New England College (NEC) is a private

liberal arts Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term '' art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically th ...

college in

Henniker, New Hampshire Henniker is a town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 census, the reported total population of the town was 6,185, although the figure, 27.9% greater than the 2010 population, has been questioned by local officials. ...

. As of Fall 2020 New England College's enrollment was 4,327 students (1,776 undergraduate and 2,551 graduate). The college is regionally accredited by the

New England Commission of Higher Education The New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit membership organization that performs peer evaluation and accreditation of public and private universities and colleges in the United States and other ...

History

Founded in 1946, New England College was established to serve the needs of servicemen and women attending college on the

G.I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. In 1970, the college purchased the Tortington Park School for Girls in Arundel, in the English county of

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

. For a time, the school functioned as an extension campus for NEC students wishing to study abroad; at one point, the college even changed its logo to incorporate the flags of both countries. However, the Arundel campus closed in 1998. For many years, the Theatre Department sent a group of students over to the British campus during the January term and spring term to prepare three shows for touring in England, Scotland, Wales, and sometimes elsewhere in Europe. This was a model program that combined study abroad with practical theatre experience. Lyoncenter

Campus

NEC is located in the small town of

, approximately west of

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

, the state's capital; northwest of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

; and northwest of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. The

Contoocook River The Contoocook River () is a river in New Hampshire. It flows from Contoocook Lake on the Jaffrey/ Rindge border to Penacook (just north of Concord), where it empties into the Merrimack River. It is one of only a few rivers in New Hampshire that ...

runs through the center of town and alongside the NEC campus. A

covered bridge A covered bridge is a timber-truss bridge with a roof, decking, and siding, which in most covered bridges create an almost complete enclosure. The purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered woo ...

joins the main campus with roughly of athletic fields. The campus, which has no distinct borders separating it from the town of Henniker, features 30 buildings, many of which feature white clapboard-style siding or brick mid-century architecture. The campus is known throughout New England for promoting

environmental education Environmental education (EE) refers to organized efforts to teach how natural environments function, and particularly, how human beings can manage behavior and ecosystems to live sustainably. It is a multi-disciplinary field integrating discip ...

initiatives.

Pats Peak Pats Peak is an independent alpine skiing, alpine ski resort located in Henniker, New Hampshire, in the United States. The ski area opened in 1963 and has a vertical drop of . It is roughly a 90-minute drive from Boston, Massachusetts. The four ...

ski resort lies just outside the village center, and many students participate in outdoor activities such as skiing, snowboarding, whitewater rafting, hiking in the White Mountains, and rock-climbing.

Academics

New England College offers 9 associate degree programs, 37 bachelor's degree programs, 12

master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

degree programs, and one doctoral degree program. The programs are divided into four divisions: the School of Arts & Sciences, the School of Education, the School of Management, and the School of Natural & Social Sciences. The college is accredited by the

, and all programs offered by New England College are included in this regional accreditation. Additionally, the school's Teacher Education Program (as well as the majors in Physical Education, Special Education, Elementary Education, and Secondary Education) are approved by the New Hampshire Department of Education. Currently, the school employs 40 full-time faculty members and holds a 14:1 student-to-faculty ratio. The college's business degree programs have received "Candidate for Accreditation" Status by the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP), which is one of three non-profit business school accrediting agencies recognized by CHEA (Council on Higher Education Accreditation).

Rankings

'' U.S. News & World Report'' ranks New England College #131-#171 in "Regional Universities - North, Tier 2." New England College ranks tied for 173 on the U.S. News & World Report list for "Best Online Bachelor's Programs" and ranks tied for 86 on the U.S. News & World Report list for Best Online Bachelor's Programs for Veterans.

Student life

The college is home to 27 student organizations, including various student government committees and Kappa Delta Phi NAS. There were originally five chapters of Greek life: two sororities (Kappa Phi Sigma and Phi Sigma Sigma) and three fraternities (Sigma Phi Delta, Lambda Epsilon Delta, and Sigma Alpha Beta), but those dissolved beginning in the late 2000s. Students also publish an award-winning campus newspaper called ''The New Englander'' and operate a campus-based radio station, WNEC-FM. New England College opened an esports arena in January 2019. This club sport at NEC is closely connected to several academic programs, such as Game and Digital Media Design and programs focusing on art, writing, marketing, graphic or website design, science, and strategy.

Diversity

NEC has been publicly recognized by ''Time'' magazine as one of the top 25 colleges in the nation which have diversified their student body the most since 1990. The college strengthened its

diversity Diversity, diversify, or diverse may refer to: Business *Diversity (business), the inclusion of people of different identities (ethnicity, gender, age) in the workforce *Diversity marketing, marketing communication targeting diverse customers * ...

efforts by establishing an Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI). The ODI holds annual events that observe minority communities such as African American, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, Native American & LGBTQ students."

Notable speakers and series

During the 2016 United States presidential primary election, New England College hosted town hall meetings for many invited candidates such as former Secretary of State

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

, New Jersey Governor

Chris Christie Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, lobbyist, and former federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. Christie, who was born in N ...

, Senator Marco Rubio, Senator

Ted Cruz Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States Senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz served as Solicitor General of Texas from ...

, and Senator Bernie Sanders. Every year the President's Speaker Series brings to campus prominent leaders and innovators from business, nonprofits, public policy, and issue-areas for students and members of the NEC and Henniker communities. Among these speakers are former White House Chief of Staff

Andrew Card Andrew Hill Card Jr. (born May 10, 1947) is an American politician and academic administrator who was White House Chief of Staff under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2006, as well as head of Bush's White House Iraq Group. Card served as ...

, author and business leader Larry Weber, former CEO of

Priceline Priceline may refer to: * Priceline.com, a commercial website which helps users obtain discount rates for travel-related items such as airline tickets and hotel stays * The Priceline Group, a provider of online travel & related services, and a pare ...

Jeff Boyd, New Hampshire state senator Sylvia Larsen, former Ohio Governor

John Kasich John Richard Kasich Jr. ( ; born May 13, 1952) is an American politician, author, and television news host who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 2001 and as the 69th governor of Ohio from 2011 to 2019. A Republican, Kasic ...

, and New Hampshire’-based inventor and engineer

Dean Kamen Dean Lawrence Kamen (born April 5, 1951) is an American engineer, inventor, and businessman. He is known for his invention of the Segway and iBOT, as well as founding the non-profit organization FIRST with Woodie Flowers. Kamen holds over 1, ...

Athletics

New England College's Pilgrims compete in 19 intercollegiate

NCAA 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 an ...

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

athletic sports, including soccer,

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

, cross-country, wrestling, volleyball, rugby, and alpine skiing. The Pilgrims compete in the

New England Collegiate Conference The New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) is an National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division III, Division III List of college athletic conferences in the United States, college athletic conference based in the Northeastern Uni ...

(NECC). They were previously members of the

North Atlantic Conference The North Atlantic Conference (NAC) is an athletic conference, affiliated with the NCAA ’s Division III, consisting primarily of small liberal arts colleges in the Northern New England states of Maine and Vermont, as well as New York. The con ...

(NAC) from 2011 to 2018 and the

Commonwealth Coast Conference The Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA’s Division III. Member institutions are located in New England in the states of Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, with a Connectic ...

(CCC) from 1989 to 2011.

Club sports

Accomplishments

Baseball

* 2018–19 NECC Conference Champions

Basketball

''Men's'' * 2017–18 NAC Conference Champions * 2019-20 NECC Conference Champions ''Women's'' * 1992–93 CCC Conference Champions * 2018–19 NECC Conference Champions * 2019-20 NECC Conference champions

Cross country

''Men's'' * 2012 NAC Conference Champions * 2021 NECC Conference Champions ''Women's'' * 2013–14 NAC Conference Champions

Field Hockey

* 1997–98 CCC Conference Champions * 1999–00 CCC Conference Champions * 2000–01 CCC Conference Champions * 2002–03 CCC Conference Champions * 2003–04 CCC Conference Champions * 2004–05 CCC Conference Champions * 2005–06 CCC Conference Champions * 2006–07 CCC Conference Champions * 2007–08 CCC Conference Champions * 2008–09 CCC Conference Champions

Ice Hockey

''Men's'' * 2000–01 NEHC Conference Champions * 2004–05 NEHC Conference Champions

Lacrosse

''Men's'' * 1997–98 CCC Conference Champions * 1998–99 CCC Conference Champions * 1999–00 CCC Conference Champions * 2004–05 CCC Conference Champions * 2011–12 NAC Conference Champions * 2013–14 NAC Conference Champions * 2015–16 NAC Conference Champions * 2016–17 NAC Conference Champions * 2017–18 NAC Conference Champions * 2018–19 NECC Conference Champions * 2018–19 NAC Conference Champions ''Women's'' * 2000–01 CCC Conference Champions * 2003–04 CCC Conference Champions * 2018–19 NECC Conference Champions

Rugby

''Men's'' * 1981 Founded by Jay Gardner * 1984 Lyndon State Snowbowl Winner * 1985 Joined New England Collegiate Rugby Union * 1985 New England Collegiate Championships at Harvard University , First Ever For New England * 1987 10-1 Record * 1999 NERFU Championships 1st Place Finish - Co-Champions * 2000 NERFU Championships 1st Place Finish * 2013 NSCRO 7's Third Place Finish * 2013 NSCRO National Champions Cup 15s Third Place Finish * 2014 NSCRO 7's National Champions * 2014 NSCRO National Champions Cup 15s Runner-up * 2015 NSCRO 7's National Championships Runner-up * 2015 NSCRO National Champions Cup 15s Champions * 2016 USA Rugby College 7s D1AA National Championships , 11th Place Finish * 2017 Las Vegas Invitational 7s Men's College D1 CRC Qualifier Division , Pool Winners , Quarterfinalists, Cup Consolation * 2022 NERFU Halloween Weekend Series Champions Soccer ''Men's'' * 1989 CCC Conference Championship * 2016 NAC Conference Championship * 2021 NECC Conference Championship

Notable alumni

Geena Davis Virginia Elizabeth "Geena" Davis (born January 21, 1956) is an American actor

(b. 1956),

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 An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

who attended her freshman year at NEC before transferring to

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...

* Ira Joe Fisher (b. 1947), meteorologist and former weather reporter for ''

The Saturday Early Show ''The Early Show'' is an television in the United States, American breakfast television, morning television show that aired on CBS from November 1, 1999 to January 7, 2012, and the ninth attempt at a morning news-talk program by the network sin ...

''. *

Mariela Griffor Mariela Griffor (born September 29, 1961, in Concepcion, Chile), is a poet, editor, publisher of Marick Press and diplomat. She is author of four poetry collections, ''Exiliana'', ''House'', ''The Psychiatrist'' and most recently, ''Declassified ...

(b. 1961), poet and diplomat * Siad Haji (b. 1999),

professional soccer Association football is the world's most popular sport and is worth US$600 billion worldwide. By the end of the 20th century it was played by over 250 million players in over 200 countries. Around the world, the sport is played at a professi ...

player for San Jose Earthquakes of

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

who attended his freshman year at NEC before transferring to

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virginia ...

* Laura Harris Hales, writer, historian, and podcasterBunning, Rachel
"Graduating with her master’s degree in history, student plunges into the world of research"
'' ASU News'', 7 December 2020. Retrieved on 9 March 2021. *

Mark Lindquist Mark Lindquist (born 1949) is an American sculptor in wood, artist, author, and photographer. Lindquist is a major figure in the redirection and resurgence of woodturning in the United States beginning in the early 1970s. His communication of his ...

(b. 1949), sculptor *

Maureen Mooney Maureen Mooney is an American attorney, educator, and politician serving as a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives from the Hillsborough 21 district. Elected in November 2020, she assumed office on December 2, 2020. Mooney previou ...

, N.H. State Representative, attorney, and educator * Allen Steele (b. 1958),

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

author *

Wallace Stickney Wallace Elmer Stickney (November 24, 1934 – June 27, 2019) was an American civil servant, most prominently as the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) under President George H. W. Bush. Stickney was born in Salem, New Ha ...

(1934–2019), director of the

Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Ex ...

(FEMA) under President George H. W. Bush *

Steven Zirnkilton Steve Zirnkilton (born Stephen Morgan Zirnkilton; August 18, 1958) is an American voice actor and former politician from Maine. Zirnkilton is best known for providing the opening narration of all U.S. series in the ''Law & Order'' franchise. Ear ...

(b. 1958), voice actor, narrator, radio show host, and politician

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Private universities and colleges in New Hampshire Educational institutions established in 1946 Universities and colleges in Merrimack County, New Hampshire 1946 establishments in New Hampshire Liberal arts colleges in New Hampshire Henniker, New Hampshire New England Hockey Conference teams