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Goucher College

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Template:Infobox University2 Goucher College is a co-educational liberal arts college located in the northern Baltimore suburb of Towson, on a 287 acre (1.2 km2) campus. The school has approximately 1,350 students studying in 33 undergraduate subjects and about 1000 students studying in graduate subjects. It was one of the first colleges to embrace internships and allow its students to take a more individualized approach. In 2004, Newsweek called Goucher the college with the happiest students. Recently, Goucher College instituted a unique study abroad policy--each undergraduate must complete at least one study abroad experience, which is the first such program in U.S. college history. To help students fulfill this requirement, the college offers a wide range of three-week "intensive courses abroad" as well as semester and year-long programs, in concert with $1200 vouchers to subsidize the cost of studying abroad.

History

Founded in 1885 as The Women's College of Baltimore. Gained its present name in 1910, after founding members and benefactors John Goucher and Mary Fisher Goucher. The original campus was in the southern part of what is now the Charles Village neighborhood in Baltimore City. Goucher moved to its present suburban location in 1953. The college has been co-educational since 1986.

Campus Demographics

Female students are still in the majority on the undergraduate level at about 67%, a fact partially vestigal from Goucher's days as a women-only college, but also probably a result of Goucher's dance program and equestrian facilities. This number is even higher at the graduate level where almost 80% of the students are female. About 11.5% of the undergraduate population are either African-American, Asian, Hispanic or Native-American. At the graduate level the number is 14%. Two of the most popular majors are Communications and Psychology. Politically most students lean towards the Democratic side of the spectrum. [1] U.S. News and World Report ranked Goucher college #94 in its annual rankings of national liberal arts colleges, tied with Augustana College in Illinois, Hanover College in Indiana, Hope College in Michigan, Washington and Jefferson in Pennsylvania, and Wells College in Upstate New York. Its most well-known faculty members include Dr. Jean Harvey Baker and Dr. Julie Roy Jeffery of the History Department, President Sanford Ungar, and the writer Madison Smartt Bell, who oversees the college's Kratz Center for Creative Writing.

Academics

Undergraduate Level

Goucher requires its students to complete general education requiremets in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and the arts. There are special introductory courses for freshmen to orient them to the campus as well as college life at Goucher. Undergraduate students are also expected to fullfill an off campus learning requirement either through an internship or a study-abroad experience. A popular choice among many Goucher students is to participate in a "three week intensive" course abroad made up of an on-campus classroom component followed by three weeks abroad during the winter or spring. Goucher also allows students to participate in semester and year long study-abroad programs offered by other schools. Goucher recently announced that starting with the class of 2010 all students will be required to have at least one study-abroad experience in order to graduate, thus making it the first college to require such an experience of its students. Goucher is well-known for its creative writing, dance, and political science department.

Graduate Level

Goucher offers the following graduate programs:

Certificate & Continuing Education Programs

  • Historic Preservation Certificate Program
  • Post-Baccalaureate Premed Program (having a 94% acceptance rate to medical school over its entire history)
  • Teacher's Institute
  • Educational Technology Certificate

Extra-Curricular Activities

Goucher offers many student-run clubs in different areas such as the French club, the theater club or a philosophy club. It has a bi-weekly school newspaper called the Quindecim and a literary arts journal called Vagabond.

Famous Alumni

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