Castleton State College
Encyclopedia
Castleton State College is a public liberal arts college
located in Castleton
in the U.S. state of Vermont
. Castleton has an enrollment of 2000 students and offers more than 30 undergraduate programs as well as master’s degrees in education. The college is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges
.
on October 15, 1787. The Grammar School, likely the most advanced educational institution in Vermont at the time, taught Greek and Latin and helped to fulfill the Vermont Constitution's requirement of universal free education for Vermont's citizens. The school began its transition to a college in 1867, when the State Normal School was founded in Castleton. The Normal School, a term based on the French école normale supérieure, educated students for teaching careers. For 30 years the Normal School was privately owned by Abel E. Leavenworth and his son Philip. In 1912, the State of Vermont purchased the property. In 1947, the Normal School became Castleton Teachers College.
In 1920, the school's charter lapsed. The college reopened in 1921 under a new charter issued by the state legislature.
The College saw dramatic growth in students and its stature in the 1920s and 1930s under the direction of Caroline Woodruff. Woodruff modernized the school's curriculum, incorporating the theories of Vermont educator-philosopher John Dewey
, especially his precepts of "learning by doing" and "learning by teaching." Caroline Woodruff hired staff with advanced degrees and broadened her students' exposure to the world by bringing people such as Helen Keller
, Robert Frost
, and Norman Rockwell
to Castleton. Woodruff was the first woman and first Vermonter to become president of the National Education Association
. With increased enrollment from men, intercollegiate athletics began in the 1950s. In 1962 Castleton joined other state supported colleges in becoming a part of the Vermont State Colleges
, a consortium of five colleges governed by a common board of trustees, chancellor and Council of Presidents
, each college with its own president and deans.
The campus is bordered by Mechanic Street to the west, Glenbrook Drive to the East and is bisected by South Street. Seminary Street leads to the President's House after going past Wright House (Admissions), the Casella Fine Arts Center, Levenworth Hall and the Georgian Revival Woodruff Hall. Castleton incorporates a building known as the Old Seminary or Old Chapel (Castleton Medical College Building
), which was once the home of an unrelated medical college that operated from 1818 to 1862 and attracted students from around the world. In the past decade the College underwent a series of major renovations. A new residence hall fitness center was built in 2004. Dorms and an expansion to the science center was completed in 2007. The $27 million Castleton Student Initiative project was completed in the fall of 2009. It includes a new Campus Center, addition to the Spartan Athletic Complex, multipurpose Spartan Stadium, and an addition to Leavenworth Hall that houses the Communication Department.
The original campus was centered around the Old Seminary Building, which was built in the 1820s and burned in 1924. It was replaced Woodruff Hall. The Old Chapel was moved from Main Street to a location next to the Seminary/Woodruff Hall in the 1860s; this building served as the original headquarters of the college. (The chapel was moved to its current location on Seminary Drive in 1968.) In 1926, thse buildings were joined by the Georgial Revival Leavenworth Hall (burned 1971), the school's first building devoted almost entirely to dormitory space. In 1951, this building was joined by another Georgian Revival structure, Ellis Hall, and at about the same time a science building was constructed (additions in the 1960s and 2000s, now part of the Jeffords Science Center). Subsequent buildings constructed include Glenbrook Gymnasium (c. 1957, with additions in the 1980s and 2000s), the Coolidge Library (1965, addition in 1980), Huden Dining Hall (1965), the Fine Arts Center (1968), new Leavenworth Hall (1974), Stafford Hall (1990s), and the Campus Center (1977, renovated in 2009). Subsequent dormitories, or "residence halls," include Haskell and Adams Halls (1965), Morrill and Wheeler Halls (1968), Babcock Hall (1975), Castleton Hall (2005), and North, South, and Audette Houses (2006).
Additionally, the college incorporates several former residences into its campus, including the Victorial Stick Style admissions building (Wright House), a circa-1840s Gothic Revival style public safety building, a 19th-century Greek Revival art studio, and a circa-1890s building housing a cafe and administrative offices (Morrill House).
The College's campus, portions of which are built in the Georgian Revival style, was featured in the sci-fi movie Time Chasers
, which was spoofed in a classic episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000
. The main character in this movie wears a Castleton tee-shirt through much of the film. More recently, and perhaps due to the cult popularity of the film and its MST3K treatment, the university bookstore has reissued the 1980s style shirts seen in the film.http://www.castleton.edu/campus/CollegeStore/retrocastleton.htm
and the Eastern College Athletic Conference
(ECAC). The Men and Women Varsity Ski Teams compete in the United States Collegiate Ski Association
(USCSA).
Castleton was also the 1963 NAIA
Division III Men's soccer National Champions. From 1983-1986, current Orlando Magic
head coach Stan Van Gundy
coached Men's Basketball at Castleton. Castleton started a football team for the 2009 season as a member of the newly formed Eastern Collegiate Football Conference
. As the University of Vermont
has not had a varsity football team since 1974 (which makes Vermont one of only two states in the union - Alaska being the other - where the state university does not field a football team), Castleton is now the only public institution in Vermont offering the sport.
The Castleton State College Spartans hockey team competes at the Spartan Arena in the Diamond Run Mall in Rutland (town), Vermont
1994-1998 6'10" Anthony Higgins dominated the paint for the basketball team leading them to an undefeated conference title in 1998.
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 in Castleton
Castleton, Vermont
Castleton is a town in Rutland County, Vermont, United States. Castleton is about to the west of Rutland, and about east of the New York/Vermont state border. The town had a population of 4,717 at the 2010 census. Castleton State College is located there, with roots dating to 1787...
in the U.S. state of Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
. Castleton has an enrollment of 2000 students and offers more than 30 undergraduate programs as well as master’s degrees in education. The college is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges
New England Association of Schools and Colleges
The New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc. is the U.S. regional accreditation association providing educational accreditation for all levels of education, from pre-kindergarten to the doctoral level, in the six-state New England region. It also provides accreditation for some...
.
History and governance
Castleton State College traces its history to the Rutland County Grammar School, chartered by the Vermont General AssemblyVermont General Assembly
The Vermont General Assembly is the legislative body of the U.S. state of Vermont. The Legislature is formally known as the "General Assembly," but the style of "Legislature" is commonly used, including by the body itself...
on October 15, 1787. The Grammar School, likely the most advanced educational institution in Vermont at the time, taught Greek and Latin and helped to fulfill the Vermont Constitution's requirement of universal free education for Vermont's citizens. The school began its transition to a college in 1867, when the State Normal School was founded in Castleton. The Normal School, a term based on the French école normale supérieure, educated students for teaching careers. For 30 years the Normal School was privately owned by Abel E. Leavenworth and his son Philip. In 1912, the State of Vermont purchased the property. In 1947, the Normal School became Castleton Teachers College.
In 1920, the school's charter lapsed. The college reopened in 1921 under a new charter issued by the state legislature.
The College saw dramatic growth in students and its stature in the 1920s and 1930s under the direction of Caroline Woodruff. Woodruff modernized the school's curriculum, incorporating the theories of Vermont educator-philosopher John Dewey
John Dewey
John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey was an important early developer of the philosophy of pragmatism and one of the founders of functional psychology...
, especially his precepts of "learning by doing" and "learning by teaching." Caroline Woodruff hired staff with advanced degrees and broadened her students' exposure to the world by bringing people such as Helen Keller
Helen Keller
Helen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree....
, Robert Frost
Robert Frost
Robert Lee Frost was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and...
, and Norman Rockwell
Norman Rockwell
Norman Percevel Rockwell was a 20th-century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of American culture. Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening...
to Castleton. Woodruff was the first woman and first Vermonter to become president of the National Education Association
National Education Association
The National Education Association is the largest professional organization and largest labor union in the United States, representing public school teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staffers at colleges and universities, retired educators, and college students preparing to become...
. With increased enrollment from men, intercollegiate athletics began in the 1950s. In 1962 Castleton joined other state supported colleges in becoming a part of the Vermont State Colleges
Vermont State Colleges
The Vermont State Colleges is the U.S. state of Vermont's system of public colleges. It functions as a governance organization, and was created by act of the Vermont General Assembly in 1961...
, a consortium of five colleges governed by a common board of trustees, chancellor and Council of Presidents
Council of Presidents
The Council of Presidents is the executive leadership body of the Vermont State Colleges , the governance organization for public colleges in the U.S. state of Vermont. The council is composed of a chancellor, the three vice presidents of the VSC, and the presidents of the five member colleges...
, each college with its own president and deans.
Campus
Castleton Medical College Building
Castleton Medical College Building is a historic building of the Castleton Medical College on South Street in Castleton, Vermont. It was the first medical college in Vermont.It was built in 1818 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971....
), which was once the home of an unrelated medical college that operated from 1818 to 1862 and attracted students from around the world. In the past decade the College underwent a series of major renovations. A new residence hall fitness center was built in 2004. Dorms and an expansion to the science center was completed in 2007. The $27 million Castleton Student Initiative project was completed in the fall of 2009. It includes a new Campus Center, addition to the Spartan Athletic Complex, multipurpose Spartan Stadium, and an addition to Leavenworth Hall that houses the Communication Department.
The original campus was centered around the Old Seminary Building, which was built in the 1820s and burned in 1924. It was replaced Woodruff Hall. The Old Chapel was moved from Main Street to a location next to the Seminary/Woodruff Hall in the 1860s; this building served as the original headquarters of the college. (The chapel was moved to its current location on Seminary Drive in 1968.) In 1926, thse buildings were joined by the Georgial Revival Leavenworth Hall (burned 1971), the school's first building devoted almost entirely to dormitory space. In 1951, this building was joined by another Georgian Revival structure, Ellis Hall, and at about the same time a science building was constructed (additions in the 1960s and 2000s, now part of the Jeffords Science Center). Subsequent buildings constructed include Glenbrook Gymnasium (c. 1957, with additions in the 1980s and 2000s), the Coolidge Library (1965, addition in 1980), Huden Dining Hall (1965), the Fine Arts Center (1968), new Leavenworth Hall (1974), Stafford Hall (1990s), and the Campus Center (1977, renovated in 2009). Subsequent dormitories, or "residence halls," include Haskell and Adams Halls (1965), Morrill and Wheeler Halls (1968), Babcock Hall (1975), Castleton Hall (2005), and North, South, and Audette Houses (2006).
Additionally, the college incorporates several former residences into its campus, including the Victorial Stick Style admissions building (Wright House), a circa-1840s Gothic Revival style public safety building, a 19th-century Greek Revival art studio, and a circa-1890s building housing a cafe and administrative offices (Morrill House).
The College's campus, portions of which are built in the Georgian Revival style, was featured in the sci-fi movie Time Chasers
Time Chasers
Time Chasers is a 1994 science fiction film directed by David Giancola and starring Matthew Bruch, George Woodard, and Bonnie Pritchard. The film follows the adventures of an amateur inventor who goes through time with his female accomplice to stop an evil megacorporation intent on changing...
, which was spoofed in a classic episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....
. The main character in this movie wears a Castleton tee-shirt through much of the film. More recently, and perhaps due to the cult popularity of the film and its MST3K treatment, the university bookstore has reissued the 1980s style shirts seen in the film.http://www.castleton.edu/campus/CollegeStore/retrocastleton.htm
Athletics
The Castleton State Spartans compete in 20 NCAA Division III Varsity sports in the North Atlantic ConferenceNorth Atlantic Conference
The North Atlantic Conference is an athletic conference, affiliated with the NCAA’s Division III, consisting primarily of small liberal arts colleges throughout the New England states of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont....
and the Eastern College Athletic Conference
Eastern College Athletic Conference
The Eastern College Athletic Conference is a college athletic conference comprising schools that compete in 21 sports . It has 317 member institutions in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, ranging in location from Maine to North Carolina and west to Illinois...
(ECAC). The Men and Women Varsity Ski Teams compete in the United States Collegiate Ski Association
USCSA
The United States Ski Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association is the sports federation for collegiate team ski racing and snowboarding in America. In excess of 150 colleges from coast to coast, the USCSA fields some 4,200 men and women, alpine, Nordic, freestyle and snowboard athletes in over...
(USCSA).
Castleton was also the 1963 NAIA
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics is an athletic association that organizes college and university-level athletic programs. Membership in the NAIA consists of smaller colleges and universities across the United States. The NAIA allows colleges and universities outside the USA...
Division III Men's soccer National Champions. From 1983-1986, current Orlando Magic
Orlando Magic
The Orlando Magic is a professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. They play in the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association and are currently coached by Stan Van Gundy...
head coach Stan Van Gundy
Stan Van Gundy
Stanley A. "Stan" Van Gundy is the head coach of the National Basketball Association's Orlando Magic. From 2003 to 2005, he was the head coach of the Miami Heat but resigned in 2005 mid-season, turning the job over to Pat Riley...
coached Men's Basketball at Castleton. Castleton started a football team for the 2009 season as a member of the newly formed Eastern Collegiate Football Conference
Eastern Collegiate Football Conference
The Eastern Collegiate Football Conference is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA’s Division III. Founded in 2009, it features institutions with teams primarily in other conferences.-Members:-External links:*...
. As the University of Vermont
University of Vermont
The University of Vermont comprises seven undergraduate schools, an honors college, a graduate college, and a college of medicine. The Honors College does not offer its own degrees; students in the Honors College concurrently enroll in one of the university's seven undergraduate colleges or...
has not had a varsity football team since 1974 (which makes Vermont one of only two states in the union - Alaska being the other - where the state university does not field a football team), Castleton is now the only public institution in Vermont offering the sport.
The Castleton State College Spartans hockey team competes at the Spartan Arena in the Diamond Run Mall in Rutland (town), Vermont
Rutland (town), Vermont
Rutland is a town in Rutland County, Vermont, United States. The population was 4,054 at the 2010 census. Rutland completely surrounds the city of Rutland, which is incorporated separately from the town of Rutland.-History:...
1994-1998 6'10" Anthony Higgins dominated the paint for the basketball team leading them to an undefeated conference title in 1998.