Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
Encyclopedia
The Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering (colloquially Olin College or simply Olin) is a private
undergraduate engineering
college located in Needham
, Massachusetts
(near Boston
), adjacent to the Babson College
campus. Olin College is noted in the engineering community for its youth, small size, project-based curriculum, and large endowment funded primarily by the F. W. Olin Foundation
. The College currently awards the half-tuition
Olin Scholarship
to each admitted student. Unlike many institutions, Olin College does not have separate academic departments. Consequently, no separate budgets exist for different majors or subject areas. All faculty members hold five-year renewable contracts with no opportunity for tenure
. The college was accredited by the regional accreditation board NEASC
on December 6, 2006. Olin's degree programs in Electrical/Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Engineering received accreditation from the Engineering Accreditation Commission of Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology
(ABET) on August 31, 2007.
Olin College was founded by the F. W. Olin Foundation
in 1997. The foundation donated most of its remaining financial resources to the college, providing Olin with an endowment of about 460 million dollars
. Richard Miller
was inaugurated as the college's first president on May 3, 2003.
In a program known as "Invention 2000", Olin College hired its first faculty and invited 30 students, known as "Olin Partners," to help them form the first curriculum. The Olin Partners lived in temporary housing and spent their first year after high school investigating assessment and grading methods, jump-starting the student culture, and experimenting with forms of engineering education.
Olin admitted its first full class of 75 students in 2002. This class included the Olin Partners, a group of deferred students known as the Virtual Olin Partners, and recent high school graduates. After admitting three more classes, the college reached its full size of approximately 300 in fall 2005.
Olin's campus was designed by architects Perry Dean Rogers & Partners in the postmodern architectural style
. The construction of the first phase of the Olin College campus was completed in 2002, comprising four buildings. The construction of a second dormitory, East Hall, was finished in fall 2005. Future plans include another academic building that would contain additional machine shops and project space. Olin College shares many of its campus services with Babson College
, including health, public safety, and athletic facilities.
Much of Olin College's curriculum is built around hands-on engineering and design projects. This project-based teaching begins in a student's first year and culminates in two senior "capstone" projects. In the engineering capstone, Senior Consulting Program for Engineering (SCOPE) student teams are hired by corporations, non-profit organizations, or entrepreneurial ventures for real-world engineering projects. In the Arts
, Humanities
, and Social Sciences
("AHS") or Entrepreneurship
("E!") capstone, students work on a self-designed project relating to their focus.
All accepted students receive the Olin Scholarship, which pays for half tuition. This tuition also covers cross-registration with Babson College
, Wellesley College, and Brandeis University
. Although Wellesley College has an all-female student body, cross-registration is available for both male and female Olin students. Olin also shares clubs and intramural sports with the aforementioned colleges. Olin College also allows students to receive funding and non-degree college credit for "Passionate Pursuits," student-defined personal projects that the college recognizes as having academic value. Until 2009, the college offered full tuition to all students.
In addition to the Olin Scholarship, Olin College provides financial aid in form of need-based grants. These grants are paid when it is determined that the student is in need of more than $3500 a year, a figure which the school expects students to be able to obtain through part-time and summer work.
(ME), and Engineering
(E). Within the Engineering program, students may concentrate in Computing
(E:C), Bioengineering (E:BE), Materials Science
(E:MS), Systems Design
(E:SYS), or they may design their own concentrations with the administration's approval. Students also have access to an accelerated MS
in Technological Entrepreneurship program at Babson College
, with the potential to obtain this degree one semester after graduating from Olin College.
Classes at Olin College emphasize the importance of context and attempt to take an interdisciplinary approach. Freshmen take integrated course blocks that teach engineering, calculus
, and physics
by exploring the relationships between the three subjects. Arts, humanities, and social sciences courses take an interdisciplinary approach to subjects such as the "self" ("What is I?"), history
("History of Technology"), and art
("Wired Ensemble" and "Seeing and Hearing").
Olin College maintains a strong emphasis on practically grounded education, teaching not only the concepts but also connecting them to real-world challenges and projects. Beginning during their first year, students receive training in Olin's machine shop for project-based work. First-year students are required to take "Design Nature," a class that teaches design tools and processes. In this class, students design and build mechanical toys based on biological systems (such as the click beetle
's jumping mechanism). Projects often take a "do-learn" approach, with the application of concepts being taught before the formal introduction of the underlying theory.
Olin's Curriculum expires every five years, and must undergo an internal curriculum review. The goal of these reviews is to ensure that the college maintains a culture of change and continuous improvement, and constantly working to reinvent itself. The first of these reviews was completed during the fall 2007 semester. It is not yet clear to what extent the curriculum review will result in changes, but significant aspects of the curriculum are being considered for detailed review. Notably projects, student assessment, AHS/E! course offerings, experimentation within Olin, student workload are being targeted specifically for detailed review. These areas of detailed review were selected after significant student and faculty feedback was solicited from the Olin community.
Olin College's academic culture is heavily influenced by the school's honor code. Students often take exams on their own time and are generally allowed to use outside resources on exams, provided that they cite which sources they used. Students are trusted to adhere to the rules and limits specified for each exam without the supervision of a proctor. Because of this, honor code violations in an academic context are treated far more seriously and formally than social violations.
In general, the academic culture at Olin College is highly informal. Unlike most colleges and universities, some members of the upper administration teach classes alongside other faculty members. Teachers and administrators at Olin College are generally very receptive to student suggestions and feedback. This is viewed as especially important because Olin College is a new school, and its students play an active role in shaping the college for future generations.
(NEASC). The college became eligible for accreditation after it graduated its first class on May 21, 2006. On August 31, 2007, Olin received accreditation from the Engineering Accreditation Commission of Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology
(ABET). The accreditation applies retroactively to all degrees issued by the college.
Olin students are required to live on campus, unless an exception is made by the Dean of Student life due to personal circumstances (e.g. married students). As a result, much of the social life at Olin occurs in the lounges on each floor of the residence halls. Olin has no fraternities and sororities
, nor does it plan to introduce them. Olin College does not regulate the dormitories, except where required by law or for the safety of the college.
Social conflicts are generally resolved informally; students approach the Honor Board with a conflict only in extreme cases. In addition, the Office of Student Life picks student Resident Resources (R2s) to fill the role traditionally filled by the Resident Assistant
s (RAs) at other schools. Unlike most RAs, R2s are not directly responsible for enforcing college dorm policies.
in 2002. The Olin Honor Code has six clauses: Integrity, Respect for Others, Passion for the Welfare of the College, Patience and Understanding, Openness to Change, and Do Something. The first five clauses are based on the college's Core Values as defined in its founding precepts. The sixth clause calls on students to take action when they feel that the Honor Code has been violated, either through official or unofficial means. Students sign the Honor Code during first-year orientation. The code is upheld by an elected Honor Board which mediates conflicts and applies sanctions where necessary.
projects, co-curricular activities with faculty and staff (which are noted on the transcript), and "Passionate Pursuits"—independent projects eligible for funding and/or non-degree credit.
Olin students are also involved in writing, visual arts, music, and theater. Olin College has a variety of clubs and organizations that support the arts, including the Power Chords (a cappella), the Franklin W. Olin Players (FWOP), Film Club, and the Olin conductorless orchestra
.
There are several different athletic teams at Olin. Olin does not plan to compete alone on the NCAA stage and NEWMAC, the Regional NCAA conference, has not given approval for Olin students to compete with Babson's varsity teams next door. Olin has two soccer teams that compete in the fall through a Boston athletic organization. Olin also has an Ultimate
team that competes in the fall BUDA league and in the spring through the Ultimate Players Association (UPA). The team placed 10th in sectionals during the spring of 2008 just behind regional powerhouses at Harvard, Brown, and MIT. In addition, Olin students are allowed to participate in club teams and in non-NCAA
sports at Babson College
. The Babson women's rugby team (currently ranked first on the East Coast for Div. III, and moving up to Div. II in the 2006 season) includes several Olin members. Additionally, students participate in Sunday morning football games, intramural sports, and pick-up Ultimate
games, the Student Martial Arts Club (SMAC), the Weapons Handling and Combat Kakistocracy (WHACK) (Olin's fencing club), and other athletic organizations.
Olin clubs form in an ad-hoc fashion whenever a group of students unite around a common interest and apply for recognition. Funding is managed by the Student Activities Organization (SAO), which oversees both the Caucus of Clubs and Organizations (CCO), and the Student Activities Committee (SAC), which is in charge of all large on-campus events. The Council of Olin Representatives (CORe) is a group that focuses exclusively on representing student views and serving as an advocate to the administration.
Olin students are also encouraged to combine their creative and technical skills in competitions. Every year, students have competed in the Mathematical Contest in Modeling
(MCM). In 2002, a team from Olin College received the highest rating possible in the MCM; in 2005 an Olin team received the highest rating and earned the INFORMS Prize. Some students compete in design projects for organizations such as the Society of Automotive Engineers' Mini-Baja competition and the Olin Automatons, a group interested in autonomous vehicle technology (originally pursuing the development of an autonomous vehicle for the DARPA Grand Challenge
).
in the Olin community. Olin College has over 180 public mailing lists, which is notable because Olin's students number only about 350. To some degree, this sort of communication is possible only because of the high level of trust placed in the student body. For example, Olin allows any student to send email to all students or all faculty without any sort of permission or moderation.
Organized "Study Breaks," fun activities run by R2s, student organizations, or informal groups of students, help students cope with high stress levels caused by work and disparate responsibilities. The Student Activities Committee (SAC), part of Olin College's student government, funds and organizes recreational events.
's 2011 college rankings, Olin ranked #20 on the "Best Career Services" list, #13 on the "Dodgeball Targets" list, #10 on the "Dorms Like Palaces" list, #14 on the "LGBT-Friendly" list, #8 on the "Happiest Students" list, #4 on the "Lots of Race/Class Interaction" list, #4 on the "Professors Get High Marks" list, #14 on the "Stone-Cold Sober Schools" list, #3 on the "Students Study the Most" list, #10 on the "Town-Gown Relations are Great" list, #4 on the "Easiest Campus to Get Around" list, #5 on the "Best Classroom Experience" list, and #13 on the "Best Quality of Life" list. Compared to 2010, Olin's rankings have shifted unfavorably in almost every category. Among the significant changes, Olin has completely fallen off the list for "Great Financial Aid" (previously #1) and "Best Campus Food" (previously #14), and significantly dropped in "LGBT-Friendly" (#4 to #13) and "Best Quality of Life" (#7 to #13). Formerly praised for its full-tuition scholarship and need-based assistance, Olin is no longer identified as a "Best Value College" by the Princeton Review.
In the 2010 U.S. News
college rankings, Olin tied for #8 for Best Undergraduate Engineering Program among non-doctorate granting institutions and #9 for Best Undergraduate Engineering Program in Electrical/Electronic/Communications.
In 2006, Olin was selected for Kaplan, Inc.
and Newsweek
s 2007 guide as one of "America's 25 New Ivies
".
as the school's mascot. This mascot, sometimes unofficially called "Frank," represents Olin's willingness to reinvent itself, just as the phoenix is reborn from its ashes. Olin College's school colors are blue
and silver
.
Private school
Private schools, also known as independent schools or nonstate schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students' tuition, rather than relying on mandatory...
undergraduate engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
college located in Needham
Needham, Massachusetts
Needham is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb of Boston, its population was 28,886 at the 2010 census.- History :...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
(near Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
), adjacent to the Babson College
Babson College
Babson College is a private business school located in Wellesley, Massachusetts near Boston.- History :Babson College was founded by Roger Babson on September 3, 1919, as the Babson Institute. It was renamed "Babson College" in 1969...
campus. Olin College is noted in the engineering community for its youth, small size, project-based curriculum, and large endowment funded primarily by the F. W. Olin Foundation
F. W. Olin Foundation
The Franklin W. Olin Foundation was founded in 1938 by Franklin W. Olin.By the mid-1970s, the era of Horn, Wynn and Clark was ending, and the torch was passed to a new generation of board members. The transition in leadership began in 1974 with the election to the board of Carlton T. Helming, an...
. The College currently awards the half-tuition
Tuition
Tuition payments, known primarily as tuition in American English and as tuition fees in British English, Canadian English, Australian English, New Zealand English and Indian English, refers to a fee charged for educational instruction during higher education.Tuition payments are charged by...
Olin Scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
to each admitted student. Unlike many institutions, Olin College does not have separate academic departments. Consequently, no separate budgets exist for different majors or subject areas. All faculty members hold five-year renewable contracts with no opportunity for tenure
Tenure
Tenure commonly refers to life tenure in a job and specifically to a senior academic's contractual right not to have his or her position terminated without just cause.-19th century:...
. The college was accredited by the regional accreditation board NEASC
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...
on December 6, 2006. Olin's degree programs in Electrical/Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Engineering received accreditation from the Engineering Accreditation Commission of Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology
Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology
ABET, Inc., formerly the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, is a non-profit organization that accredits post-secondary education programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology...
(ABET) on August 31, 2007.
History
F. W. Olin Foundation
The Franklin W. Olin Foundation was founded in 1938 by Franklin W. Olin.By the mid-1970s, the era of Horn, Wynn and Clark was ending, and the torch was passed to a new generation of board members. The transition in leadership began in 1974 with the election to the board of Carlton T. Helming, an...
in 1997. The foundation donated most of its remaining financial resources to the college, providing Olin with an endowment of about 460 million dollars
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
. Richard Miller
Richard Miller (Olin College President)
Richard Miller is the founding president of Olin College since 1999. Previously he was Dean of the College of Engineering and Professor at the University of Iowa.-Facts:...
was inaugurated as the college's first president on May 3, 2003.
In a program known as "Invention 2000", Olin College hired its first faculty and invited 30 students, known as "Olin Partners," to help them form the first curriculum. The Olin Partners lived in temporary housing and spent their first year after high school investigating assessment and grading methods, jump-starting the student culture, and experimenting with forms of engineering education.
Olin's campus was designed by architects Perry Dean Rogers & Partners in the postmodern architectural style
Postmodern architecture
Postmodern architecture began as an international style the first examples of which are generally cited as being from the 1950s, but did not become a movement until the late 1970s and continues to influence present-day architecture...
. The construction of the first phase of the Olin College campus was completed in 2002, comprising four buildings. The construction of a second dormitory, East Hall, was finished in fall 2005. Future plans include another academic building that would contain additional machine shops and project space. Olin College shares many of its campus services with Babson College
Babson College
Babson College is a private business school located in Wellesley, Massachusetts near Boston.- History :Babson College was founded by Roger Babson on September 3, 1919, as the Babson Institute. It was renamed "Babson College" in 1969...
, including health, public safety, and athletic facilities.
The Olin experiment
Olin College attempts to set itself apart from traditional engineering schools through its focus on project-based and team-based learning, its interdisciplinary approach, its unique organizational structure, and that it provides scholarships to all accepted students.Much of Olin College's curriculum is built around hands-on engineering and design projects. This project-based teaching begins in a student's first year and culminates in two senior "capstone" projects. In the engineering capstone, Senior Consulting Program for Engineering (SCOPE) student teams are hired by corporations, non-profit organizations, or entrepreneurial ventures for real-world engineering projects. In the Arts
ARts
aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is best known for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....
, Humanities
Humanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
, and Social Sciences
Social sciences
Social science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...
("AHS") or Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is the act of being an entrepreneur, which can be defined as "one who undertakes innovations, finance and business acumen in an effort to transform innovations into economic goods". This may result in new organizations or may be part of revitalizing mature organizations in response...
("E!") capstone, students work on a self-designed project relating to their focus.
All accepted students receive the Olin Scholarship, which pays for half tuition. This tuition also covers cross-registration with Babson College
Babson College
Babson College is a private business school located in Wellesley, Massachusetts near Boston.- History :Babson College was founded by Roger Babson on September 3, 1919, as the Babson Institute. It was renamed "Babson College" in 1969...
, Wellesley College, and Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
. Although Wellesley College has an all-female student body, cross-registration is available for both male and female Olin students. Olin also shares clubs and intramural sports with the aforementioned colleges. Olin College also allows students to receive funding and non-degree college credit for "Passionate Pursuits," student-defined personal projects that the college recognizes as having academic value. Until 2009, the college offered full tuition to all students.
In addition to the Olin Scholarship, Olin College provides financial aid in form of need-based grants. These grants are paid when it is determined that the student is in need of more than $3500 a year, a figure which the school expects students to be able to obtain through part-time and summer work.
Academics
Olin College offers degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), Mechanical EngineeringMechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...
(ME), and Engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
(E). Within the Engineering program, students may concentrate in Computing
Computing
Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and improving computer hardware and software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology...
(E:C), Bioengineering (E:BE), Materials Science
Materials science
Materials science is an interdisciplinary field applying the properties of matter to various areas of science and engineering. This scientific field investigates the relationship between the structure of materials at atomic or molecular scales and their macroscopic properties. It incorporates...
(E:MS), Systems Design
Systems engineering
Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering that focuses on how complex engineering projects should be designed and managed over the life cycle of the project. Issues such as logistics, the coordination of different teams, and automatic control of machinery become more...
(E:SYS), or they may design their own concentrations with the administration's approval. Students also have access to an accelerated MS
Master of Science
A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...
in Technological Entrepreneurship program at Babson College
Babson College
Babson College is a private business school located in Wellesley, Massachusetts near Boston.- History :Babson College was founded by Roger Babson on September 3, 1919, as the Babson Institute. It was renamed "Babson College" in 1969...
, with the potential to obtain this degree one semester after graduating from Olin College.
Classes at Olin College emphasize the importance of context and attempt to take an interdisciplinary approach. Freshmen take integrated course blocks that teach engineering, calculus
Calculus
Calculus is a branch of mathematics focused on limits, functions, derivatives, integrals, and infinite series. This subject constitutes a major part of modern mathematics education. It has two major branches, differential calculus and integral calculus, which are related by the fundamental theorem...
, and physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
by exploring the relationships between the three subjects. Arts, humanities, and social sciences courses take an interdisciplinary approach to subjects such as the "self" ("What is I?"), history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
("History of Technology"), and art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
("Wired Ensemble" and "Seeing and Hearing").
Olin College maintains a strong emphasis on practically grounded education, teaching not only the concepts but also connecting them to real-world challenges and projects. Beginning during their first year, students receive training in Olin's machine shop for project-based work. First-year students are required to take "Design Nature," a class that teaches design tools and processes. In this class, students design and build mechanical toys based on biological systems (such as the click beetle
Click beetle
The family Elateridae is commonly called click beetles , elaters, snapping beetles, spring beetles or "skipjacks". They are a cosmopolitan beetle family characterized by the unusual click mechanism they possess...
's jumping mechanism). Projects often take a "do-learn" approach, with the application of concepts being taught before the formal introduction of the underlying theory.
Olin's Curriculum expires every five years, and must undergo an internal curriculum review. The goal of these reviews is to ensure that the college maintains a culture of change and continuous improvement, and constantly working to reinvent itself. The first of these reviews was completed during the fall 2007 semester. It is not yet clear to what extent the curriculum review will result in changes, but significant aspects of the curriculum are being considered for detailed review. Notably projects, student assessment, AHS/E! course offerings, experimentation within Olin, student workload are being targeted specifically for detailed review. These areas of detailed review were selected after significant student and faculty feedback was solicited from the Olin community.
Olin College's academic culture is heavily influenced by the school's honor code. Students often take exams on their own time and are generally allowed to use outside resources on exams, provided that they cite which sources they used. Students are trusted to adhere to the rules and limits specified for each exam without the supervision of a proctor. Because of this, honor code violations in an academic context are treated far more seriously and formally than social violations.
In general, the academic culture at Olin College is highly informal. Unlike most colleges and universities, some members of the upper administration teach classes alongside other faculty members. Teachers and administrators at Olin College are generally very receptive to student suggestions and feedback. This is viewed as especially important because Olin College is a new school, and its students play an active role in shaping the college for future generations.
Accreditation
Olin College is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and CollegesNew 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...
(NEASC). The college became eligible for accreditation after it graduated its first class on May 21, 2006. On August 31, 2007, Olin received accreditation from the Engineering Accreditation Commission of Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology
Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology
ABET, Inc., formerly the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, is a non-profit organization that accredits post-secondary education programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology...
(ABET). The accreditation applies retroactively to all degrees issued by the college.
Residential life
Fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
, nor does it plan to introduce them. Olin College does not regulate the dormitories, except where required by law or for the safety of the college.
Social conflicts are generally resolved informally; students approach the Honor Board with a conflict only in extreme cases. In addition, the Office of Student Life picks student Resident Resources (R2s) to fill the role traditionally filled by the Resident Assistant
Resident assistant
A resident assistant , commonly shortened to RA is a trained peer leader who supervises those living in a residence hall or group housing facility...
s (RAs) at other schools. Unlike most RAs, R2s are not directly responsible for enforcing college dorm policies.
Honor Code
The Olin Partners created an Honor CodeHonor code
An honour code or honour system is a set of rules or principles governing a community based on a set of rules or ideals that define what constitutes honorable behavior within that community. The use of an honor code depends on the idea that people can be trusted to act honorably...
in 2002. The Olin Honor Code has six clauses: Integrity, Respect for Others, Passion for the Welfare of the College, Patience and Understanding, Openness to Change, and Do Something. The first five clauses are based on the college's Core Values as defined in its founding precepts. The sixth clause calls on students to take action when they feel that the Honor Code has been violated, either through official or unofficial means. Students sign the Honor Code during first-year orientation. The code is upheld by an elected Honor Board which mediates conflicts and applies sanctions where necessary.
Changing the Honor Code
The Code and its related policies can be amended by a majority of students at a "town meeting" of at least half of the student body. Each such meeting concludes with a vote on whether to abolish the Honor Code. If the code were abolished, the governing policies set up by the Office of Student Life would take effect. This automatic vote prevents the Code from remaining in effect if students no longer support it.Extracurricular activities
Students can participate in multiple extracurricular school activities. These include student clubs, community serviceCommunity service
Community service is donated service or activity that is performed by someone or a group of people for the benefit of the public or its institutions....
projects, co-curricular activities with faculty and staff (which are noted on the transcript), and "Passionate Pursuits"—independent projects eligible for funding and/or non-degree credit.
Olin students are also involved in writing, visual arts, music, and theater. Olin College has a variety of clubs and organizations that support the arts, including the Power Chords (a cappella), the Franklin W. Olin Players (FWOP), Film Club, and the Olin conductorless orchestra
Conductorless orchestra
The conductorless orchestra, sometimes referred to as a self-conducted orchestra or unconducted orchestra, is an instrumental ensemble that functions as an orchestra but is not led or directed by a conductor. Most conductorless orchestras are smaller in size, and generally perform chamber orchestra...
.
There are several different athletic teams at Olin. Olin does not plan to compete alone on the NCAA stage and NEWMAC, the Regional NCAA conference, has not given approval for Olin students to compete with Babson's varsity teams next door. Olin has two soccer teams that compete in the fall through a Boston athletic organization. Olin also has an Ultimate
Ultimate (sport)
Ultimate is a sport played with a 175 gram flying disc. The object of the game is to score points by passing the disc to a player in the opposing end zone, similar to an end zone in American football or rugby...
team that competes in the fall BUDA league and in the spring through the Ultimate Players Association (UPA). The team placed 10th in sectionals during the spring of 2008 just behind regional powerhouses at Harvard, Brown, and MIT. In addition, Olin students are allowed to participate in club teams and in non-NCAA
National 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...
sports at Babson College
Babson College
Babson College is a private business school located in Wellesley, Massachusetts near Boston.- History :Babson College was founded by Roger Babson on September 3, 1919, as the Babson Institute. It was renamed "Babson College" in 1969...
. The Babson women's rugby team (currently ranked first on the East Coast for Div. III, and moving up to Div. II in the 2006 season) includes several Olin members. Additionally, students participate in Sunday morning football games, intramural sports, and pick-up Ultimate
Ultimate (sport)
Ultimate is a sport played with a 175 gram flying disc. The object of the game is to score points by passing the disc to a player in the opposing end zone, similar to an end zone in American football or rugby...
games, the Student Martial Arts Club (SMAC), the Weapons Handling and Combat Kakistocracy (WHACK) (Olin's fencing club), and other athletic organizations.
Olin clubs form in an ad-hoc fashion whenever a group of students unite around a common interest and apply for recognition. Funding is managed by the Student Activities Organization (SAO), which oversees both the Caucus of Clubs and Organizations (CCO), and the Student Activities Committee (SAC), which is in charge of all large on-campus events. The Council of Olin Representatives (CORe) is a group that focuses exclusively on representing student views and serving as an advocate to the administration.
Olin students are also encouraged to combine their creative and technical skills in competitions. Every year, students have competed in the Mathematical Contest in Modeling
Mathematical Contest in Modeling
The Mathematical Contest in Modeling is a multi-day mathematics competition held annually in USA, during the first or second weekend in February, since 1985 by COMAP and sponsored by SIAM, the NSA, and INFORMS...
(MCM). In 2002, a team from Olin College received the highest rating possible in the MCM; in 2005 an Olin team received the highest rating and earned the INFORMS Prize. Some students compete in design projects for organizations such as the Society of Automotive Engineers' Mini-Baja competition and the Olin Automatons, a group interested in autonomous vehicle technology (originally pursuing the development of an autonomous vehicle for the DARPA Grand Challenge
DARPA Grand Challenge
The DARPA Grand Challenge is a prize competition for driverless vehicles, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the most prominent research organization of the United States Department of Defense...
).
Spontaneity and student happiness
At Olin College, organized events are often arranged on a spontaneous basis. This is due in part due to Olin's small size and in part to the popular use of email listsElectronic mailing list
An electronic mailing list is a special usage of email that allows for widespread distribution of information to many Internet users. It is similar to a traditional mailing list — a list of names and addresses — as might be kept by an organization for sending publications to...
in the Olin community. Olin College has over 180 public mailing lists, which is notable because Olin's students number only about 350. To some degree, this sort of communication is possible only because of the high level of trust placed in the student body. For example, Olin allows any student to send email to all students or all faculty without any sort of permission or moderation.
Organized "Study Breaks," fun activities run by R2s, student organizations, or informal groups of students, help students cope with high stress levels caused by work and disparate responsibilities. The Student Activities Committee (SAC), part of Olin College's student government, funds and organizes recreational events.
Rankings
In the The Princeton ReviewThe Princeton Review
The Princeton Review is an American-based standardized test preparation and admissions consulting company. The Princeton Review operates in 41 states and 22 countries across the globe. It offers test preparation for standardized aptitude tests such as the SAT and advice regarding college...
's 2011 college rankings, Olin ranked #20 on the "Best Career Services" list, #13 on the "Dodgeball Targets" list, #10 on the "Dorms Like Palaces" list, #14 on the "LGBT-Friendly" list, #8 on the "Happiest Students" list, #4 on the "Lots of Race/Class Interaction" list, #4 on the "Professors Get High Marks" list, #14 on the "Stone-Cold Sober Schools" list, #3 on the "Students Study the Most" list, #10 on the "Town-Gown Relations are Great" list, #4 on the "Easiest Campus to Get Around" list, #5 on the "Best Classroom Experience" list, and #13 on the "Best Quality of Life" list. Compared to 2010, Olin's rankings have shifted unfavorably in almost every category. Among the significant changes, Olin has completely fallen off the list for "Great Financial Aid" (previously #1) and "Best Campus Food" (previously #14), and significantly dropped in "LGBT-Friendly" (#4 to #13) and "Best Quality of Life" (#7 to #13). Formerly praised for its full-tuition scholarship and need-based assistance, Olin is no longer identified as a "Best Value College" by the Princeton Review.
In the 2010 U.S. News
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...
college rankings, Olin tied for #8 for Best Undergraduate Engineering Program among non-doctorate granting institutions and #9 for Best Undergraduate Engineering Program in Electrical/Electronic/Communications.
In 2006, Olin was selected for Kaplan, Inc.
Kaplan, Inc.
Kaplan, Inc. is a for-profit corporation headquartered in New York City and was founded in 1938 by Stanley Kaplan. Kaplan provides higher education programs, professional training courses, test preparation materials and other services for various levels of education...
and 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...
s 2007 guide as one of "America's 25 New Ivies
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
".
Mascot
In 2002, the Olin Partners and Virtual Olin Partners selected the phoenixPhoenix (mythology)
The phoenix or phenix is a mythical sacred firebird that can be found in the mythologies of the Arabian, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Chinese, Indian and Phoenicians....
as the school's mascot. This mascot, sometimes unofficially called "Frank," represents Olin's willingness to reinvent itself, just as the phoenix is reborn from its ashes. Olin College's school colors are blue
Blue
Blue is a colour, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 440–490 nm. It is considered one of the additive primary colours. On the HSV Colour Wheel, the complement of blue is yellow; that is, a colour corresponding to an equal...
and silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
.
Further reading
- Murray, Charles (August 30, 2004). "If I'm happy, can this be EE school?" EE Times.
- Wessel, David (December 20, 2005). "Building a Better Engineer" Wall Street Journal.
- Guizzo, Erico (May, 2006). "The Olin Experiment: Can a tiny new college reinvent engineering education?," IEEE Spectrum.