Connecticut College (Conn College or Conn) is a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

liberal arts college A liberal arts college or liberal arts institution of higher education is a college with an emphasis on undergraduate study in liberal arts and sciences. Such colleges aim to impart a broad general knowledge and develop general intellectual ca ...

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decade ...

. It is a residential, four-year undergraduate institution with nearly all of its approximately 1,815 students living on campus. The college was founded in 1911 as "Connecticut College for Women" in response to

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the col ...

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. The college is a member of the

New England Small College Athletic Conference The New England Small Collegiate Athletic Conference (NESCAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising sports teams from eleven highly selective liberal arts institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. ...

History

Connecticut College, Horizon House, front

The college was chartered in 1911 in response to

's decision to stop admitting women. Elizabeth C. Wright and other Wesleyan alumnae convinced others to found this new college, espousing the increasing desire among women for higher education. 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. 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. 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 The New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc. (NEASC) is a United States' regional accreditation association providing educational accreditation. NEASC serves over 1500 public, independent schools, and technical/career institutions ...

.) Connecticut College's most recent comprehensive reaccreditation took place in spring 2018.

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. 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. 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.

Admissions

Admission to the college is considered "more selective" by '' U.S. News & World Report''. 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.

Rankings

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". ''

Washington Monthly ''Washington Monthly'' is a bimonthly, nonprofit magazine of United States politics and government that is based in Washington, D.C. The magazine is known for its annual ranking of American colleges and universities, which serves as an alternat ...

'' 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. ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'' 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. Connecticut College is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. Blaustein

Connecticut College, 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. 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. The Lear Center has more than 50 book, manuscript and art collections including research archives devoted to Rachel Carson,

Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earli ...

, and Beatrix Potter. 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. 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. In 2016, LibraryJournal named the library a New Landmark Libraries Winner. Features of the renovated library include: * The Technology Commons with a state of the art Christie Micro Tile Visualization Wall. * The Digital Scholarship and Curriculum Center. * The Academic Resource Center. * Collaboration rooms, outfitted with whiteboard walls and LCD panels on which students can share laptop displays. Performance spaces on campus include: *Palmer Auditorium *Tansill Theater, housed in Hillyer Hall *Myers Dance Studio, housed in Crozier-Williams College Center *Harkness Chapel *Evans Music Hall *Fortune Recital Hall *Oliva Hall, housed in Cummings Art Center. Palmer Auditorium was home to the American Dance Festival from 1947 to 1977, featuring choreographers such as

Martha Graham Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer and choreographer. Her style, the Graham technique, reshaped American dance and is still taught worldwide. Graham danced and taught for over seventy years. She ...

José Limón José Arcadio Limón (January 12, 1908 – December 2, 1972) was a dancer and choreographer from Mexico and who developed what is now known as 'Limón technique'. In the 1940s, he founded the José Limón Dance Company (now the Limón Dan ...

, and Merce Cunningham in what was called "the most important summertime event in modern dance." The

Connecticut College Arboretum The Connecticut College Arboretum is a 300 ha (750 acres) arboretum and botanical gardens, founded in 1931, and located on the campus of Connecticut College and in the towns of New London and Waterford, Connecticut, United States. Collections ...

is a 750-acre (3 km²)

arboretum An arboretum (plural: arboreta) in a general sense is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, man ...

and

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

. 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 James Gamble Rogers (March 3, 1867 – October 1, 1947) was an American architect. A proponent of what came to be known as Collegiate Gothic architecture, he is best known for his academic commissions at Yale University, Columbia Univers ...

' colonial Georgian style, with twelve stained glass windows by

G. Owen Bonawit G. Owen Bonawit (1891–1971) was an artist whose studio created thousands of pieces of stained glass for Yale, Duke, Northwestern, and Southeast Missouri State universities; Connecticut College; Bethesda By The Sea Episcopal Church in Palm Beach, ...

. The building is used for denominational religious services, as well as for ceremonies, concerts and recitals, weddings, and other public functions. The

Lyman Allyn Art Museum The Lyman Allyn Art Museum is located in New London, Connecticut and was founded in 1926 by Lyman Allyn's daughter Harriet Upson Allyn.

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". Shain Library, Connecticut College, after 2015 renovation

Shain Library, Connecticut College, after 2015 renovation

Connecticut College, Plant and Branford Houses

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.

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. The college is now particularly known for interdisciplinary studies, international programs and

study abroad International students, or foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their tertiary education in a country other than their own and move to that country for the purpose of studying. In 2019, there were over 6 million internati ...

, 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 Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

, the Annapolis Group, and the

(

NESCAC The New England Small Collegiate Athletic Conference (NESCAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising sports teams from eleven highly selective liberal arts institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. Th ...

). The college provides financial aid packages that meet 100 percent of its students' demonstrated financial needs.

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 Composer and violinist

Margaret Jones Wiles Margaret Isobel Jones Wiles (Dec 25, 1911 – Jul 6, 2000) was an American composer, conductor, and teacher who played violin and viola with several orchestras and composed over 50 string quartets. She received a B. Mus. from DePauw University in I ...

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 Polka is a dance and genre of dance music originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though associated with Czech culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the Americas. History Etymology The te ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the ...

, and

celtic music Celtic music is a broad grouping of music genres that evolved out of the folk music traditions of the Celtic people of Northwestern Europe. It refers to both orally-transmitted traditional music and recorded music and the styles vary considera ...

shows. A 2,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James ...

transmitter installed in 2003 reaches much of the lower

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

region. 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'' is an editorially independent print and online bi-weekly publication, and ''The Conntrarian'' is an online opinion publication and a member of the Collegiate Network. The Student Activities Council (SAC) runs events including club fairs, school dances, concerts, and off-campus excursions. SAC is also responsible for Floralia, the annual spring concert. Recent Floralia artists have included Misterwives, Cash Cash, RAC, and St. Lucia. Unity House is the college's multicultural center which promotes, supports, educates, and implements multicultural awareness programs on campus. It supports various affinity, activist, and performance student groups. The Women's Center provides a space for programming and events concerning gender issues. The LGBTQIA Resource Center serves

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the l ...

students and their allies by providing a supportive space, resource library, social events, and educational programming. It also hosts several student organizations. In August 2013, Campus Pride named Connecticut College one of the top 25 LGBT-friendly colleges and universities.

Athletics

The College's teams participate as a member of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

's Division III in the

(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 offer
coed sailing
In 2014, the women's soccer team won the College's first and only NESCAC Championship to date, defeating

Williams College Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kille ...

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. On January 21, 2021, Connecticut College goalkeeper AJ Marcucci was selected 67th overall in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft by

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

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

Notable alumni

Connecticut College graduates of note include ''Bloomberg Businessweek'' senior national correspondent Joshua Green,

AOL AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo! Inc. ...

CEO Tim Armstrong, ''New York Times'' best-selling authors

Sloane Crosley Sloane Crosley (born August 3, 1979) is an American writer living in New York City known for her humorous essays, including the collections '' I Was Told There'd Be Cake'', ''How Did You Get This Number'', and ''Look Alive Out There''. She has al ...

Hannah Tinti Hannah Tinti (born 1973) is an American writer and the co-founder of ''One Story'' magazine. She received the PEN/Nora Magid Award for Magazine Editing in 2009 for ''One Story'', as well as the Alex Awards. Personal life Tinti was born in 1973 ...

and David Grann,

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-winning actress

Estelle Parsons Estelle Margaret Parsons (born November 20, 1927) is an American actress, singer and stage director. After studying law, Parsons became a singer before deciding to pursue a career in acting. She worked for the television program '' Today'' and ...

, fashion designer Peter Som,

National Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

director

Jeff Idelson Jeffrey L. "Jeff" Idelson (born June 22, 1964) is the former president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, a position he held from 2008-2019. Early life and career In 1986, he graduated from Connecticut College in New London, Connect ...

, philanthropist Nan Kempner,

Beyond Meat Beyond Meat, Inc. is a Los Angeles–based producer of plant-based meat substitutes founded in 2009 by Ethan Brown. The company's initial products were launched in the United States in 2012. History Founding Ethan Brown founded the company in ...

founder Ethan Brown, Senior Federal District Judge Kimba Wood and American Olympic rower Anita DeFrantz. File:Tim-Armstrong.jpg, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong File:H._Jon_Benjamin_by_Gage_Skidmore_2.jpg, Actor and comedian H. Jon Benjamin File:The_President,_Smt._Pratibha_Devisingh_Patil_presenting_the_Padma_Shri_Award_to_Dr._Martha_Alter_Chen,_at_an_Investiture_Ceremony_II,_at_Rashtrapati_Bhavan,_in_New_Delhi_on_April_01,_2011.jpg, Academic

Martha Chen Martha Chen (née Alter; born February 9, 1944) is an American academic, scholar and social worker, who is presently a lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and senior advisor of the global research-policy-action network WIEGO ( ...

File:Michael_Collier_5694.JPG, Poet Michael Collier File:Sloane Crosley 2015.jpg, Author

File:Nina_Elgo_(33597657713).jpg, Connecticut Appellate Court judge Nina F. Elgo File:Cynthia_Enloe_at_Franklin_&_Marshall_College.jpg, Feminist writer

Cynthia Enloe Cynthia Holden Enloe (born July 16, 1938) is a feminist writer, theorist, and professor. She is best known for her work on gender and militarism and for her contributions to the field of feminist international relations. She has also had major i ...

File:Sean_Fine_Peabody_2014.jpg, Filmmaker

Sean Fine Sean Fine is an American cinematographer, producer and film director whose film '' Inocente'' won the 2013 Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). He directs his films with his wife, Andrea Nix Fine. The Fines' first feature-length fil ...

File:Aracelis_Girmay_2280095.jpg, Poet

Aracelis Girmay Aracelis Girmay (born December 10, 1977) is an American poet. She is the author of three poetry collections, including ''Kingdom Animalia'' (2011), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry. She is also Assistant Professor ...

File:David grann 2010.jpg, Journalist David Grann File:David_Haussler_1.jpg, Bioinformatician David Haussler File:Bruce_Hoffman.jpg, Political analyst Bruce Hoffman File:Leland_Orser_(cropped).jpg, Actor Leland Orser File:AlecOunsworthCYHSY.jpg, Singer Alec Ounsworth File:Estelle_Parsons_Love_American_Style_1973.JPG,

-winning actress

File:Joan_Rivers_1966_Press_photo.jpg, Comedian

Joan Rivers Joan Alexandra Molinsky (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014), known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American comedian, actress, producer, writer and television host. She was noted for her blunt, often controversial comedic persona—heavi ...

File:SusanSaintJamesCivitan.JPG, Actress Susan Saint James File:Sam_Seder.jpg, Comedian and radio host

Sam Seder Samuel Lincoln Seder (born November 28, 1966) is an American actor, political commentator, and media host. His works include the film '' Who's the Caboose?'' (1997) as well as the television shows ''Beat Cops'' (2001) and '' Pilot Season'' (20 ...

File:Sean Spicer_(32293609264)_(cropped).jpg , White House press secretary

Sean Spicer Sean Michael Spicer (born September 23, 1971) is a former American political aide who served as the 30th White House Press Secretary and as White House Communications Director under President Donald Trump in 2017. Spicer was communications dire ...

File:Jay_stamper_headshot1_(cropped).jpg, Entrepreneur and politician

Jay Stamper Jeremy "Jay" Stamper (born June 14, 1972) is an American entrepreneur, nonprofit leader and politician from South Carolina. Stamper first gained national media attention for pranks targeting incumbent politicians and has since founded several i ...

File:Alec_Sulkin_-_Family_Guy_panel_at_NYCC_(61248)_(cropped).jpg, Television writer

Alec Sulkin Alexander Matthew Sulkin (born February 14, 1973) is an American screenwriter, producer, and voice actor known for his work on ''Family Guy'' and ''The Cleveland Show''. Career Sulkin began as a writer for '' The Late Late Show with Craig Kilbo ...

File:Marcia_Tucker_Self-Portrait.jpg, Art historian and critic Marcia Tucker File:Patricia_wald_210962.jpg, Judge Patricia Wald

References

External links

*
Connecticut College Athletic Hall of Fame
* {{authority control Liberal arts colleges in Connecticut Buildings and structures in New London, Connecticut Former women's universities and colleges in the United States Educational institutions established in 1911 Universities and colleges in New London County, Connecticut Tourist attractions in New London, Connecticut Ice hockey teams in Connecticut Private universities and colleges in Connecticut 1911 establishments in Connecticut