Founded in 1813, Colby College in Waterville, Maine, is one of the nation's oldest and best independent colleges of liberal arts. A residential four-year college, Colby is a national leader in research- and project-based undergraduate learning, and the depth of student-faculty interaction and collaboration is unparalleled. In recent years Colby has won regional and national awards for campus internationalization and environmental stewardship. Colby's 714-acre campus is one of the nation's most beautiful.
Fifty-three majors are offered by 25 departments and 11 programs. The most popular majors are biology, economics, government, English, history, and international studies. Colby follows on a 4-1-4 academic calendar, with the month of January devoted to intensive study. more>>
Admission to Colby is highly competitive. Colby received 4,679 applications for the Class of 2011. Of those, 32 percent were accepted for admission. Of those admitted, 31.4 percent enrolled. more>>
Hail, Colby, Hail
Colby's 23,700 alumni reside in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, three U.S. territories, and 74 foreign countries. more>>
Colby fields 32 varsity teams (15 men, 16 women, and one coed), 11 club teams, six intramural leagues, and numerous special intramural competitions. Thirty percent of students participate in intercollegiate athletics in any year, and 74 percent of students play intramural or intercollegiate sports at some point in their time at Colby. Colby is a member of the New England Small College Athletics Conference (NESCAC) and competes in the NCAA Division III, with the exception of alpine and Nordic skiing, which compete in Division I. more>>
The 197,000-square-foot Harold Alfond Athletic Center includes a 25-yard by 25-meter pool, ice hockey arena, field house with indoor track and tennis courts, two basketball courts, squash courts, weight-training and fitness center, aerobics room, saunas, a climbing wall, and a training and physical therapy center. Outside there is a fully lit synthetic turf field, an all-weather track, 50 acres of playing fields, 10 tennis courts, cross-country running and ski trails, and a lumberjack area for woodsmen's meets. more>>
The 2007-08 fiscal year budget is $120,583,000.
Colby's 714-acre Mayflower Hill campus is hailed as one of the most attractive campuses in the nation. It is located 20 minutes from the state capital and an hour north of Portland or south of Bangor. Most of the campus, including the 128-acre Perkins Arboretum, is a Maine Wildlife Management Area. Colby completed a move from its former campus in downtown Waterville in 1952. Take a tour>>
The median size of classes meetings is 15.
Blue and Gray
Historically Colby has led the way in opening the doors of opportunity. Baptists who founded the College insisted on a statement in the charter ensuring religious freedom. The first female student, Mary Low, enrolled in 1871, a century before many previously all-male colleges began admitting women. She graduated four years later as valedictorian of her class. Adam Simpson Green, Class of 1887, was the first African-American graduate, and 13 years later Marion Thompson Osborne became the first African-American woman to receive a Colby degree. In 1825 Englishman Gibbon Williams became the first international student to earn a degree from Colby.
The comprehensive fee for 2007-2008 is $46,100 and covers tuition, room and board, and required fees.
Colby has had a dual Macintosh and Windows computer-standard strategy in place since 1998. College-owned computers for student use are available in Lovejoy, Olin, and Miller. The library also includes the Davis Educational Foundation Electronic-Research classroom. Specialized computing facilities are located in biology, chemistry, computer science, economics, geology, mathematics, music, physics, and psychology, as well as in the Language Resource Center. Advanced UNIX/Linux systems are available in the Schupf Scientific Computing Lab.
Colby awards the bachelor of arts degree and uses the Latin abbreviation, A.B. (for Artium baccalaureus).
The College employs 566 full-time employees and 170 part-time employees in administrative, faculty, and staff positions.
The market value of Colby's endowment stood at $598,729,000 as of June 30, 2007.
Colby's Environmental Advisory Group (EAG) was formed in 2000 to advise the president and College community on issues related to environmental stewardship. Since then the EAG has been instrumental in raising awareness and implementing important environmental initiatives. The College's success in this area was recognized in 2003 when Colby received a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Merit Award and in 2002 and 2004 when it received the Maine Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence.
1,867 students represent nearly every state and 68 foreign countries. Forty-five percent are male, 55 percent female. Ten percent are from Maine, and 10 percent are international. Minority students make up 13.4 percent of the student population.
Colby's fact book, maintained by the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment, contains official facts and figures about the College, with several years of archived data are available. more>>
Colby employs 159 full-time and 69 part-time faculty members. The student to faculty ratio is 10 to one. Ninety-six percent of full-time faculty have a Ph.D. or a terminal degree in their area of study.
Two thirds of students receive aid through loans, grants, and campus jobs. All students determined to have financial need have their calculated need met fully. In 2006 the average aid package was $29,908. Colby does not award non-need-based aid. more>>
In 2004, the Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement was formed to connect teaching and research with contemporary political, economic, and social issues. The Goldfarb Center provides a venue in which students and faculty can think and work across disciplinary boundaries to develop creative approaches to complex local, national, and global challenges. more>>
The six-year graduation rate is 87 percent.
More than 93 percent of students live on campus in 24 residence halls that range in size from 30 to 172 people. There are no dorms exclusively for first-year students. All residence halls are coed and, except for the Alfond Senior Apartments and Dialog Housing (Spanish House and Green House), mix students from all four classes. Quiet halls and substance-free halls are offered. Colby has no fraternities or sororities. Integrating class years in the dorms helps students acclimate and become immersed in the life of the College.
In 2005 Colby won the Senator Paul Simon Award for Campus Internationalization from NAFSA: Association of International Educators. Reasons for the award included study-abroad rates that are among the highest in the nation, international perspectives throughout the curriculum, and the presence of international students, who now represent more than 62 foreign countries.
