Recognizing that diverse interests exist in every community and that even the most professionally trained individuals have a need to continue their educations, Colby maintains an Office of Special Programs with a full-time director.

Each summer, approximately 6,000 individuals from throughout the nation and other countries are on campus for courses, conferences, seminars, and institutes in areas of medicine and public and professional services and for youth programs and sports camps.

The major focus of the summer programs is continuing medical education (CME). Colby is the only undergraduate college in the country approved by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to sponsor CME for physicians. Health care professionals attend about 10 CME offerings at Colby each summer.

A coordinating council of Colby administrators and physicians from Waterville's MaineGeneral Medical Center advises and helps to manage this educational component.

Approximately 70 doctors enroll each summer in the seven-week Lancaster Course in Ophthalmology, and two- to four-day seminars are held in anesthesiology, child abuse, childhood behaviorial disorders, emergency medicine, forensic medicine, ophthalmology, and pediatrics. The Maine Orthopaedic Review is a two-week course. In addition to CME accreditation, American Academy of Family Practice credit is generally available for courses designed for primary care physicians.

Public and professional service programs include the Church Music Institute, Great Books, and the Piano Institute. The Portland String Quartet is in residence for two weeks. Youth camps for lacrosse, soccer, football, basketball, baseball, cross country, crew, and other sports are available. In the summer of 2001, Colby was host to Gear Up, a federal program helping to raise the aspirations of seventh graders. In 2002 Colby's Special Programs began a relationship with the Gordon Research Conferences, which provide an international forum for the presentation and discussion of frontier research in the biological, chemical, and physical sciences. Six conferences were held at the College.

During the academic year, the office arranges annual conferences such as the Colby Institute for Leadership. Noncredit courses for which the continuing education unit may be earned are also structured and evaluated through Special Programs. In addition, Special Programs coordinates arrangements for conferences during the academic year.

Information may be obtained by writing to the director or by visiting the Special Programs Web site (www.colby.edu/spec.prog/).