Landmark College

Landmark College
Seal of Landmark College
Motto	Pret Accomplir
Motto in English	Ready to Accomplish
Established	1985
Type	Private, junior college
Endowment	Small
President	Peter Eden, Ph.D.
Provost	Brent Betit, Ed. D
Dean	Michael Luciani
Academic staff	90
Admin. staff	80
Students	500
Location	Putney, Vermont, USA
Campus	Rural
Colors	Blue, White
Mascot	Landshark
Affiliations	New England Association of Schools & Colleges, Consortium of Vermont Colleges
Website	www.landmark.edu/

Landmark College is an accredited junior liberal arts college in Putney, Vermont. Founded in 1985 with a first-of-its-kind program for dyslexics by Charles Drake, the school is one of only two in the United States designed exclusively for students with learning disabilities, including ADHD and dyslexia. The college's current president is Dr. Peter Eden, Ph.D.

A 2005 article at CNNMoney.com cited Landmark as having had the priciest tuition among colleges since 1998.

Integrated educational approach

Landmark utilizes an "integrated approach" to the whole student, the goal being to teach students to master learning and study strategies.

About 490 students attend Landmark College. All students receive personal, directed assistance in their studies. Each student receives individualized attention from classroom instructors in courses tailored to meet their educational needs. The college offers courses for skills development, college credit, and an associate's degree program for individuals who have average to superior intellectual potential. Advisors meet frequently with students to review and guide their progress. All instructors are trained professional educators rather than teaching assistants or peer tutors.

Student life

Athletics

Landmark College has a well-developed collegiate sports program. In 2001 the men's soccer team finished undefeated. In addition, the men's basketball program has been very successful in recent years, winning back-to-back championships in 2007 and 2008.

Curriculum and instruction

Landmark College offers courses in anthropology, English, business, communications, humanities, philosophy, psychology, history, literature, math, science, foreign languages, theater, video, music, art, physical education, and other disciplines.

All courses are designed to integrate skills and strategy development. Classes are small, ranging from eight to sixteen students, and professors are accessible to all students. Students also access processes, tools, and other resources to aid in becoming more independent learners. After earning an associate's degree from Landmark College, many graduates continue onto 4-year colleges and universities across the country.^{[citation needed]}

For all entering students, the curriculum sequence begins with skills development courses, designed to address the key areas of writing, reading, and study skills. Self-management, as well as the development of self-understanding and self-advocacy, is also part of this first-semester curriculum.

Initial courses are offered at non-credit and credit levels. Close to two-thirds of incoming students begin in non-credit courses, with most moving into credit courses after one or two semesters.

In addition to direct, personalized assistance from classroom faculty, academic support is available for writing, reading, study skills, math, science, and coursework planning and completion through Landmark’s Centers for Academic Support and Coaching Services.

Degrees and programs

A.A. in General Studies and Business

Landmark College offers A.A. degrees in either General Studies or Liberal Studies, Business Studies or Business Administration. These degrees satisfy requirements for the first two years of study at many larger, four-year colleges and universities, and many students who complete an associate's degree at Landmark transfer into competitive B.A. or B.S. programs.^{[citation needed]}

Study abroad

The Study Abroad Office and Landmark College Country Directors offer study abroad programs in countries such as Costa Rica, Chile, England, Ireland, Greece and Italy.

Faculty design and teach experiential courses within their disciplines that fulfill Landmark College core requirements, the goal being to allow students to apply their learning skills to real-life situations while immersed in another culture.

Faculty members offer academic support for students as advisers, mentors, and coaches throughout the programs abroad. These programs are open to Landmark College students who have successfully completed one semester at the credit level.

College skills summer session

This program is designed to build the academic skills of students who are currently enrolled in a college or university and have completed some college-level coursework. There are four sections in the summer. These are three weeks each, with one class each section. These classes are considered quite intensive, as they last all day. However, the amount of time spent in each class equals out to a full semester's worth of work.

High school summer session

This three week long program is intended to assist high school students with learning differences using coursework, activities, experiential learning and development of self-understanding and self-advocacy courses. Although it goes on during the same time period as the other summer programs, high school students are housed separately, and little to no social interaction between the age groups is encouraged.

Summer transition to college session

The intensive transition program is designed for students with learning differences—and their parents—to help to successfully navigate the move from home to college.

Bridge Program

The Bridge Program is a semester long plan specifically designed for students on hiatus from other colleges. They are required to take certain classes and attend meetings to gain study skills to help them succeed at other colleges.

Assistive technology

Assistive technology is used at Landmark College to facilitate academic skill development and to enable students to fully access course materials. According to the Assistive Technology Act of 1988, assistive technology refers to "any item, piece of equipment, or product that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities."

One example of the type of assistive technology used at The College is text reader software. This software enables users to:

• Hear text on computer screen spoken aloud
• Use a computer (synthesized) voice
• Scan or import text (aids decoding)
• Improve decoding and fluency
• Read back text that has been typed in (for revision of writing)

Speech-to-text software is also used by students that may have challenges with their writing. Students use this type of software to speak the words and have the computer transcribe them to text.

Landmark College sponsors a student laptop program allowing students to buy laptops from the college preloaded with assistive software. These laptops are fully supported by Landmark College's IT Department. Purchase of a Landmark-supported laptop, text-reader (Kurzweill 3000), speech-to-text (Dragon), and other software is mandatory for all incoming students, regardless of psycho-educational evaluations and recommendations.

Landmark College Institute for Research and Training (LCIRT)

LCIRT is Landmark College's research, training, and dissemination arm.

LCIRT works to assure that high school and college systems, and educators, have the understanding and knowledge needed to help students realize their intellectual potential and creative gifts. LCIRT develops and disseminates educational research and theory-based teaching practices.

External links

• Landmark College
• Priciest Colleges

Preceded by Lynda Katz, Ph.D. (1994-2011)	President of Landmark College Peter Eden, Ph.D. (2011-present)	Succeeded by Incumbent
Colleges and universities in Vermont Public University of Vermont Vermont State Colleges: Castleton State College • Community College of Vermont • Johnson State College • Lyndon State College • Vermont Technical College Private Bennington College • Burlington College • Champlain College • College of St. Joseph • Goddard College • Green Mountain College • Landmark College • Marlboro College • Middlebury College • New England Culinary Institute • Norwich University • Saint Michael's College • SIT Graduate Institute • Sterling College • Southern Vermont College • Vermont College of Fine Arts • Vermont Law School