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.

The Veterans Project Seeks to Recognize War Service of Washington College Alumni

CHESTERTOWN—The Awards Committee of the Washingon College Alumni Association is compiling a list of College alumni who have served our country in battle.

Director of alumni programs Judie Barroll is heading up the Veterans Project. Her husband Stewart's great-great-great grandfather, War of 1812 veteran James Edmondson Barroll, Secretary and Adjutant of the Troop of Horse, Kent County Militia, is the first of more than 200 veterans listed so far. Recent alumni are listed for combat service in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Click here to see the list.)

“The Awards Committee initiated this project more than a year ago,” Judie explains. “Through an article in Washington College Magazine and by contacting alumni through phone calls and e-mails we have been able to compile a pretty comprehensive list. But we know there are still some war veterans missing and some inaccuracies. This is a living, breathing document that is constantly changing, and we need alumni help.”

The list will live on the Alumni web page (http://www.washcoll.edu/alumni/) as it progresses and will ultimately be a valuable record for historians of the College. Judie says the Awards Committee also plans eventually to have the list framed and displayed in a prominent location on campus, “as one simple way to honor our Washington College alumni who have served or are serving our country.”

For more information, contact Judie at jbarroll2@washcoll.edu or 410-810-7143

Goodheart to Discuss His Acclaimed Civil War History "1861" in Easton on Thursday, Nov. 3

EASTON, MD—Historian and journalist Adam Goodheart will discuss his New York Times best-seller, 1861: The Civil War Awakening, at the Historical Society of Talbot County, 17 S. Washington Street, Easton, on Thursday, Nov. 3 at 6 p.m. A book signing and reception will follow the presentation. Co-sponsored by the Historical Society and the Talbot County chapter of the Washington College Alumni Association, the event is free and open to the public, but reservations are requested; please call 410-778-7215 or email to alumni_office@washcoll.edu

Goodheart is the Hodson Trust-Griswold Director of the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience at Washington College, a top-tier liberal arts college in Chestertown. As he explains in 1861’s prologue, the book was originally inspired by a discovery of old family letters that he and his students made while exploring the attic of a centuries-old plantation house on the Eastern Shore. The narrative begins in 1860, with Abraham Lincoln’s campaign for president, and ends July 4, 1861, when President Lincoln sends a message to Congress outlining his plans for prosecuting the war.

Goodheart’s book was released in April by Alfred A. Knopf to critical acclaim and quickly jumped onto the best-seller list. Historian James McPherson wrote that “Adam Goodheart is a Monet with a pen instead of a paintbrush,” and literary critic Anne Fadiman described 1861 as “a time-travel device that makes a century and a half fall away and sets us down, eyes and ears wide open, in the midst of the chaos and the glory.”

The chair of the Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation, Harold Holzer, summed up the book this way: “Combining a master historian’s sure command of original sources and a novelist’s deft touch with character and narrative, Adam Goodheart has produced the young century’s liveliest book about how a generation of remarkable and ordinary Americans alike variously provoked, resisted, and endured the dissolution of their country and the tragic march toward civil war. ... The result is that rarest of history books: a work of remarkable original scholarship crafted into an irresistible read.”

Goodheart's articles have appeared in National Geographic, The New York Times Magazine, Smithsonian, The American Scholar, and many other publications. He is a 1992 graduate of Harvard and a founder and senior editor of Civilization, the magazine of the Library of Congress. At Washington College, Goodheart has taught courses in American Studies, English, history, anthropology, and art. He also contributes regularly to the popular “Disunion” series about the Civil War on NYTimes.com. He has been invited to speak about 1861 at the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, the National Constitution Center, and many other venues, and has been interviewed on a number of radio programs, including National Public Radio’s “Fresh Air” and “The Diane Rehm Show.”

For more information about author and book: http://www.adamgoodheart.com. For details about the Historical Society of Talbot County and the Nov. 3 event: http://www.hstc.org/

Photo courtesy of Jim Graham.

Tom Crouse Named Chair of Visiting Committee

Chestertown, MD, October 20, 2000 — Dr. John Toll, President of Washington College, has announced the appointment of Thomas Crouse, Jr. as Chair of the Visiting Committee of Alumni.

Raised in Denton, MD, Crouse graduated from Washington College in 1959 and later earned an MBA from Columbia University. Crouse serves as Chairman of CIG International, Ltd., an investment firm he founded in 1984. He and his wife, Kay Enokido, reside in Washington, D.C. Crouse joined the College's Visiting Committee in 1995.

"As a graduate of Washington College and a successful entrepreneur, Tom will be able to contribute valuable insights as we define future goals for institutional advancement," said Toll. "His role will be to lead the Visiting Committee's active participation during our semi-annual meetings."

The Washington College Visiting Committee is comprised of Washington College graduates who act as a sounding board for the administration. Convening in the fall and spring for Friday and Saturday sessions, Visiting Committee members raise strategic issues, advise the president and senior staff, review programs, and suggest ways to advance the College to new levels of quality and distinction.

Washington College is a private liberal arts and sciences college located in historic Chestertown on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Founded in 1782 under the patronage of George Washington, it was the first college chartered in the new nation.