Colby College
Encyclopedia
Colby College is a private
liberal arts college
located on Mayflower Hill in Waterville, Maine
. Founded in 1813, it is the 12th-oldest independent liberal arts college in the United States. Colby was the first all-male college in New England to accept female students, the first being Mary Caffrey Low
, who was the valedictorian of the Class of 1875.
Approximately 1,800 students from more than 60 countries are enrolled annually. The college offers 54 major fields of study and 30 minors. More than two thirds of Colby students participate in study abroad programs. Colby College competes in the NESCAC conference and is one of the "Little Ivies
".
, a Baptist theologian. Chaplin arrived in Waterville in the summer of 1818 with his family and seven students, including George Dana Boardman, the institution's first graduate. The were put up in a vacant Waterville home, and in that home the first classes were held.
After Maine separated from Massachusetts in 1820, the first Maine legislature affirmed the Massachusetts charter for the institution, but made significant changes. Students could no longer be denied admission based on religion, the institution was prohibited from applying a religious test when selecting board members, and the trustees now had the authority to grant degrees. A turning point, the Maine Literary and Theological Institution was renamed Waterville College on February 5th, 1821. In 1822, Elijah Parish Lovejoy, who would become a celebrated martyr to emancipation and to freedom of the press, graduates as valedictorian
. In 1825, the theological department was discontinued. In 1833, Rev. Rufus Babcock
became Colby's second president, and students form the nation’s first college-based anti-slavery society.
, many young men were called away from school to join the fight; from Waterville College, Richard C. Shannon
, Henry C. Merriam
, and Benjamin Butler
. Twenty-seven Waterville College students perished in the war, and more than 100 men from the town. In the years following the war, as was the case at many American colleges, Waterville College was left with few students remaining to pay the bills and a depleted endowment. Waterville College was on the verge of closing.
In 1864, a Boston merchant, prominent Baptist philanthropist, and Maine native Gardner Colby
, attended Waterville College's commencement dinner, and unbeknownst to anyone in attendance except college president Jermiah Champlin, announced a matching $50,000 donation that would allow the college to remain open. On January 23rd, 1867, the college was renamed Colby University in gratitude.
Now on solid financial footing and just 16 months after The Battle of Appomattox Court House, trustees of the college voted to construct a library and chapel to honor the Colby men who died in the war, making Memorial Hall the first Civil War memorial erected on a college campus. The building began construction in the summer of 1867, and dedicated at commencement in 1869. At commencement in 1871, The Lion of Lucerne, a sculpture by Martin Milmore
, was added as the centerpiece of the building. The lion was brought to to Miller Library from Memorial Hall in January 1962.
In the fall of, 1871 Colby College was the first all-male college in New England to accept female students. The national Sigma Kappa
sorority was founded at Colby in 1874 by the college's first five female students. One of the buildings is named after the first woman to attend, Mary Caffrey Low
, who was the valedictorian of the Class of 1875. In the fall 1896, Colby president Nathaniel Butler, Jr. '73, having come from the University of Chicago
, renamed the "university" Colby College.
In 1920, Colby celebrated its centennial, marking not the date of the original charter, but the date of its charter from the new State of Maine in 1820. In June 1929, Franklin W. Johnson
was appointed president of the college. Citing a recently released Maine Higher Education Survey Report, a cramped location between the river and the railroad tracks, an aging physical plant, and lack of dining facilites for men, amongst others, Johnson began a campaign to move the college to a more adequate location. Franklin's campaign to raise funds for the move were complicated by the Great Depression
, but ended up including a gift from the City of Waterville - in an effort to keep Colby from relocating to Augusta, Waterville deeded 600 acres (2.4 km²) on Mayflower Hill, near the outskirts of the city, to the college.
In 1984, following an investigation of campus life commissioned by the Board of Trustees, a decision was made to withdraw recognition from Colby’s Greek system as it was seen to be "exclusionary by nature". The day that fraternity and sorority decision was announced happened to fall on a Sunday and was known as "Bloody Sunday" by many on the campus at the time.
In 2000, William D. Adams, a demonstrated advocate of liberal arts education, became the President of Colby. Adams initiated the Plan for Colby, a strategic plan that detailed aspirations and directions for the institution. To support the effort, in 2002 he kicked off Reaching the World: A Campaign for Colby, the most ambitious capital campaign in Colby history. The campaign was concluded on June 30, 2010 and raised $376 million.
Major options include: African-American Studies, American Studies, Anthropology, Art, Biology, Chemistry, Chemistry-Biochemistry, five options in Classics, Computer Science, East Asian Studies, Economics, Economics-Mathematics, English, Environmental Studies (Policy), Environmental Studies (Science), French Studies, Geology, Geoscience, German Studies, Government, History, International Studies, Latin American Studies, Mathematics, Mathematical Sciences, Music, Philosophy, Physics, Psychology, Religious Studies, Russian Language and Culture, Science, Technology, and Society, Sociology, Spanish, Theater and Dance, and Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies. Majors combining Interdisciplinary Computation with Biology, Environmental Studies, or Theater and Dance were added in 2010.
Colby is very successful in its placement of graduate students. Recent placements include Harvard, Yale
, MIT, Columbia
, Northwestern
, Dartmouth
, University of Chicago
, Oxford
, University of Pennsylvania
and Stanford. Colby has a near 100% admit rate to medical school for students with above a 3.5 GPA and an overall placement of 75% to medical school.
, Spain, Dijon
, France, and St Petersburg, Russia and formerly operated programs with Bates and Bowdoin Colleges in London and Cape Town. Colby also has exchange programs with Pomona
and Howard University
.
annually; it also organizes the The Morton A. Brody
Distinguished Judicial Service Award, the William R. and Linda K. Cotter Debate Series, the Senator George J. Mitchell Distinguished International Lecture Series, and Colby's Visiting Fellows Program. The Oak Institute for International Human Rights at Colby is a Goldfarb Center program. The center also organizes Colby's civic engagement programs: the Colby Volunteer Center and Colby Cares about Kids.
, Mount Katahdin
, and other locations around Maine; canoe trips on the Kennebec
and Moose Rivers, along with other trips around the state. The various trips are designed to appeal to incoming students with a variety of interests and fitness levels and more "front country" trips have been added in recent years including service- and arts-oriented options. The primary goals of COOT are to ease new students' transition into college and to introduce them to the Maine's cultural and natural resources. COOT leaders are chosen from upperclass students who apply for these positions and are expected to help the students both during and after the trip with the adjustment to campus life.
and Bowdoin College
, Colby is one of three highly selective liberal arts colleges in Maine. In 2009, Colby was ranked the 9th best liberal arts college by Kiplinger
, ahead of Maine rivals Bowdoin and Bates, 20th best college/university by Forbes
, ranking it 3rd in the NESCAC, and 21st best liberal arts college in the U.S. News & World Report
rankings. Colby was named one of the "25 New Elite Ivies" by the Kaplan College Guide. Colby was also named one of "25 New Ivies" by Newsweek
. Colby was named to the list of the top ten environmental programs by the 2010 Fiske Guide and ranked 13th by the Sierra Club
rankings of America's coolest schools.
, located along the Kennebec River
Valley in Central Maine. Colby's campus buildings vary in age from the original Mayflower Hill construction in the 1930s, to newest Diamond Building completed in 2007. Most of Colby's buildings are designed in the Georgian Revival
style of the original Mayflower Hill construction, but recent architectural additions have largely branched out.
, a particularly strong collection of American art, and its major outdoor sculptures by Richard Serra
and Sol LeWitt
. The museum is part of the Bixler Art and Music Center, a building named in honor of President J. Seelye Bixler
(1942-1960) in recognition of his visionary support for the arts at Colby.
Athletic Center is the center of athletic life at Colby, and home to the Colby White Mules
. In addition to athletic offices, it contains:
Surrounding the Harold Alfond Athetlic Center:
In addition to the on-campus facilities, the White Mules also utilize:
All meals on campus including catered events are served by Colby Dining Services, which operates 4 dining establishments on Campus plus the Marchese Blue Light Pub. Cotter Union is the center of student life and programming, which houses the Pulver Pavilion, Pugh Center for Multicultural Affairs, Page Commons audtiorium, and the Student Post Office. Mary Low contains the Colby Outing Club and the Mary Low Coffee House for student performances, Roberts houses student offices for the Colby Echo and the radio station WMHB.
(NCAA) Division III New England Small College Athletic Conference
, and the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin
Consortium. There are 16 varsity teams for women, 15 for men, and one co-ed team. The official school colors are blue and gray. Approximately 1/3 of the student population participates in one or more of 32 intercollegiate varsity sports. Colby also offers club sports, and an intramural sports program called I-Play.
, Jurassic 5
, Citizen Cope
, Blackalicious
, Ben Folds
, Ben Kweller
, OK Go
, Dane Cook
, Talib Kweli
, Matisyahu, State Radio
, Lupe Fiasco
, Blue Scholars
, Guster
, Common
, Mates of State
, CAKE
, Bob Marley (comedian)
and Naughty By Nature
. In addition to SPBs programming, clubs on campus often put on all-school events.
Inside Colby is a student publication that highlights student life by blogs, essays, photos, and videos.
WMHB 89.7 FM
, is Colby's non-commercial College radio station, directed, managed, and staffed entirely by students. It has been on air since March 1949, and broadcasts new and diverse programming to Waterville, Winslow, Oakland, Fairfield and surrounding communities, and around the world on the Internet via its webcast.
has raised awareness and money for the 4.4 million Iraqi refugees displaced during the Iraq War; this movement is first of its kind on a college campus.Other clubs include the Colby Sailing Club, Colby Fencing Club, Ulitimate Frisbee Team, the Rugby Team, Colby Investment Club, Mock Trial, and many more.
Colby's was one of the five original schools to partner with the Shelby Davis Scholarship
program for graduated from the United World Colleges
, dramatically increasing the international student population. Colby also participates in the Posse Foundation
for multicultural scholars. In 2005, Colby was presented the Senator Paul Simon Award for Campus Internationalization.
Private university
Private universities are universities not operated by governments, although many receive public subsidies, especially in the form of tax breaks and public student loans and grants. Depending on their location, private universities may be subject to government regulation. Private universities are...
liberal arts college
Liberal arts colleges in the United States
Liberal arts colleges in the United States are certain undergraduate institutions of higher education in the United States. The Encyclopædia Britannica Concise offers a definition of the liberal arts as a "college or university curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing general...
located on Mayflower Hill in Waterville, Maine
Waterville, Maine
Waterville is a city in Kennebec County, Maine, United States, on the west bank of the Kennebec River. The population was 15,722 at the 2010 census. Home to Colby College and Thomas College, Waterville is the regional commercial, medical and cultural center....
. Founded in 1813, it is the 12th-oldest independent liberal arts college in the United States. Colby was the first all-male college in New England to accept female students, the first being Mary Caffrey Low
Mary Caffrey Low
Mary Caffrey Low Carver was one of the five founding members of the Sigma Kappa sorority and a pioneering advocate for women's education, along with being an accomplished library scientist and writer.-Founding of Sigma Kappa Sorority:...
, who was the valedictorian of the Class of 1875.
Approximately 1,800 students from more than 60 countries are enrolled annually. The college offers 54 major fields of study and 30 minors. More than two thirds of Colby students participate in study abroad programs. Colby College competes in the NESCAC conference and is one of the "Little Ivies
Little Ivies
Little Ivies is a colloquialism referring to a group of small, selective American liberal arts colleges; however, it does not denote any official organization....
".
Origins
On February 27, 1813, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts adopted a petition to establish the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, the 33rd chartered college in the United States. The petition was led by Baptists who had come to the region for missionary work, and who wanted to train their own ministers, to end the reliance on England for providing men of learning. From 1816-1818, the new institution found a home in Waterville on 179 acres of land donated by citizens. In 1818, trustees assigned the institution to Rev. Jeremiah ChaplinJeremiah Chaplin
Jeremiah Chaplin was a Reformed Baptist theologian who served as the first president of Colby College in Maine....
, a Baptist theologian. Chaplin arrived in Waterville in the summer of 1818 with his family and seven students, including George Dana Boardman, the institution's first graduate. The were put up in a vacant Waterville home, and in that home the first classes were held.
After Maine separated from Massachusetts in 1820, the first Maine legislature affirmed the Massachusetts charter for the institution, but made significant changes. Students could no longer be denied admission based on religion, the institution was prohibited from applying a religious test when selecting board members, and the trustees now had the authority to grant degrees. A turning point, the Maine Literary and Theological Institution was renamed Waterville College on February 5th, 1821. In 1822, Elijah Parish Lovejoy, who would become a celebrated martyr to emancipation and to freedom of the press, graduates as valedictorian
Valedictorian
Valedictorian is an academic title conferred upon the student who delivers the closing or farewell statement at a graduation ceremony. Usually, the valedictorian is the highest ranked student among those graduating from an educational institution...
. In 1825, the theological department was discontinued. In 1833, Rev. Rufus Babcock
Rufus Babcock
Rev. Rufus T. Babcock was an American clergyman and the second president of Colby College in Waterville, Maine-Life:...
became Colby's second president, and students form the nation’s first college-based anti-slavery society.
Colby College
During the Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, many young men were called away from school to join the fight; from Waterville College, Richard C. Shannon
Richard C. Shannon
Richard Cutts Shannon was a U.S. Representative from New York.-Biography:Born in New London, Connecticut, Shannon was graduated from the grammar and high schools at Biddeford, Maine, and from Waterville College , Maine.During the Civil War enlisted in Company H, Fifth Regiment, Maine Volunteer...
, Henry C. Merriam
Henry C. Merriam
Henry Clay Merriam was a United States Army general. He received the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions as a Union officer in command of African American troops during the American Civil War...
, and Benjamin Butler
Benjamin Franklin Butler (politician)
Benjamin Franklin Butler was an American lawyer and politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States House of Representatives and later served as the 33rd Governor of Massachusetts....
. Twenty-seven Waterville College students perished in the war, and more than 100 men from the town. In the years following the war, as was the case at many American colleges, Waterville College was left with few students remaining to pay the bills and a depleted endowment. Waterville College was on the verge of closing.
In 1864, a Boston merchant, prominent Baptist philanthropist, and Maine native Gardner Colby
Gardner Colby
Gardner Colby was a prominent businessman and Christian philanthropist. He is the namesake of Colby College in Maine and the town of Colby, Wisconsin.Colby was born in Bowdoinham, Maine in 1810 and spent part of his childhood in Waterville, Maine...
, attended Waterville College's commencement dinner, and unbeknownst to anyone in attendance except college president Jermiah Champlin, announced a matching $50,000 donation that would allow the college to remain open. On January 23rd, 1867, the college was renamed Colby University in gratitude.
Now on solid financial footing and just 16 months after The Battle of Appomattox Court House, trustees of the college voted to construct a library and chapel to honor the Colby men who died in the war, making Memorial Hall the first Civil War memorial erected on a college campus. The building began construction in the summer of 1867, and dedicated at commencement in 1869. At commencement in 1871, The Lion of Lucerne, a sculpture by Martin Milmore
Martin Milmore
Martin Milmore was a noted American sculptor.Milmore immigrated to Boston from Sligo, Ireland at age seven, graduated from Boston Latin School in 1860, took art lessons at the Lowell Institute, and learned to carve in wood and stone from his older brother Joseph...
, was added as the centerpiece of the building. The lion was brought to to Miller Library from Memorial Hall in January 1962.
In the fall of, 1871 Colby College was the first all-male college in New England to accept female students. The national Sigma Kappa
Sigma Kappa
Sigma Kappa is a sorority founded in 1874 at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Sigma Kappa was founded by five women: Mary Caffrey Low Carver, Elizabeth Gorham Hoag, Ida Mabel Fuller Pierce, Frances Elliott Mann Hall and Louise Helen Coburn...
sorority was founded at Colby in 1874 by the college's first five female students. One of the buildings is named after the first woman to attend, Mary Caffrey Low
Mary Caffrey Low
Mary Caffrey Low Carver was one of the five founding members of the Sigma Kappa sorority and a pioneering advocate for women's education, along with being an accomplished library scientist and writer.-Founding of Sigma Kappa Sorority:...
, who was the valedictorian of the Class of 1875. In the fall 1896, Colby president Nathaniel Butler, Jr. '73, having come from the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, renamed the "university" Colby College.
In 1920, Colby celebrated its centennial, marking not the date of the original charter, but the date of its charter from the new State of Maine in 1820. In June 1929, Franklin W. Johnson
Franklin W. Johnson
Franklin Winslow Johnson was the President of Colby College, Maine, United States, from 1929-1942. Franklin W. Johnson is widely remembered as the president who began to move Colby College to it's Mayflower Hill location and set it on the road to national prestige, in the face of The Great...
was appointed president of the college. Citing a recently released Maine Higher Education Survey Report, a cramped location between the river and the railroad tracks, an aging physical plant, and lack of dining facilites for men, amongst others, Johnson began a campaign to move the college to a more adequate location. Franklin's campaign to raise funds for the move were complicated by the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, but ended up including a gift from the City of Waterville - in an effort to keep Colby from relocating to Augusta, Waterville deeded 600 acres (2.4 km²) on Mayflower Hill, near the outskirts of the city, to the college.
Mayflower Hill
In 1937, construction broke ground on Lorimer Chapel, the first building on the new campus Mayflower Hill campus. In 1951, the last class took place on the old campus in Coburn Hall. In 1983, Colby became the first College to assign each student an e-mail address upon matriculation.In 1984, following an investigation of campus life commissioned by the Board of Trustees, a decision was made to withdraw recognition from Colby’s Greek system as it was seen to be "exclusionary by nature". The day that fraternity and sorority decision was announced happened to fall on a Sunday and was known as "Bloody Sunday" by many on the campus at the time.
In 2000, William D. Adams, a demonstrated advocate of liberal arts education, became the President of Colby. Adams initiated the Plan for Colby, a strategic plan that detailed aspirations and directions for the institution. To support the effort, in 2002 he kicked off Reaching the World: A Campaign for Colby, the most ambitious capital campaign in Colby history. The campaign was concluded on June 30, 2010 and raised $376 million.
Academics
Students choose from courses in 54 major fields and have wide flexibility in designing independent study programs, electing special majors, and participating in internships and study-abroad programs. Colby's most popular majors are Government, Economics, and Biology. Consequently, the three majors are also some of Colby's strongest. The Economics Department is the 6th most published of any liberal arts school. The Government Department's faculty are cited in media outlets including the New York Times and Washington Post, and are called to testify on Capitol Hill on a regular basis. Colby emphasizes project-based learning , while volunteer programs and service learning take many students into the surrounding community.Major options include: African-American Studies, American Studies, Anthropology, Art, Biology, Chemistry, Chemistry-Biochemistry, five options in Classics, Computer Science, East Asian Studies, Economics, Economics-Mathematics, English, Environmental Studies (Policy), Environmental Studies (Science), French Studies, Geology, Geoscience, German Studies, Government, History, International Studies, Latin American Studies, Mathematics, Mathematical Sciences, Music, Philosophy, Physics, Psychology, Religious Studies, Russian Language and Culture, Science, Technology, and Society, Sociology, Spanish, Theater and Dance, and Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies. Majors combining Interdisciplinary Computation with Biology, Environmental Studies, or Theater and Dance were added in 2010.
Colby is very successful in its placement of graduate students. Recent placements include Harvard, Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
, MIT, Columbia
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, Northwestern
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
, Dartmouth
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
, University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
and Stanford. Colby has a near 100% admit rate to medical school for students with above a 3.5 GPA and an overall placement of 75% to medical school.
4–1–4 Calendar
The academic year follows a 4–1–4 with two four-course semesters plus a Winter Term session in January. The Winter Term, often called "Jan-plan", allows students to enroll in one intensive course, pursue independent research, or complete an off-campus internship.Study Abroad
Colby has one of most popular study abroad programs among US colleges, with over two-thirds of students studying abroad for part of their college career. Colby has its own programs in SalamancaSalamanca
Salamanca is a city in western Spain, in the community of Castile and León. Because it is known for its beautiful buildings and urban environment, the Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. It is the most important university city in Spain and is known for its contributions to...
, Spain, Dijon
Dijon
Dijon is a city in eastern France, the capital of the Côte-d'Or département and of the Burgundy region.Dijon is the historical capital of the region of Burgundy. Population : 151,576 within the city limits; 250,516 for the greater Dijon area....
, France, and St Petersburg, Russia and formerly operated programs with Bates and Bowdoin Colleges in London and Cape Town. Colby also has exchange programs with Pomona
Pomona
Pomona was a goddess of fruitful abundance in ancient Roman religion and myth. Her name comes from the Latin word pomum, "fruit," specifically orchard fruit. She was said to be a wood nymph and a part of the Numia, guardian spirits who watch over people, places, or homes...
and Howard University
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
.
The Goldfarb Center
The Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement organizes Colby's engagement in the local community, the national stage, and throughout the world. The Goldfarb Center organizes and awards the Elijah Parish Lovejoy AwardElijah Parish Lovejoy Award
The Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award is presented annually by Colby College to a member of the newspaper profession who has contributed to the country's journalistic achievement...
annually; it also organizes the The Morton A. Brody
Morton A. Brody
Morton Aaron Brody was an American judge. He served in the United States District Court for the District of Maine from 1991 to 2000....
Distinguished Judicial Service Award, the William R. and Linda K. Cotter Debate Series, the Senator George J. Mitchell Distinguished International Lecture Series, and Colby's Visiting Fellows Program. The Oak Institute for International Human Rights at Colby is a Goldfarb Center program. The center also organizes Colby's civic engagement programs: the Colby Volunteer Center and Colby Cares about Kids.
First Year Experience
In 1975 Colby instituted its first outdoor orientation trip. The program, which has been expanded to include on-campus orientation and is called COOT2, now offers 52 trips in the fall semester and an ICED COOT program for those students who spend the first semester of their freshman year abroad. Destinations for fall trips include hiking trips at Acadia National ParkAcadia National Park
Acadia National Park is a National Park located in the U.S. state of Maine. It reserves much of Mount Desert Island, and associated smaller islands, off the Atlantic coast...
, Mount Katahdin
Mount Katahdin
Mount Katahdin is the highest mountain in Maine at . Named Katahdin by the Penobscot Indians, the term means "The Greatest Mountain". Katahdin is the centerpiece of Baxter State Park: a steep, tall mountain formed from underground magma. The flora and fauna on the mountain are typical of those...
, and other locations around Maine; canoe trips on the Kennebec
Kennebec River
The Kennebec River is a river that is entirely within the U.S. state of Maine. It rises in Moosehead Lake in west-central Maine. The East and West Outlets join at Indian Pond and the river then flows southward...
and Moose Rivers, along with other trips around the state. The various trips are designed to appeal to incoming students with a variety of interests and fitness levels and more "front country" trips have been added in recent years including service- and arts-oriented options. The primary goals of COOT are to ease new students' transition into college and to introduce them to the Maine's cultural and natural resources. COOT leaders are chosen from upperclass students who apply for these positions and are expected to help the students both during and after the trip with the adjustment to campus life.
Ranking
Together with Bates CollegeBates College
Bates College is a highly selective, private liberal arts college located in Lewiston, Maine, in the United States. and was most recently ranked 21st in the nation in the 2011 US News Best Liberal Arts Colleges rankings. The college was founded in 1855 by abolitionists...
and Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College , founded in 1794, is an elite private liberal arts college located in the coastal Maine town of Brunswick, Maine. As of 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranks Bowdoin 6th among liberal arts colleges in the United States. At times, it was ranked as high as 4th in the country. It is...
, Colby is one of three highly selective liberal arts colleges in Maine. In 2009, Colby was ranked the 9th best liberal arts college by Kiplinger
Kiplinger
Kiplinger is a Washington, D.C.-based publisher of business forecasts and personal finance advice, available in print, online, audio, video and software products ....
, ahead of Maine rivals Bowdoin and Bates, 20th best college/university by Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
, ranking it 3rd in the NESCAC, and 21st best liberal arts college in the U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
rankings. Colby was named one of the "25 New Elite Ivies" by the Kaplan College Guide. Colby was also named one of "25 New Ivies" by Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
. Colby was named to the list of the top ten environmental programs by the 2010 Fiske Guide and ranked 13th by the Sierra Club
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...
rankings of America's coolest schools.
Campus
Colby's 714-acre campus is situated on Mayflower Hill overlooking the small city of Waterville, MaineWaterville, Maine
Waterville is a city in Kennebec County, Maine, United States, on the west bank of the Kennebec River. The population was 15,722 at the 2010 census. Home to Colby College and Thomas College, Waterville is the regional commercial, medical and cultural center....
, located along the Kennebec River
Kennebec River
The Kennebec River is a river that is entirely within the U.S. state of Maine. It rises in Moosehead Lake in west-central Maine. The East and West Outlets join at Indian Pond and the river then flows southward...
Valley in Central Maine. Colby's campus buildings vary in age from the original Mayflower Hill construction in the 1930s, to newest Diamond Building completed in 2007. Most of Colby's buildings are designed in the Georgian Revival
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
style of the original Mayflower Hill construction, but recent architectural additions have largely branched out.
Libraries
Colby’s three libraries—Miller Library, the Bixler Art and Music Library, and the Olin Science Library—have a collection of more than 900,000 books, journals, microfilms, music scores, sound recordings, videos/DVDs, and manuscripts. They provide access to more than 100 electronic databases and more than 47,500 electronic journals. Computer labs, wireless networks, laptops, study areas, and a listening center are available for student use.Colby College Museum of Art
The Colby College Museum of Art, founded in 1959 with the building of the Mayflower Hill Campus, is one of the largest art museums in Maine. Admission is free to the museum, which serves both as a teaching resource for Colby College and as an active cultural institution for the residents of Maine and visitors to the state. It is notable for an entire wing dedicated to works by American painter Alex KatzAlex Katz
Alex Katz is an American figurative artist associated with the Pop art movement. In particular, he is known for his paintings, sculptures, and prints and is represented by numerous galleries internationally.-Life and work:...
, a particularly strong collection of American art, and its major outdoor sculptures by Richard Serra
Richard Serra
Richard Serra is an American minimalist sculptor and video artist known for working with large-scale assemblies of sheet metal. Serra was involved in the Process Art Movement.-Early life and education:...
and Sol LeWitt
Sol LeWitt
Solomon "Sol" LeWitt was an American artist linked to various movements, including Conceptual art and Minimalism....
. The museum is part of the Bixler Art and Music Center, a building named in honor of President J. Seelye Bixler
J. Seelye Bixler
Julius Seelye Bixler was the President of Colby College, Maine, United States, from 1942-1960.-Early life:Born Julius Seelye Bixler in New London, CT, to James William Bixler and Elizabeth J. Seelye Bixler. His father was a clergyman who was elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives...
(1942-1960) in recognition of his visionary support for the arts at Colby.
Athletic Facilities
The Harold AlfondHarold Alfond
Harold Alfond was an American businessman who founded the Dexter Shoe Company and established the first factory outlet store.-Early life:...
Athletic Center is the center of athletic life at Colby, and home to the Colby White Mules
Colby White Mules
The Colby White Mules are the varsity and club athletic teams of Colby College, a premier liberal arts college located in Waterville, Maine. Colby's varsity teams compete in the New England Small College Athletic Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III...
. In addition to athletic offices, it contains:
- The Wadsworth Gymnasium, with a capacity of 2,600 people
- Alfond Rink, with 1,750 seats, home to the men's and women's ice hockey programs.
- The Boulos Family Fitness Center
- The Colby swimming pool, 25-yard by 25-meter indoor swimming pool with 10 racing lanes, three-meter, and one-meter springboards.
- The Dunaway Squash Courts - five international-sized, glass-backed squash courts built in 1993 with maple floors, motion-activated lighting, and fiber-resin walls.
- a field house with a four lane, 220-yard track.
Surrounding the Harold Alfond Athetlic Center:
- Harold AlfondHarold AlfondHarold Alfond was an American businessman who founded the Dexter Shoe Company and established the first factory outlet store.-Early life:...
Stadium new in 2008, contains an illuminated 400-meter, 8-lane track, with area for the long and triple jump, new discus and hammer cage and separate areas for shot put and javelin competition. - Seaverns Field, inside the stadium, is an illuminated synthetic turf field used by the football, soccer, and lacrosse teams.
- Bill Alfond Field is an illuminated synthetic turf field for field hockey and men's and women's lacrosse.
- The Alfond-Wales Tennis Courts - 10 hard-surface courts, including the Klein Tennis Pavilion
- The Colby soccer field and Loebs Field, two full-size playing fields west of the soccer field for soccer practice as well as intramural sports and summer sports camps.
- Crafts Field is home of the Colby softball team.
- Coombs Field, home of the baseball team,
- The Campbell Cross Country Trails are used for cross-country running and skiing.
In addition to the on-campus facilities, the White Mules also utilize:
- The Colby-Hume Center, located on Messalonskee Lake for Colby's crew and sailing teams. It is also open to the Colby community.
- The Sugarloaf Ski Resort is home to the Alpine Ski Team, and is used extensively by recreational skiers from Colby because of its proximity to campus, about 50 miles away.
- The Waterville Country Club for golf.
Housing and Student Life Facilites
Colby is a residential college and almost all students live on campus. The dormitories vary in design and age; some are from the original Mayflower Hill construction, with the newest addition being the Alfond Senior Apartments. Room arrangements range from singles to quads and apartment suites.All meals on campus including catered events are served by Colby Dining Services, which operates 4 dining establishments on Campus plus the Marchese Blue Light Pub. Cotter Union is the center of student life and programming, which houses the Pulver Pavilion, Pugh Center for Multicultural Affairs, Page Commons audtiorium, and the Student Post Office. Mary Low contains the Colby Outing Club and the Mary Low Coffee House for student performances, Roberts houses student offices for the Colby Echo and the radio station WMHB.
Student Government
In 2004 and 2005 Colby received press for a Student Government program offering beer and wine to of-age students in a dining hall. For a nominal cost, students were able to consume up to two beverages during their meal on specific Beer and Wine nights held periodically throughout the year. The program was cut but has been revived several times in recent years with alcohol served at class dinners for seniors and a few other selected nights throughout the year.Athletics
The Colby Mules compete in the National Collegiate Athletic AssociationNational Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
(NCAA) Division III New England Small College Athletic Conference
New England Small College Athletic Conference
The New England Small College Athletic Conference is an NCAA Division III athletic conference, consisting of eleven highly selective liberal arts colleges and universities located in New England and New York...
, and the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin
Colby-Bates-Bowdoin
The Colby-Bates-Bowdoin is an athletic conference in Maine containing three NCAA Division III and NESCAC schools, Colby College, Bates College, and Bowdoin College. These colleges have competed against each other in athletic contests since the 1870s. Bates, Colby and Bowdoin have one of the top...
Consortium. There are 16 varsity teams for women, 15 for men, and one co-ed team. The official school colors are blue and gray. Approximately 1/3 of the student population participates in one or more of 32 intercollegiate varsity sports. Colby also offers club sports, and an intramural sports program called I-Play.
Student Programming
In 2003 the college created a Student Programming Board (SPB) to produce social events on campus. This student-run organization sponsors multiple programs every week ranging from dances to special lectures to bingo nights to large-scale live performances. In the past, SPB has brought such acts as Wiz KhalifaWiz Khalifa
Cameron Jibril Thomaz , better known by the stage name Wiz Khalifa , is an American rapper. He released his debut album, Show and Prove, in 2006, and signed to Warner Bros. Records in 2007...
, Jurassic 5
Jurassic 5
Jurassic 5 was an American alternative hip hop group formed in 1993 from members of two previous groups, Rebels of Rhythm and Unity Committee by rappers Charles Stewart , Dante Givens , Courtenay Henderson , Marc Stuart , and disc jockeys Mark Potsic and Lucas Macfadden...
, Citizen Cope
Citizen Cope
Clarence Greenwood is an American songwriter and producer. His eclectic mix of blues, laid-back rock, soul, and folk has a large and profoundly dedicated following, built over the past decade of touring due to solid word of mouth....
, Blackalicious
Blackalicious
Blackalicious is an American hip hop duo from Sacramento, California made up of rapper Gift of Gab and DJ/producer Chief Xcel . They are noted for Gift of Gab's often "tongue-twisting", multisyllabic, complex rhymes and Chief Xcel's "classic" beats...
, Ben Folds
Ben Folds
Benjamin Scott "Ben" Folds is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and television personality. From 1995-2000, Folds was the frontman and pianist of the alternative rock band Ben Folds Five. Since the group disbanded, Folds has performed as a solo artist and has toured all over the world...
, Ben Kweller
Ben Kweller
Ben Kweller is an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.-Early life:Ben Kweller was born in San Francisco, CA in 1981. In 1982, his family relocated to Emory, Texas, where his father, Howard Kweller, became the town's first doctor. In 1986, the Kwellers moved to a much larger city,...
, OK Go
OK Go
OK Go is a rock band originally from Chicago, Illinois, USA, now residing in Los Angeles, California, USA. The band is composed of Damian Kulash , Tim Nordwind , Dan Konopka and Andy Ross , who joined them in 2005, replacing Andy Duncan...
, Dane Cook
Dane Cook
Dane Jeffrey Cook is an American stand-up comedian and film actor. He has released five comedy albums: Harmful If Swallowed; Retaliation; Vicious Circle; Rough Around The Edges: Live From Madison Square Garden; and Isolated Incident. In 2006, Retaliation became the highest charting comedy album...
, Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli Greene , better known as Talib Kweli, is an American hip-hop artist and poet from Brooklyn, New York. His first name in Arabic means "student" or "seeker" ; his in Swahili means "true"...
, Matisyahu, State Radio
State Radio
State Radio is an alternative rock band from Sherborn, Massachusetts, consisting of Chad Urmston , Chuck Fay and Mike Najarian...
, Lupe Fiasco
Lupe Fiasco
Wasalu Muhammad Jaco , better known by his stage name Lupe Fiasco , is an American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur, Lupe is the CEO of 1st and 15th Entertainment. He rose to fame in 2006 following the success of his critically acclaimed debut album, Lupe Fiasco's Food...
, Blue Scholars
Blue Scholars
Blue Scholars is a hip hop duo based in Seattle, Washington, created in 2002 while the members, DJ Sabzi and MC Geologic, were students at the University of Washington....
, Guster
Guster
Guster is an American alternative rock band from Boston, Massachusetts. Formed in 1991, the group is known for its live performances and humor, founding members Adam Gardner, Ryan Miller, and Brian Rosenworcel came about to begin practice sessions while attending Tufts University in Medford,...
, Common
Common (rapper)
Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. , better known by his stage name Common , is an American hip-hop artist and actor....
, Mates of State
Mates of State
Mates of State are an American indie pop duo, active since 1997. The group is composed of the husband-and-wife team of Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel .Over the course of the band's fourteen year career, they've released three EPs and six full-length, studio...
, CAKE
Cake (band)
Cake is an American alternative rock band from Sacramento, California. Consisting of singer John McCrea, trumpeter Vince DiFiore, guitarist Xan McCurdy, bassist Gabe Nelson and drummer Paulo Baldi, the band has been noted for McCrea's sarcastic lyrics and deadpan voice, DiFiore's trumpet parts, and...
, Bob Marley (comedian)
Bob Marley (comedian)
Robert Cochrane "Bob" Marley, Jr. is a comedian from Portland, Maine. He has stated that when he was born, his father had no idea there was a singer named Bob Marley....
and Naughty By Nature
Naughty by Nature
Naughty by Nature are a Grammy Award-winning American hip hop trio from East Orange, New Jersey that at the time of its formation in 1989 consisted of Treach, Vin Rock, and the DJ Kay Gee...
. In addition to SPBs programming, clubs on campus often put on all-school events.
Publications
Colby's student newspaper, The Colby Echo, has been published since 1877. The Colby Echo staff currently consists of 20 editors, who are responsible for assigning and writing articles, overseeing the production process and maintaining the Echo’s online presence. The Colby Echo editors also assign weekly articles to a team of 15 news staff writers. The Colby Echo is published every Wednesday that the College is in session, with 1,300 copies printed each week.Inside Colby is a student publication that highlights student life by blogs, essays, photos, and videos.
WMHB 89.7 FM
WMHB
WMHB, 89.7 FM Waterville, is the non-commercial College radio station of Colby College in Waterville, Maine, USA. WMHB is directed, managed, and staffed entirely by students. WMHB has been on air in one form or another since 1949...
, is Colby's non-commercial College radio station, directed, managed, and staffed entirely by students. It has been on air since March 1949, and broadcasts new and diverse programming to Waterville, Winslow, Oakland, Fairfield and surrounding communities, and around the world on the Internet via its webcast.
Other Clubs and Organizations
The Colby Outing Club is the largest club on campus by participation. Colby also has a vibrant a cappella scene. There are six groups on campus: The Blue Lights (Men), The Colby Eight (Men), The Megalomaniacs (Co-ed), The Sirens (Female), The Colbyettes (Female), and EVE (Female). The Colby Woodsman's Team hosts the Mud Meet annually. The student run organization, Luzicare, has raised awareness and money for the malaria problem in the Republic of Sierra Leone, and the Iraqi Refugee Awareness Movement IRAMIRAM
Released sometime before June 25, 2005, the i-RAM is a solid-state drive produced by Gigabyte which has four DIMM slots to allow PC DDR RAM to be used to store data....
has raised awareness and money for the 4.4 million Iraqi refugees displaced during the Iraq War; this movement is first of its kind on a college campus.Other clubs include the Colby Sailing Club, Colby Fencing Club, Ulitimate Frisbee Team, the Rugby Team, Colby Investment Club, Mock Trial, and many more.
Students
Colby’s 1,800-plus students, evenly divided between men and women, come from virtually every state and more than 60 countries. Colby students are listed as 62-percent white, 18-percent unknown race, 14.5-percent ALANA (Asian American, Latino/a, African American, Native American), and 5.3-percent international (2009–10). Colby's class of 2014 is the most diverse in its history, with 24% of its students being ALANA and 7% being international.Colby's was one of the five original schools to partner with the Shelby Davis Scholarship
Shelby Davis Scholarship
The Shelby Davis Scholarship is granted to graduates of the United World Colleges to study at universities in the United States. The Davis family's contribution to the United World Colleges, in scholarships and grants for building projects, represents the biggest contribution to international...
program for graduated from the United World Colleges
United World Colleges
UWC is an education movement comprising thirteen international schools and colleges, national committees in over 130 countries and a series of short educational programmes. The UWC movement aims to make education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future...
, dramatically increasing the international student population. Colby also participates in the Posse Foundation
Posse Foundation
The Posse Foundation is an American nonprofit organization that identifies, recruits, and trains student leaders from public high schools to form multicultural teams called "Posses" of 10 to 12 Posse Scholars...
for multicultural scholars. In 2005, Colby was presented the Senator Paul Simon Award for Campus Internationalization.