Connecticut College

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.

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
EstablishedApril 1911 (1911-04)
Endowment$313.5 million (2019)[1]
PresidentKatherine Bergeron
Academic staff
183 full-time
Administrative staff
527 full-time
Undergraduates1,861
Postgraduates0
Location
New London
,
Connecticut
,
United States
CampusSuburban
ColorsNavy Blue, Powder Blue, and White[2]
   
AthleticsNCAA Division III - NESCAC
AffiliationsNESCAC
CWPA
MascotCamel
Websitewww.conncoll.edu

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
University rankings
National
Forbes[18] 128
THE/WSJ[19] 103
Liberal arts colleges
U.S. News & World Report[20] 51
Washington Monthly[21] 27

In the 2021 college rankings of U.S. News & World Report, Connecticut College was ranked 51st among liberal arts colleges, and tied for 30th for "Best Undergraduate Teaching", tied for 42nd for "Most Innovative", 72nd for "Best Value", and tied at 133rd in "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]

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.[24][25]

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.[26] 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.[27] 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.[28]

The student center is called Crozier Williams College Center is located in Central Campus often called "Cro". The student center houses the Connecticut College bookstore, small convenience store, the campus post office, the Oasis Snack Shop and the campus bar (The Cro Bar). As well as some of the student services offices, performance spaces.

The 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, and that renovation was honored by the American Institute of Architects with a 2015 New England Honor Award in the category of Preservation.[29] In 2016, LibraryJournal named the library a New Landmark Libraries Winner.[30]

Features of the renovated library include:

  • The Technology Commons with a state of the art Christie Micro Tile Visualization Wall.[31][32]
  • The Digital Scholarship and Curriculum Center.[32]
  • The Academic Resource Center.[32]
  • Collaboration rooms, outfitted with whiteboard walls and LCD panels on which students can share laptop displays.[32]

Performance spaces on campus include:

  • Palmer Auditorium
  • Tansill Theater, housed in Hillyer Hall
  • Myers Dance Studio,[33] housed in Crozier-Williams College Center
  • Harkness Chapel
  • Evans Music Hall
  • Fortune Recital Hall
  • Oliva Hall, housed in Cummings Art Center.[34]

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."[35][36]

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

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.[37]

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".[38]

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. 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.[39][40]

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.[41] 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.[42]

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[43]

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.[44] The College Voice [45] is Connecticut College's only student newspaper, an editorially independent print and online bi-weekly publication. Students handle all aspects of production: reporting, editing, ad sales, management, photography, layout, multimedia, and design.[46]

The Student Activities Council (SAC) runs events including club fairs, school dances, concerts, and off-campus excursions.[47] SAC is also responsible for Floralia, the annual spring concert. Recent Floralia artists have included Misterwives, Cash Cash,[48] RAC, and St. Lucia.[49]

Unity House is the college's multicultural center which promotes, supports, educates, and implements multicultural awareness programs on campus.[50] It supports various affinity, activist, and performance student groups.[51] The Women's Center provides a space for programming and events concerning gender issues.[52] 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.[53] In August 2013, Campus Pride named Connecticut College one of the top 25 LGBT-friendly colleges and universities.[54]

Athletics

The college's teams participate as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III. The Camels are a member of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC). Men's sports include basketball, cross country, ice hockey, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, squash, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field and water polo; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, rowing, sailing, soccer, squash, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, volleyball and water polo.[55]

In 2014, the Women's Soccer team won the college's first and only NESCAC Championship to date, defeating Williams College in penalty kicks.[56]

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, former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, Beyond Meat founder Ethan Brown, Senior Federal District Judge Kimba Wood and Quinnipiac men's ice hockey head coach Rand Pecknold.

References
  1. As of June 30, 2019. "U.S. and Canadian 2019 NTSE Participating Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year 2019 Endowment Market Value, and Percentage Change in Market Value from FY18 to FY19 (Revised)". National Association of College and University Business Officers and TIAA. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
  2. https://www.conncoll.edu/media/website-media/visualidentity/VisualIDManual.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. https://www.conncoll.edu/institutional-research/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. "Connecticut College Rankings". U.S. News & World Report. 2020.
  17. "Admission data for the Class of 2023". Connecticut College. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  18. "America's Top Colleges 2019". Forbes. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
  19. "Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Rankings 2021". Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  20. "Best Colleges 2021: National Liberal Arts Colleges". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  21. "2020 Liberal Arts Rankings". Washington Monthly. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
  22. "2020 Liberal Arts College Rankings". Washington Monthly. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  23. "America's Top Colleges: Connecticut College". Forbes. August 15, 2019.
  24. "Blackstone House" on the Connecticut College website
  25. "Plant House" on the Connecticut College website
  26. "Libraries, Collections & Services". Connecticut College. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  27. "Linda Lear Center for Special Collections and Archives". Connecticut College. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  28. "Charles Chu Asian Art Reading Room". Connecticut College. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  29. "AIA New England 2015 Design Awards". AIAConnecticut. Archived from the original on 2016-03-29. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
  30. "Charles E. Shain Library New Landmark Libraries 2016 Winner". LibraryJournal. Retrieved 19 September 2016.
  31. "The ultimate display for video walls". Christie. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  32. "Charles E. Shain Library". Connecticut College. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  33. "Performance Spaces". Connecticut College. Retrieved 2018-01-31.
  34. "Performance Spaces" on the Connecticut College website
  35. "American Dance Festival History"
  36. ""Eighth Sister No More": The Origins and Evolution of Connecticut College by Paul P. Marthers p. 163
  37. "Reserving Harkness Chapel". Connecticut College. Archived from the original on July 23, 2014. Retrieved July 19, 2014.
  38. "Lyman Allyn Art Museum, New London, Connecticut". Lyman Allyn Art Museum. Retrieved July 19, 2014.
  39. "Self-Scheduled Exams" on the Connecticut College website
  40. "Honor Code" on the Connecticut College website
  41. "Diversity Demographics" (PDF). Connecticut College. Connecticut College. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  42. "Cost and Financial Aid". Connecticut College. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
  43. "Clubs & Organizations" on the Connecticut College website
  44. "WCNI - FM 90.9 - New London, CT" on Streema
  45. "The College Voice". The College Voice. Retrieved 2017-08-07.
  46. "About" on The College Voice website
  47. "Clubs and Organizations | Governance on the Connecticut College website
  48. "Rocking the Dot" from The College Voice
  49. Floralia: A Recent History Memories of the Past and Upcoming Excitement from The College Voice
  50. "Unity House" Archived 2016-04-09 at the Wayback Machine on the Connecticut College website
  51. "Unity-Affiliated Student Clubs" Archived 2016-04-09 at the Wayback Machine on the Connecticut College website
  52. "The Women's Center". conncoll.edu. Archived from the original on 2013-12-11.
  53. "LGBTQ Resource Center" Archived 2016-03-24 at the Wayback Machine on the Connecticut College website
  54. 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.
  55. "Connecticut College Camels". Connecticut College. Retrieved July 20, 2014.
  56. "The Camels finish it off". The Day. 2014-11-10. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
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