Goddard College

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Goddard College
Established 1863
Type Private coeducational Low Residency
President Dr. Barbara Vacarr
Academic staff 104
Students 804
Location Plainfield, Vermont, United States
Former names

Green Mountain Central Institute &

Goddard Seminary
Website http://www.goddard.edu/
The shingle style clock house on the Greatwood Campus appears on the college seal.

Goddard College is a private, liberal arts college located in Plainfield, Vermont, offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Goddard College currently operates on an intensive low-residency model. Goddard is nationally and internationally recognized for its leadership in educational innovation, its deep commitment to the ideal of democracy and for its active efforts to live consciously as stewards of the earth. Students design their own curriculum; the college currently uses a student self-directed, mentored system. Residencies require the student's attendance every six months for approximately eight days, during which time the student engages in a variety of activities and lectures from early morning until late in the evening, and creates a detailed study plan outlining what learning they will engage in once back in their home communities. During the semester students study independently, sending in "packets" to their faculty mentor every three weeks. The content of the packets varies with each individual, but focuses on research, writing, and reflection related to their study plan.

In the mid 2000's Goddard expanded to the west coast, creating Goddard College West, located in Port Townsend, Washington and in July, 2011 will offer their education program (non-licensure only) in Seattle, Washington, as well as in Vermont.

Contents

[edit] Mission

To advance cultures of rigorous inquiry, collaboration, and life-long learning, where individuals take imaginative and responsible action in the world.

[edit] Early History

Goddard College began in 1863. Royce S. "Tim" Pitkin, the first Goddard president, a progressive educator and follower of John Dewey and other, similar proponents of educational democracy, earned a doctorate at Columbia and returned to Vermont where he started Goddard College. Pitkin conceived of the college as a place for "plain living and hard thinking." [1]

Having narrative transcripts instead of traditional letter grades, as well as learner-designed curricula, Goddard was one of the Union for Experimenting Colleges and Universities, which also included Franconia, Nasson, Antioch, and several other educational institutions.

Goddard College advocates innovation in higher education as its expressed objective; in 1963, Goddard introduced the first Adult Degree Program for working adults.

In 2002, after fifty-four years, the college terminated its traditional age on-site experimental bachelor degree program. Today its more than six hundred adult students attend residencies in either Plainfield, VT or Port Townsend, WA. Only two programs are available at the Port Townsend site: the MFA in Creative Writing and the MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts, which was new to Port Townsend in the fall of 2007. Also new for the fall of 2007 was the first low-residency Bachelor of Fine Arts program in creative writing.

The History of the Goddard Experiment Exhibit, 1949-1959

The History of Goddard College Exhibit, 1960-1969: An Era of Growth, Expansion, and Transitions

[edit] Academics

Programs of Study Goddard offers a Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), Master of Arts (MA), Master of Fine Arts (MFA), along with several concentrations and Licensures.

Bachelor of Arts

  • BA in Education and Licensure (EDU)
  • BA in Health Arts and Sciences (HAS)
  • BA in Individualized Studies (IBA)
  • BA in Sustainability (BAS)

* Bachelor of Fine Arts

  • BFA in Creative Writing (BFA)

*Master of Arts

  • MA in Individualized Studies (IMA)
  • MA in Education and Licensure (EDU)
  • MA in Health Arts and Sciences (HAS)
  • MA in Psychology and Counseling (PSY)
  • MA in Sustainable Business and Communities Program (SBC)

*Master of Fine Arts

  • MFA in Creative Writing (MFA)
  • MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts (MFAIA)

*Concentrations

  • Community Education (EDU)
  • Consciousness Studies (IMA)
  • Environmental Studies (IMA)
  • School Counseling (EDU)
  • Sexual Orientation (PSY)
  • Transformative Language Arts (IMA)

[edit] Campuses

[edit] Goddard College main campus, Greatwood: Plainfield, Vermont

The campus in Plainfield was initially formed into a school in 1938 from the various shingle style buildings on a late 19th century model farm: The Greatwood Estate. Eleven new dormitory buildings were constructed adjacent to the ensemble of renovated farm buildings in 1963 to accommodate an increasing student population. The Pratt Learning Center, sited to be at the heart of a larger campus, was constructed in 1968. No other significant new construction has been added to the campus since that time. Currently Goddard College offers residencies for:

  • BA and MA in Education & Licensure Program
  • BA and MA in Health Arts & Sciences Program
  • BA in Individualized Studies Program
  • BA in Sustainability Program
  • BFA in Creative Writing Program
  • MA in Individualized Studies Program
  • MA in Psychology & Counseling Program
  • MA in Sustainable Business & Communities Program
  • MFA in Creative Writing Program
  • MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts Program

[edit] Goddard College West campus: Fort Worden State Park, Port Townsend, Washington

A former nineteenth century army base, much of the Fort has been renovated and turned into a year-round, multi-use facility which houses several organizations that comprise of The Fort Worden Collaborative. The fort sits on a bluff overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Admiralty Inlet. Currently Goddard College West offers residencies for:

  • MFA in Creative Writing
  • MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts
  • Individual Bachelor of Arts (expected 2012)

[edit] Facts

  • Campus area: 175 acres (0.7 km²)
  • Enrollment: approximately 800
  • School type: Private
  • Accreditation: The Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges [1]
  • Year founded: 1863, as Green Mountain Central Institute; in 1870 became Goddard Seminary
  • Address: 123 Pitkin Road, Plainfield, Vermont 05667
  • Goddard College was host to the Bread and Puppet Theater in 1970-1971

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] Notable Faculty

[edit] Goddard College Community Radio (WGDR and WGDH)

Goddard is home to Goddard College Community Radio, a community-based, non-commercial, listener-supported educational radio station with nearly 70 volunteer programmers who live and work in central and northern Vermont and who range in age from 12 to 78 years. WGDR, 91.1 FM, is licensed to Plainfield, Vermont. Its sister station, WGDH, 91.7 FM, is licensed to Hardwick, Vermont.

The station began as a student-driven project in the late 1960s -- a carrier-current AM station that was intended to be heard only on campus under the call letters WGOD, or "The Voice of Goddard." By 1972, the station had ceased operation and in January 1973 a course at Goddard was formed under the direction of Kirk Gardner to establish an FM station that would broadcast to the surrounding communities in Vermont. Students applied to the Federal Communications Commission for an FM transmitting station license, and obtained the call letters WGDR, which had been previously used by a marine station. Students also participated in reconstruction of the space allotted in the Eliot Pratt Center Library building for the station's studios. They obtained some new studio equipment, arranged for a news service, contacted record publishers for NFS copies of the latest released music, and organized a broadcasting schedule.[6] A 10 Watt FM transmitter was installed with a broadcast antenna mounted on a mast on the roof of the building, directly above the studios. The first 'board' in the 'air studio' consisted of a Shure M67 mixer [7] and a Broadcast Production Master,[8] along with some custom built circuits. The station was broadcasting by late Spring 1973. The station remained at the 10 Watt level for at least a few years during which time, its coverage area allowed it to reach some towns in the surrounding area but not others because of the hilly terrain. Years later, the station's radiating power was upgraded with a bigger transmitter and more efficient antenna.[citation needed]

In 2009, WGDR received a My Source Community Impact Award for Engagement for the work it has done in the Central Vermont community. The following year, Kris Gruen was appointed station director.

In March 2011, the station expanded to a second, more-powerful (1,100-watt) trransmitter with the launch of WGDH at 91.7 FM, which simulcasts with WGDR and can be heard throughout Lamoille County in north-central Vermont and in parts of Washington, Franklin, Orange, Caledonia, Essex and Orleans counties. Today, operating under the umbrella name Goddard College Community Radio, it is the largest non-commercial community radio station in Vermont and is the only non-commercial station in the state other than the statewide Vermont Public Radio network that receives funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

[edit] Goddard College Community Radio Mission Statement (Revised, March 2011)

WGDR and WGDH — Goddard College Community Radio — strive to inform, educate, entertain, involve, motivate, and connect its diverse communities through independent non-commercial radio programming.
As a hybrid college–community radio station, WGDR and WGDH are committed to education and training in the arts and science of community radio and to in-depth involvement in many forms by their geographic community and their communities of interest.
Goddard College Community Radio accomplishes its mission by: Engaging robust support from the stations' communities; Integrating WGDR and WGDH programming and Goddard's low-residency academic programs; Experimenting with opportunities and technology to expand beyond Central Vermont.

[edit] Related resources

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://cihe.neasc.org/about_our_institutions/roster_of_institutions/details/14124
  2. ^ www.oah.org/awards/awards.tachau.winners.html
  3. ^ www.goldenapple.org/pages/academy_directory/26.php
  4. ^ http://www.barrybradford.com/2.html.
  5. ^ Greenhouse, Steve. "Tim Costello, Trucker-Author Who Fought Globalization, Dies at 64", The New York Times, December 26, 2009. Accessed December 28, 2009.
  6. ^ Cunningham, Lyn. "Goddard FM Takes Root",
  7. ^ http://www.shure.com/idc/groups/tech_pubs/@global_managed/documents/webcontent/us_pro_m67_ug.pdf
  8. ^ http://www.shure.com/idc/groups/tech_pubs/@global_managed/documents/webcontent/us_pro_m675_ug.pdf
  • Cappel, Constance, Utopian Colleges, New York: Peter Lang, 1999.

[edit] External links
Public
Private
  • Find Goddard on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoddardCollege
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