Colby College prepares students by giving them a broad foundation of knowledge, a set of intellectual tools, experience as active participants in a diverse community of scholars, and opportunities to engage the world. At Colby, we care—about teaching and learning, about making a better world, about each other.
To fulfill its mission, the College adopted The Colby Plan—12 precepts to help each student achieve his or her potential by:
- developing his or her capability for critical and creative thinking
- learning to communicate ideas
- learning to work independently
- learning about American culture and the current and historical interrelationships among peoples and nations
- becoming acquainted with other cultures by learning a foreign language and by living and studying in another country or by closely examining a culture other than one’s own
- learning how people different from oneself have contributed to the richness of society, how prejudice limits such enrichment, and how each individual can confront intolerance
- understanding one’s values and the values of others
- becoming familiar with the art and literature of a wide range of cultures and historical periods
- exploring in detail one or more scientific disciplines, including experimental methods, and examining the interconnections between developments in science and technology and the quality of human life
- studying the ways in which natural and social phenomena can be portrayed in quantitative terms and understanding the effects and limitations of using such data in decision making
- studying one discipline in depth to gain an understanding of that discipline’s methodologies and modes of thought, areas of application, and relationship to other areas of knowledge
- exploring one’s responsibility to contribute to the world beyond the campus
