Washington College Is Recognized as Top Tier Liberal Arts College in U.S. News' Latest Rankings

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Washington College is ranked in the top 100 of the influential U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges guide, which released its 2013 edition this week. The College is listed at #96 among all the national liberal arts schools across the nation (an increase of 10% over last year).  Separate rankings list national universities and regional colleges and universities.  

            A total of 1,391 colleges and universities were surveyed by the “Best Colleges” staff, which considers up to 16 factors, from acceptance and graduation rates to alumni giving. Freshman retention, class sizes and student-faculty ratio are weighed for the rankings, as are professors’ salaries and education levels and the percentage who teach full-time. Another important factor is “academic reputation,” as determined by the opinions of high school guidance counselors and top academic administrators at peer institutions. Lastly, the ranking formula considers the average spending per student, excluding expenditures for sports and dorms.

 “Our ongoing efforts to enhance our beautiful campus, support our dedicated faculty and create opportunities—both inside and outside the classroom—for our talented students are bound to be reflected in these national surveys,” says Washington College president Mitchell B. Reiss.

 “I see a campus that is hitting its stride in every area that matters for a life-changing liberal arts education,” he adds. “I see increased academic rigor throughout the curriculum, an amazing array of enriching speakers and events, signature programs in environmental studies, literature and American history, an increasingly lively arts scene, and a robust career counseling and job placement center. We can all be immensely proud of where we are and where we are going.”

Study Shows Graduates of Private Liberal Arts Colleges More Satisfied with Their Educations

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Washington College alumni were among those surveyed for a major comparative study on the value of a residential liberal-arts education. Conducted on behalf of the Annapolis Group, a consortium of 130 private liberal-arts colleges, the survey shows that compared with alumni of larger universities, graduates of the AG member schools showed significantly higher satisfaction with the lasting impacts of their college experience on their lives and careers.

As a participating member of the Annapolis Group, Washington College had submitted the names of 100 randomly selected alumni to the company that conducted the survey, Hardwick Day.

According to the executive summary prepared by Hardwick Day, “On measure after measure—from the quality of the learning experience to the nature of their engagement with faculty and peers, from the impact on intellectual and personal development to the value to their careers—alumni of private liberal arts colleges, where the residential experience is a core dimension, say that they benefitted dramatically personally and professionally, academically and socially from their college experience. They report this in far greater numbers and percentages than do alumni of large state universities, including the top public universities.”

Click here to read coverage of the survey in Inside Higher Ed.

Or visit the Annapolis Group Web site to read its announcement of the survey results.

Photos by Keanan Barbour-March.

C-SPAN Executive to Speak at WC

Chestertown, MD, October 16, 2000 — Bruce D. Collins, corporate vice president and chief legal officer for C-SPAN, will speak at Washington College on Thursday, Oct. 26. Titled "Succeeding as a Dot.Org Man in a Dot.Com Society: The Value of Idealism and a Liberal Education," his talk begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Casey Academic Center Forum.

Since joining C-SPAN in 1981 as an on-air host and moderator of the network's interview and viewer call-in programs, Collins consistently has held leadership positions both within and outside of the network. He is a member of the Federal Communications Bar Association and the U. S. Congress Radio and Television Gallery, among other professional organizations, and is creator and author of "At the Non-Profit Bar," a monthly column focusing on issues of special interest to attorneys for non-profit groups.

Collins lectures frequently as part of C-SPAN's professional seminars, which bring college-level faculty to Washington, D.C., for training in integrating public affairs television into a broad range of courses. He also serves as a trustee to the C-SPAN Education Foundation, which grants fellowships to professors and makes equipment grants to schools to advance public affairs education. He holds degrees from Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations and George Washington University's National Law Center.

Collins's talk is sponsored by the Goldstein Program in Public Affairs. It is free and open to the public.

Alumni Return with Advice for Life after Liberal Arts

Chestertown, MD — Successful Internet entrepreneurs will return to the school that gave them their foundation for success at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday March 23, in the Casey Academic Forum on the campus of Washington College. Linda Ferguson '88, Eva Kaplan-Leiserson '98 and Brandon White '94 will talk about how their liberal arts background helped them in their current careers and will answer questions from Washington College students.

Linda Ferguson is the president and CEO of Relicorp, Inc., a web development company. Relicorp Inc. is also the parent company of CoolOldStuff.com, an on-line antiques and collectibles shop where Web surfers can buy vintage clothing, pottery, jewelry, and other scarce items.

Eva Kaplan-Leiserson is the English and Reading Department Chair for Tutornet, an on-line real-time tutoring company. The start-up firm is "the Internet's first virtual classroom designed to connect real teachers and students from their home, school or anywhere there is Internet access."

Brandon White owns worldwideangler.com, a complete Internet fishing site offering products, articles, advice, and links to fishing magazines and sites from all over the world.

Life After the Liberal Arts was organized to offer current Washington College students an opportunity to interact with and learn from alumni who have put their degrees to good and sometimes unusual use in the working world. This is the second year the symposium has been offered. Each year features a different field of endeavor.

The symposium is sponsored by the Washington College Alumni Council.