is named after former College President Charles Shain. It was renovated, expanded, and re-dedicated in 2015. The renovation was honored by the American Institute of Architects with a 2015 New England Honor Award in the category of Preservation.[30] In 2016, LibraryJournal named the library a New Landmark Libraries Winner.[31]

Features of the renovated library include:

  • The Technology Commons with a state of the art Christie Micro Tile Visualization Wall.[32][33]
  • The Digital Scholarship and Curriculum Center.[33]
  • The Academic Resource Center.[33]
  • Collaboration rooms, outfitted with whiteboard walls and LCD panels on which students can share laptop displays.[33]

Performance spaces on campus include:

  • Palmer Auditorium
  • Tansill Theater, housed in Hillyer Hall
  • Myers Dance Studio,[34] housed in Crozier-Williams College Center
  • Harkness Chapel
  • Evans Music Hall
  • Fortune Recital Hall
  • Oliva Hall, housed in Cummings Art Center.[35]

Palmer Auditorium was home to the American Dance Festival from 1947 to 1977, featuring choreographers such as Martha Graham, José Limón, and Merce Cunningham in what was called "the most important summertime event in modern dance."[36][37]

The Connecticut College Arboretum is a 750-acre (3 km2) arboretum and botanical garden. Students use the arboretum to walk, study, or otherwise enjoy nature. The arboretum is also open to the public.

Harkness Chapel is a fine example of noted architect James Gamble Rogers' colonial Georgian style, with twelve stained glass windows by G. Owen Bonawit. The building is used for denominational religious services, as well as for ceremonies, concerts and recitals, weddings, and other public functions.[38]

The Lyman Allyn Art Museum is located on campus, although it is not connected to the campus proper. The museum's web site states that "the permanent collection includes over 10,000 paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, furniture, and decorative arts, with an emphasis on American art from the 18th through 20th centuries." This collection is "housed in a handsome Neo-Classical building designed by Charles A. Platt".[39]

Charles E. Shain Library after 2015 renovation
Blackstone House on the Old Quad
Harkness House
Plant and Branford Houses
Tourists in the Arboretum

Student life

Honor code

Students live under the college's 85-year-old student-adjudicated honor code, which distinguishes Connecticut College from most of its peers.[citation needed] The honor code underpins all academic and social interactions at the college and creates a palpable spirit of trust and cooperation between students and faculty. Other manifestations of the code include self-scheduled, unproctored final exams.[40][41]

Demographics

In a typical year, the college enrolls about 1,850 men and women from 40 to 45 states, Washington, D.C., and 70 countries. Approximately forty percent of students are men. The fall 2019 student body was 67.5% White, 9.9% Hispanic, 4.1% Asian American, 3.8% African American, and 3.7% multiracial, with an additional 9% international students.[42] The college is now particularly known for interdisciplinary studies, international programs and study abroad, funded internships, student-faculty research, service learning, and shared governance. Under the college's system of shared governance, faculty, staff, students, and administrators are represented on the major committees that make policy regarding the curriculum, the budget, and the campus and facilities.

Memberships

Connecticut College is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the Annapolis Group, and the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC). The college provides financial aid packages that meet 100 percent of its students' demonstrated financial needs.[43]

Clubs and organizations

Connecticut College does not offer a Greek system of fraternities or sororities.

The college has seven a cappella groups:

Women

  • The ConnChords
  • The Shwiffs
  • Miss Connduct

Men:

  • The Co Co Beaux

Coed:

  • ConnArtists
  • Vox Cameli
  • Williams Street Mix[44]

Composer and violinist Margaret Jones Wiles founded and conducted the Connecticut College Orchestra when she taught at the college during the 1950s.

The college radio station (WCNI 90.9 FM) broadcasts a variety of music, including polka, blues, and celtic music shows. A 2,000 watt transmitter installed in 2003 reaches much of the lower New England region.[45] Connecticut College has two student newspapers in which students handle all aspects of production: reporting, editing, ad sales, management, photography, layout, multimedia, and design. The College Voice [46] is an editorially independent print and online bi-weekly publication,[47] and The Conntrarian [48] is an online opinion publication and a member of the Collegiate Network.[49]

The Student Activities Council (SAC) runs events including club fairs, school dances, concerts, and off-campus excursions.[50] SAC is also responsible for Floralia, the annual spring concert. Recent Floralia artists have included Misterwives, Cash Cash,[51] RAC, and St. Lucia.[52]

Unity House is the college's multicultural center which promotes, supports, educates, and implements multicultural awareness programs on campus.[53] It supports various affinity, activist, and performance student groups.[54] The Women's Center provides a space for programming and events concerning gender issues.[55] The LGBTQIA Resource Center serves queer students and their allies by providing a supportive space, resource library, social events, and educational programming. It also hosts several student organizations.[56] In August 2013, Campus Pride named Connecticut College one of the top 25 LGBT-friendly colleges and universities.[57]

Athletics

The College's teams participate as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC). There are a total of 28 varsity athletics teams at Conn. The 12 men's sports include basketball, cross country, ice hockey, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, squash, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field and water polo; while the 15 women's sports consist of basketball, cross country, field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, rowing, sailing, soccer, squash, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, volleyball and water polo. The College also offers coed sailing.

In 2014, the women's soccer team won the College's first and only NESCAC Championship to date, defeating Williams College in penalty kicks.

On December 4, 2021, the men’s soccer team won the College’s first-ever NCAA Division III National Championship by defeating Amherst College in penalty kicks. Earlier in the season, the team won its first NESCAC regular season title.[58]

On January 21, 2021, Connecticut College goalkeeper AJ Marcucci was selected 67th overall in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft by New York Red Bulls. He became the first-ever draft pick from Connecticut College and was the first Division III pick since 2016.

Connecticut College has produced 427 collegiate All-Americans, 16 Academic All-Americans and 12 Olympic qualifiers.

The Connecticut College Athletics Hall of Fame was established in 1989 and currently has over 100 inductees.

Notable alumni

Main article: List of Connecticut College alumni

Connecticut College graduates of note include Bloomberg Businessweek senior national correspondent Joshua Green, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong, New York Times best-selling authors Sloane Crosley, Hannah Tinti and David Grann, Academy Award-winning actress Estelle Parsons, fashion designer Peter Som, National Baseball Hall of Fame director Jeff Idelson, philanthropist Nan Kempner, Beyond Meat founder Ethan Brown, Senior Federal District Judge Kimba Wood and American Olympic rower Anita DeFrantz.

References

  1. ^ As of June 30, 2020. U.S. and Canadian Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year 2020 Endowment Market Value and Change in Endowment Market Value from FY19 to FY20 (Report). National Association of College and University Business Officers and TIAA. February 19, 2021. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
  2. ^ https://www.conncoll.edu/media/website-media/visualidentity/VisualIDManual.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  3. ^ "Residential Life" on the Connecticut College website
  4. ^ "Majors and Minors" on the Connecticut College website
  5. ^ "History of Wesleyan University". Wesleyan.edu. Archived from the original on 2009-03-30. Retrieved 2011-06-16.
  6. ^ "Connecticut College: Centennial video generates excitement". Conncoll.edu. 2011-01-19. Archived from the original on 2012-03-05. Retrieved 2011-06-16.
  7. ^ "Connecticut College: Centennial News: A History of Connecticut College: New London Raises $100,000". Conncoll.edu. Archived from the original on 2012-12-01. Retrieved 2011-06-16.
  8. ^ "Connecticut College: Centennial News: The founding of Connecticut College". Conncoll.edu. 2011-01-05. Archived from the original on 2012-12-01. Retrieved 2011-06-16.
  9. ^ "A Modern History of New London County, Connecticut;, Volume 3, Page 163 | Document Viewer". Mocavo.com. 2013-05-03. Retrieved 2014-08-17.
  10. ^ "Connecticut College Goes Fully Co-Ed"
  11. ^ "Accreditation".
  12. ^ title=Connecticut College Connections homepage
  13. ^ "Connecticut College revamps gen ed". Retrieved 2016-12-15.
  14. ^ Connecticut College. "Connecticut College Internships and Student Research". Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
  15. ^ "About us" on the Connecticut College website
  16. ^ a b "Connecticut College Rankings". U.S. News & World Report. 2020.
  17. ^ "Admission data for the Class of 2023". Connecticut College. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  18. ^ "Best Colleges 2024: National Liberal Arts Colleges". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved September 20, 2023.
  19. ^ "2023 Liberal Arts Rankings". Washington Monthly. Retrieved September 25, 2023.
  20. ^ "Forbes America's Top Colleges List 2023". Forbes. Retrieved September 22, 2023.
  21. ^ "2024 Best Colleges in the U.S." The Wall Street Journal/College Pulse. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
  22. ^ "2020 Liberal Arts College Rankings". Washington Monthly. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  23. ^ "America's Top Colleges: Connecticut College". Forbes. August 15, 2019.
  24. ^ Connecticut Institutions – NECHE, New England Commission of Higher Education, retrieved May 26, 2021
  25. ^ "Blackstone House" on the Connecticut College website
  26. ^ "Plant House"[permanent dead link] on the Connecticut College website
  27. ^ "Libraries, Collections & Services". Connecticut College. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  28. ^ "Linda Lear Center for Special Collections and Archives". Connecticut College. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  29. ^ "Charles Chu Asian Art Reading Room". Connecticut College. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  30. ^ "AIA New England 2015 Design Awards". AIAConnecticut. Archived from the original on 2016-03-29. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
  31. ^ "Charles E. Shain Library New Landmark Libraries 2016 Winner". LibraryJournal. Retrieved 19 September 2016.
  32. ^ "The ultimate display for video walls". Christie. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  33. ^ a b c d "Charles E. Shain Library". Connecticut College. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  34. ^ "Performance Spaces". Connecticut College. Retrieved 2018-01-31.
  35. ^ "Performance Spaces" on the Connecticut College website
  36. ^ "American Dance Festival History"
  37. ^ ""Eighth Sister No More": The Origins and Evolution of Connecticut College by Paul P. Marthers p. 163
  38. ^ "Reserving Harkness Chapel". Connecticut College. Archived from the original on July 23, 2014. Retrieved July 19, 2014.
  39. ^ "Lyman Allyn Art Museum, New London, Connecticut". Lyman Allyn Art Museum. Retrieved July 19, 2014.
  40. ^ "Self-Scheduled Exams" on the Connecticut College website
  41. ^ "Honor Code" on the Connecticut College website
  42. ^ "Diversity Demographics" (PDF). Connecticut College. Connecticut College. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  43. ^ "Cost and Financial Aid". Connecticut College. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
  44. ^ "Clubs & Organizations" on the Connecticut College website
  45. ^ "WCNI - FM 90.9 - New London, CT" on Streema
  46. ^ "The College Voice". The College Voice. Retrieved 2017-08-07.
  47. ^ "About" on The College Voice website
  48. ^ "The Conntrarian". The Conntrarian. Retrieved 2022-08-08.
  49. ^ "About" on The Conntrarian website
  50. ^ "Clubs and Organizations | Governance on the Connecticut College website
  51. ^ "Rocking the Dot" from The College Voice
  52. ^ Floralia: A Recent History Memories of the Past and Upcoming Excitement from The College Voice
  53. ^ "Unity House" Archived 2016-04-09 at the Wayback Machine on the Connecticut College website
  54. ^ "Unity-Affiliated Student Clubs" Archived 2016-04-09 at the Wayback Machine on the Connecticut College website
  55. ^ "The Women's Center". conncoll.edu. Archived from the original on 2013-12-11.
  56. ^ "LGBTQ Resource Center" Archived 2016-03-24 at the Wayback Machine on the Connecticut College website
  57. ^ Campus Pride Releases 2013 ‘Top 25 LGBT-Friendly Universities And Colleges’ Listing Unity House and the LGBTQIA Center are both staffed by full-time staff members.
  58. ^ "Connecticut College wins the 2021 DIII men's soccer championship | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com. Retrieved 2022-04-04.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Connecticut College.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Connecticut_College&oldid=1116614633"