Sterling College (Vermont)

Infobox_University
name =Sterling College


image_size =
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motto =Working Hands - Working Minds
established =1958
type =
endowment =$640,859cite web|url=http://www.petersons.com/ugchannel/code/instvc.asp?inunid=8863|title=College Overview - Sterling College|accessdate=2007-01-26|date=2006-10-23|work =Peterson's]
staff =
faculty =45
president =William R. Wootton
students =100
city =Craftsbury Common, Vermont
free_label =
free =
colors =
mascot =
nickname =
footnotes =
website =http://www.sterlingcollege.edu/
telephone =802-586-7711

Sterling College is a college in Craftsbury Common, Vermont known as the smallest accredited four-year college in the country. [Kelley, Kevin J. "Vermont's small colleges eye Trinity's demise". "Vermont Business Magazine", August 1, 2000.] Sterling is one of seven colleges in the Work College Consortium. The school is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. Sterling is one of only two colleges in the United States to offer a Bachelor of Arts degree in Circumpolar Studies. [Occaso, Carla. " [http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070115/NEWS02/701150334 Sterling College smallest fully accredited school] ". "Times Argus" (Barre, VT), January 15, 2007.]

History

Sterling School was founded in 1958 as a boys' college preparatory school by former Berkshire School faculty member Norman Rioux. The school's educational philosophy was influenced by that of Outward Bound founder Kurt Hahn. The school transition to higher education during the 1970s began with the Academic Short Course in Outdoor Leadership, a 21-day program for 13 to 16 year olds.

Faced with closure in 1974, a group of faculty chose to remain and established an academic year-long program similar to Outward Bound programs known as Grassroots Project in Vermont at Sterling Institute. By 1983, Sterling had developed into an accredited college offering an Associate of Arts degree in resource management with full accreditation by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges granted in 1987.

Since 1997, Sterling College has been accredited as a four-year college and has awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree with concentrations in wildlands ecology and management, outdoor education and leadership, and sustainable agriculture. The four-year program builds on the Grassroots Year and second-year internship program from the two-year program with a junior year in which many students engage in field studies abroad and a comprehensive Senior Applied Research Project. Sterling College joined the Work Colleges Consortium in 1999 and The Center for Northern Studies, which had been operating in neighboring Wolcott since 1971, merged with Sterling College in 2003. [cite web |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0201/p12s02-legn.html |title=An icy landscape as a classroom |accessdate=2007-01-27 |author=Stacy A. Teicher |date=2005-02-01 |work=The Christian Science Monitor]

Campus

The primary campus is 130 acres (526,091 m²). It has 14 buildings including a woodworking shop and a library. Outdoor teaching facilities include a managed woodlot, a challenge course, a 30-foot climbing tower, organic gardens, and a working livestock farm with two solar/wind powered barns. Much of what is grown and raised is consumed in the dining hall. The Center for Northern Studies at Sterling College is comprised of a 300 acre (1,214,057 m²) boreal wetland and a building containing a specialized library, classroom space, offices, and a lounge.

References

External links

* [http://www.sterlingcollege.edu/ Sterling College]
* [http://www.workcolleges.org/ Work College Consortium]
* [http://www.grist.org/comments/dispatches/1999/07/12/kirkby-stirling_college/ Melissa Kirkby, student at Sterling College] five-part commentary series at "Grist"