Marlboro College
Encyclopedia
Marlboro College is a small, coeducational, alternative liberal-arts college in Marlboro
, Vermont
, USA.
veterans on Potash Hill in Marlboro, Vermont. The school's operation was initially financed using money received from the GI Bill. The campus incorporates the buildings of two old farms that once operated on the college site. Marlboro has grown slowly but steadily since its inception, and about 270 students currently attend, with an average enrollment at 315 students.
In 1997 Marlboro College founded the Marlboro College Graduate School
in nearby Brattleboro, Vermont to apply the same principles of Marlboro College to advance the careers of working professionals.
The Marlboro College campus has also been the summer home for more than 50 years to the renowned Marlboro Music Festival.
. Marlboro is just off Route 9 which runs east-west across southern Vermont, from Brattleboro
ten miles (16 km) to the east to Wilmington
and Bennington further to the west. Boston is two and a half hours to the east, Burlington is three and a half hours to the north, and New York City is four hours to the south.
The closest major town is Brattleboro, and students frequently make the 25 minute downhill drive along Route 9 to hang out there at night and on weekends. Brattleboro, like Marlboro College, is liberal in its social life and politics. The town features a well preserved historic main street with a strong gallery scene, boutiques, ethnic and health food, and a historic arthouse movie theater. The similar but much larger Amherst
–Northampton
area of western Massachusetts
is also a favorite hangout but is almost an hour away down Interstate 91.
Marlboro's facilities are relatively small because of its size. Many of the buildings including the main classroom building, the dining hall, the admissions building and the administration building are converted farm buildings that predate the college. The campus' historic buildings require a lot of maintenance. Through grants from federal, state and private entities, the college has been able to improve the energy-efficiency of the Dining Hall, Dalrymple, Mather and the Admissions building since 2008, with plans to work on student residences in the future. In the summer of 2011, the half-circle driveway at the campus entrance was converted to greens pace and walking paths.
In the last several years the school has added a new performing arts center with an 125-seat auditorium, an electronic music lab, practice rooms with baby grand pianos and a 5,000 square foot dance studio. A new dormitory called Out-of-the-Way, and a new painting and welding studio. The college also expanded the library, the sculpture studio, and added a new total health center (or THC) and exercise facility to the campus center. These additions made room for the world studies program in the old music building, a new student residence in the old health center, an expansion of the outdoor program into the old exercise room, and athletic space in the old dance studio.
Currently, the school is working together to build an addition to the Outdoor Programs Building, to centralize the equipment that the OP takes care of and loans out.
The school (as in the students, faculty and staff) is also actively building a new Greenhouse on the school farm, (Marlboro Victory Garden) which was designed by a recent graduate.
The results of this work are defended in an oral examination before two Marlboro professors, and one outside evaluator who has expertise in the student's field of study but is not connected with the college. The presence of the outside evaluator is meant to ensure that the grading process is fair and objective. The final plan is then put on permanent file as a reference work in the college library.
A thriving college radio program called Dead Tree Radio
is run by the students and is one of the main sources of music played throughout the campus. Due to the isolated nature of the school, Marlboro students lean towards each other for outside influences which creates a wide variety of genres played thought the radio station.
The school was founded on and continues to encourage a tradition of community participation and values. A bi-monthly "town meeting
" allows all community members to gather and vote to change the college bylaws. An elected community court dispenses justice when necessary. Different elected committees, consisting of students, faculty and staff, help to hire faculty (or even college presidents) and steer the curriculum, among many other responsibilities.
The school maintains very minimal security measures in order to promote attitudes of trust and responsibility on campus. The library is also open all night and uses a self-checkout honor system to keep track of borrowed materials.
Athletics are also shaped by Marlboro's location, and by Vermont's long winters (the coldest weather coincides with the academic year). Though few organized sports teams exist, the school's "Outdoor Program" promotes nature-oriented activities such as snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, canoeing, hiking, and the annual February broomball tournament. The college mascot is the fighting dead tree.
, The Marlboro Citizen, comes out several times per semester. A student literary magazine comes out on an irregular schedule.
Marlboro, Vermont
Marlboro is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The population was 978 at the 2000 census. The town is home to both the Southern Vermont Natural History Museum and Marlboro College, which each summer hosts the Marlboro Music School and Festival....
, 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...
, USA.
History
Marlboro College was founded in 1946 by Walter Hendricks for returning World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
veterans on Potash Hill in Marlboro, Vermont. The school's operation was initially financed using money received from the GI Bill. The campus incorporates the buildings of two old farms that once operated on the college site. Marlboro has grown slowly but steadily since its inception, and about 270 students currently attend, with an average enrollment at 315 students.
In 1997 Marlboro College founded the Marlboro College Graduate School
Marlboro College Graduate School
Marlboro College Graduate School was founded in 1997 by Marlboro College in Marlboro, Vermont. It is accredited with the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and located at 28 Vernon Street in Downtown Brattleboro, Vermont, approximately 12 miles from Marlboro College...
in nearby Brattleboro, Vermont to apply the same principles of Marlboro College to advance the careers of working professionals.
The Marlboro College campus has also been the summer home for more than 50 years to the renowned Marlboro Music Festival.
Location
The Marlboro College campus is located on South Road in the small town of Marlboro, Vermont in the wooded Green MountainsGreen Mountains
The Green Mountains are a mountain range in the U.S. state of Vermont. The range extends approximately .-Peaks:The most notable mountains in the range include:*Mount Mansfield, , the highest point in Vermont*Killington Peak, *Mount Ellen,...
. Marlboro is just off Route 9 which runs east-west across southern Vermont, from Brattleboro
Brattleboro, Vermont
Brattleboro, originally Brattleborough, is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States, located in the southeast corner of the state, along the state line with New Hampshire. The population was 12,046 at the 2010 census...
ten miles (16 km) to the east to Wilmington
Wilmington, Vermont
Wilmington is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,225 at the 2000 census.-History:The town was chartered in 1751 by Benning Wentworth, colonial governor of New Hampshire. It was named in honor of Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington...
and Bennington further to the west. Boston is two and a half hours to the east, Burlington is three and a half hours to the north, and New York City is four hours to the south.
The closest major town is Brattleboro, and students frequently make the 25 minute downhill drive along Route 9 to hang out there at night and on weekends. Brattleboro, like Marlboro College, is liberal in its social life and politics. The town features a well preserved historic main street with a strong gallery scene, boutiques, ethnic and health food, and a historic arthouse movie theater. The similar but much larger Amherst
Amherst, Massachusetts
Amherst is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 37,819, making it the largest community in Hampshire County . The town is home to Amherst College, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts...
–Northampton
Northampton, Massachusetts
The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of Northampton's central neighborhoods, was 28,549...
area of western 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...
is also a favorite hangout but is almost an hour away down Interstate 91.
Facilities
In the last several years the school has added a new performing arts center with an 125-seat auditorium, an electronic music lab, practice rooms with baby grand pianos and a 5,000 square foot dance studio. A new dormitory called Out-of-the-Way, and a new painting and welding studio. The college also expanded the library, the sculpture studio, and added a new total health center (or THC) and exercise facility to the campus center. These additions made room for the world studies program in the old music building, a new student residence in the old health center, an expansion of the outdoor program into the old exercise room, and athletic space in the old dance studio.
Currently, the school is working together to build an addition to the Outdoor Programs Building, to centralize the equipment that the OP takes care of and loans out.
The school (as in the students, faculty and staff) is also actively building a new Greenhouse on the school farm, (Marlboro Victory Garden) which was designed by a recent graduate.
The Clear Writing Requirement
Freshman students usually take one or more classes designed to boost their writing skills to an acceptable undergraduate level. All freshmen must submit 20 pages (5,000 words) of nonfiction writing to the English Committee by the end of their second semester. If the committee decides that a student's writing skills need more work, they recommend a class to help, and the student must prepare another portfolio, at least 10 pages of which must be new, at the end of the next semester for re-evaluation. In the event that a student fails the writing requirement for three consecutive semesters, the school will ask the student to leave with the caveat that he or she can return after receiving high marks from an English class at another school. However, almost all students pass the writing requirement within two semesters.The Plan of Concentration
Juniors and Seniors focus on developing a Plan of Concentration rather than on heavy coursework. "Plan" is a large self-designed project often involving a special and individualized combination of majors and minors. Juniors and Seniors focus on independent work and increasingly take tutorial classes (one or two students and an instructor). For most students Plan culminates in a written thesis, although art and science students may pursue other projects. However all Plans must include a written portion constituting at least twenty percent of the total plan work. In addition, all plans must include an independent project prepared without direct faculty input, also constituting at least twenty percent of the total plan. Plans that consist entirely of academic writing usually range from one hundred to two hundred pages double-spaced.The results of this work are defended in an oral examination before two Marlboro professors, and one outside evaluator who has expertise in the student's field of study but is not connected with the college. The presence of the outside evaluator is meant to ensure that the grading process is fair and objective. The final plan is then put on permanent file as a reference work in the college library.
Notable faculty
- Wyn CooperWyn Cooper-Background:Cooper was raised in Michigan and later attended the University of Utah and Hollins College.He has taught at the University of Utah, Bennington College, Marlboro College, and at The Frost Place Festival of Poetry. His most recent book is Chaos is the New Calm -Background:Cooper was...
taught at Marlboro.
- David MametDavid MametDavid Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...
taught at Marlboro for a semester.
- Peter LefcourtPeter LefcourtPeter Lefcourt is an American television producer, a film and television screenwriter, and a novelist.Lefcourt's early career involved writing teleplays for primetime series such as Cagney and Lacey, Scarecrow and Mrs. King , Eight is Enough, and Remington Steele, among others...
taught literature and writing from 1968–1970. (Novelist David RhodesDavid Rhodes (author)David Rhodes is an American novelist. He has published four books. The most recent, Driftless, was published in 2008.-Biography:...
was one of his students.)
Notable alumni
- Associated Press Special Correspondent Hugh Mulligan (deceased)
- Pastor Charles Tigard
- Poet Sophie Cabot BlackSophie Cabot BlackSophie Cabot Black is an American prize-winning poet who has taught creative writing at Columbia University and elsewhere.-Early life:...
- Scientist Robert MacArthurRobert MacArthurRobert Helmer MacArthur was an American ecologist who made a major impact on many areas of community and population ecology....
- Writer D. Y. BéchardD. Y. BéchardDeni Yvan Béchard is an Canadian-American novelist.His novel, Vandal Love , won the 2007 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book. It was a finalist for the 2009 Combat des livres, broadcast on Radio-Canada.-Life:...
- Novelist David RhodesDavid Rhodes (author)David Rhodes is an American novelist. He has published four books. The most recent, Driftless, was published in 2008.-Biography:...
- Portrait photographer Jock SturgesJock SturgesJock Sturges is an American photographer, best known for his images of nude adolescents and their families, primarily taken at communes in Northern California and at the Atlantic-coast naturist resort at Montalivet, France. His work has been the subject of controversy...
- Costume Designer Lahly Poore
- Public radio reporter Sean Cole
- Novelist Parnell Hall
- Actor Ted LevineTed LevineFrank Theodore "Ted" Levine is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs and Captain Leland Stottlemeyer in the television series Monk.-Early life and career:...
- Missy Suicide
- Author Deborah Eisenberg (left after two years)
- Actor Chris NothChris NothChristopher David "Chris" Noth is an American actor. He is known for long-running television roles as Det. Mike Logan on the police procedural and legal drama television series, Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and as Big on Sex and the City. For the latter role, he has been...
(left after two years)
Student life
Because of its isolation, Marlboro's social life is largely self-contained and centers primarily on small student-organized events or parties. Open mic nights at the Campus center happen several times a semester, and seniors organize a boisterous party called Cabaret at the end of each semester, which features insulting awards given to students. Graduating seniors and professors hold a party at the end of every academic year.A thriving college radio program called Dead Tree Radio
Dead Tree Radio
WDTR, otherwise known as "Dead Tree Radio", is a local Vermont State college program. The radio station began in Spring of 2008. Adam Keller helped start WDTR with the help of Ken Schneck, the dean of students...
is run by the students and is one of the main sources of music played throughout the campus. Due to the isolated nature of the school, Marlboro students lean towards each other for outside influences which creates a wide variety of genres played thought the radio station.
The school was founded on and continues to encourage a tradition of community participation and values. A bi-monthly "town meeting
Town meeting
A town meeting is a form of direct democratic rule, used primarily in portions of the United States since the 17th century, in which most or all the members of a community come together to legislate policy and budgets for local government....
" allows all community members to gather and vote to change the college bylaws. An elected community court dispenses justice when necessary. Different elected committees, consisting of students, faculty and staff, help to hire faculty (or even college presidents) and steer the curriculum, among many other responsibilities.
The school maintains very minimal security measures in order to promote attitudes of trust and responsibility on campus. The library is also open all night and uses a self-checkout honor system to keep track of borrowed materials.
Athletics are also shaped by Marlboro's location, and by Vermont's long winters (the coldest weather coincides with the academic year). Though few organized sports teams exist, the school's "Outdoor Program" promotes nature-oriented activities such as snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, canoeing, hiking, and the annual February broomball tournament. The college mascot is the fighting dead tree.
Publications
The administration of the school publishes a quarterly magazine, Potash Hill. A student newspaperStudent newspaper
A student newspaper is a newspaper run by students of a university, high school, middle school, or other school. These papers traditionally cover local and, primarily, school or university news....
, The Marlboro Citizen, comes out several times per semester. A student literary magazine comes out on an irregular schedule.
Statistics
- An average of 67% of the school's applicant pool is accepted. The middle 50% range of SAT I scores (for 2005) was 1040–1310 out of 1600 possible points.
- 68% of alumni go on to graduate school.
See also
- List of colleges and universities in the United States
- List of colleges and universities in Vermont