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Former names | Green Mountain Central Institute & Goddard Seminary |
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Type | Private, low-residency |
Established | 1863 |
President | Dan Hocoy [1] |
Academic staff | 64 |
Administrative staff | 50 |
Students | 393 |
Location | , , United States 44°16′44″N72°26′22″W / 44.2789°N 72.4394°W Coordinates: 44°16′44″N72°26′22″W / 44.2789°N 72.4394°W |
Campus | Rural 175 acres (71 ha) |
Colors | Blue and white |
Website | www |
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Goddard College is a progressive education private liberal arts low-residency college with three locations in the United States: Plainfield, Vermont; Port Townsend, Washington; and Seattle, Washington. The college offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs. With predecessor institutions dating to 1863, Goddard College was founded in 1938 as an experimental and non-traditional educational institution based on the idea of John Dewey that experience and education are intricately linked. [2]
Goddard College uses an intensive low-residency model. First developed for Goddard's MFA in Creative Writing Program, Goddard College operated a mix of residential, low-residency, and distance-learning programs starting in 1963. When it closed its Residential Undergraduate Program in 2002, it switched to a system of 100% low-residency programs. In most of these, each student designs a unique curriculum. The college uses a student self-directed, mentored system in which faculty make narrative evaluations of students' progress as they fulfill their program's degree criteria. Goddard offers a Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), Master of Arts (MA), Master of Fine Arts (MFA), along with several concentrations and Licensures. It enrolls approximately 364 students, 30% of whom are undergraduates. It employs 64 faculty and 50 staff.
The college is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.
Goddard College began in 1863 in Barre, Vermont, as the Green Mountain Central Institute. In 1870, it was renamed Goddard Seminary in honor of Thomas A. Goddard (1811–1868) and his wife Mary (1816–1889). [3] Goddard was a prominent merchant in Boston, and was one of the school's earliest and most generous benefactors. [3]
Founded by Universalists, Goddard Seminary was originally a four-year preparatory high school, primarily affiliated with Tufts College. For many years the Seminary prospered. But the opening of many good public high schools in the 20th century made many of the private New England academies obsolete. To attempt to save it, the trustees added a Junior College to the Seminary in 1935, with a Seminary graduate, Royce S. "Tim" Pitkin, as President. [4]
Royce S. "Tim" Pitkin was a progressive educator and follower of John Dewey, William Heard Kilpatrick and other, similar proponents of educational democracy. In 1936, under his leadership, the Seminary concluded that in order for Goddard to survive, an entirely new institution would need to be created. A number of prominent educators and laymen agreed with him. Pitkin was supported by Stanley C. Wilson, former governor of Vermont and chairman of the Goddard Seminary Board of Trustees; Senators George Aiken and Ralph Flanders, and Dorothy Canfield Fisher. [5]
Pitkin persuaded the Board of Trustees to embrace a new style of education, one that substituted individual attention, democracy, and informality for the traditionally austere and autocratic educational model. On March 13, 1938, Goddard College was chartered. In July 1938 the newly formed Goddard College moved to Greatwood Farm in Plainfield, Vermont.
The new Goddard was an experimental and progressive college. For its first 21 years of operation, Goddard was unaccredited and small, but it built a reputation as one of the most innovative colleges in the country. [6] Especially noteworthy were Goddard's use of discussion as the basic method in classroom teaching; its emphasis on the whole lives of students in determining personal curricula; its incorporation of practical work into the life of every student; and its development of the college as a self-governing learning community in which everyone had a voice. [7]
In 1959 Goddard College was accredited. One of the founding principles of Goddard was that it should provide educational opportunities for adults. [8] There was a great need for a program for adults who had not completed college, to obtain degrees without disrupting their family lives or careers. The Adult Degree Program (ADP), created by Evalyn Bates, was established in 1963. It was the first low-residency adult education program in the country. [2]
Over the years many experimental programs were designed at Goddard. These programs included the Goddard Experimental Program for Further Education, Design Build Program, Goddard Cambridge Program for Social Change, Third World Studies Program, Institute for Social Ecology, Single Parent Program and many others.
Based on its use of narrative transcripts instead of traditional letter grades, as well as learner-designed curricula, Goddard was among the founding members of the Union for Experimenting Colleges and Universities. These included Franconia, Nasson, Antioch, and others.
In 2002, after 54 years, the college terminated its residential undergraduate degree program and became an exclusively low-residency college. Three years later, the college expanded to the West Coast and established a residency site in Port Townsend, Washington. In July 2011 Goddard began to offer their education program (non-licensure only) in Seattle, Washington.
Goddard was placed on probation in 2018 by the New England Commission of Higher Education because of a perceived "[lack of] stability of executive leadership" and concerns about the college's financial resources. [9] [10] [11] The probation was lifted in 2020 after the college satisfied the commission that it had rectified those issues. [12]
Goddard College Greatwood Campus | |
![]() Goddard College Clockhouse | |
Area | 15 acres (6.1 ha) |
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Built | 1908 |
Architect | James T. Kelley; Arthur Asahel Shurcliff |
Architectural style | Shingle Style, Tudor Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 96000253 [13] |
Added to NRHP | March 7, 1996 |
The campus in Plainfield was founded in 1938 on the grounds of a late 19th-century model farm: The Greatwood Farm & Estate consists of shingle-style buildings and gardens designed by Arthur Shurcliff. The Village of Learning, consisting of eleven dormitory buildings, was constructed adjacent to the ensemble of renovated farm buildings in 1963 to accommodate an increasing student population. The Pratt Center & Library, designed to be at the heart of a larger campus, was constructed in 1968.
No other significant new construction has been added to the campus since that time. On March 7, 1996 the Greatwood campus was recognized for its historic and architectural significance by its inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. [14]
A US Army post from 1902 to 1953, [15] much of the fort has been renovated and adapted as a year-round, multi-use facility dedicated to lifelong learning. It houses several organizations that comprise Fort Worden State Park. The fort is located on a bluff overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Admiralty Inlet near Port Townsend, Washington.
The MA in Education program, originally held in the Plainfield-based low-residency program, expanded in 2011 into Columbia City, one of Seattle's most ethnically and racially diverse neighborhoods.
The program is unique in that it trains students in bilingual preschool education. Students can focus on such areas as intercultural studies, dual language, early childhood, cultural arts, and community education, and create their plan of studies for each semester. The program is designed to serve students who cannot leave their families and communities for the residency. The “community campus” is housed in different buildings in the area.
Each Goddard student designs their own curriculum in accordance with their program's degree criteria.
In addition to fulfilling academic criteria in the subjects of the arts, the humanities, mathematics, natural sciences and social sciences, undergraduate students must also demonstrate critical thinking and writing, understanding of social and ecological contexts, positive self-development, and thoughtful action within their learning processes.
The college uses a student self-directed, mentored system in which faculty issue narrative evaluations of student's progress instead of grades. The intensive low-residency model requires that students come to campus every six months for approximately eight days. During this period, students engage in a variety of activities and lectures from early morning until late in the evening, and create detailed study plans. During the semester, students study independently, sending in "packets" to their faculty mentors every few weeks. When low-residency education began at Goddard, packets were made up of paper documents sent via the mail.
Since advances in the internet and related technology, in the 21st century most packets are sent electronically. They may contain artwork, audio files, photography, video and web pages, in addition to writing. The schedule and format of these packets differ from program to program, and content varies with each student-faculty correspondence. The focus is generally on research, writing, and reflection related to each student's individualized study plan.
At regular intervals students compile their work into "learning portfolios" to submit as part of a Progress Review before a cross-program board of faculty. The board ensures that all students' work is in compliance with the college's degree criteria. Undergraduates must complete a yearlong Senior Study, accompanied by final graduating presentations of work, before being awarded a degree. [16]
The Eliot D. Pratt Center and Library, located in Plainfield, Vermont, serves the entire Goddard College community. It is also open to the public. Its holdings contain over 70,000 physical items and access to over 20 electronic databases. The building also houses several administrative offices, an Archives room with artifacts from the 1800s to present, an Art Gallery, and WGDR (91.1 FM), a college/community radio station serving Central Vermont since 1973.
Goddard is home to Goddard College Community Radio, a community-based, non-commercial, listener-supported educational radio station. It has nearly 70 volunteer programmers who live and work in central and northern Vermont and who range in age from 12 to 78 years. WGDR, 91.1 FM, is licensed to Plainfield, Vermont. Its sister station, WGDH, 91.7 FM, is licensed to Hardwick, Vermont. Goddard College Community Radio is the largest non-commercial community radio station in Vermont; it is the only non-commercial station in the state other than the statewide Vermont Public Radio network, which receives funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
This structure was originally built as a barn in 1868 by the Martin Family and was one of the largest barns in Central Vermont. The Haybarn was originally used to store hay, grain and livestock. In 1938, when Goddard College purchased Greatwood Farm, they began the process of adapting the farm buildings into academic and student spaces. The Haybarn was renovated to provide a space for the performing arts.
For almost 75 years the Haybarn Theatre has been a place where the local community and the College come together to enjoy and appreciate the arts. The Haybarn hosts educational conferences, student and community performances, and the ongoing Goddard College Concert Series.
In June 1970 Goddard hosted the Alternative Media Conference; it attracted more than 1,600 radio DJs and others involved in independent media from all over the United States. [17] Featured presenters included Yippie founder Jerry Rubin, [18] spiritual leader Ram Dass, [19] Larry Yurdin, [20] and Danny Fields, Bob Fass and Paul Krassner from The Realist .
A music roster of up-and-coming bands was curated by Atlantic Records and included Dr. John and the J. Geils Band. [19] The conference embodied both the political activism and the free-love atmosphere of the time: a coalition affiliated with the Panther 21, The Guardian , Newsreel, Radio Free People, Liberation News Service, Media Women, and The New York Rat put together a packet highlighting the political side of alternative media. [21]
A second Alternative Media Conference was held on campus in 2013 to commemorate the college's 150th anniversary. [22] Thom Hartmann and Ellen Ratner were featured speakers.
In 2014, the graduating class of the college's undergraduate program selected convicted murderer and Goddard alumnus Mumia Abu-Jamal as commencement speaker. [23] Abu-Jamal, who had attended Goddard as an undergraduate in the 1970s, completed his Goddard degree from prison via mail while serving a sentence for the 1982 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. [24] Faulkner's widow criticized the selection of Abu-Jamal as a speaker, [25] as did US Senator Pat Toomey, the Vermont Troopers Association, the Vermont Police Chiefs Association, the Fraternal Order of Police, and the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. [23] [26] [27] The college's interim President, Bob Kenny, supported the right of students to select a commencement speaker of their choice. [28]
On October 5, the school released Abu-Jamal's pre-recorded commencement speech. [29] [30] Philadelphia police protested against his being given a chance to speak.
Mumia Abu-Jamal is an American political activist and journalist who was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1982 for the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. While on death row, he has written and commented on the criminal justice system in the United States. After numerous appeals, his death penalty sentence was overturned by a federal court. In 2011, the prosecution agreed to a sentence of life imprisonment without parole. He entered the general prison population early the following year.
Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band is known for musical improvisation, extended jams, blending of genres, and a dedicated fan base. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon, drummer Jon Fishman, and keyboardist Page McConnell, all of whom perform vocals, with Anastasio being the lead vocalist.
Marlboro College was a private college in Marlboro, Vermont. Founded in 1946, it remained intentionally small, operating as a self-governing community with students following self-designed degree plans culminating in a thesis. In 1998 the college added a graduate school.
Plainfield, a town in Washington County, Vermont, United States was incorporated in 1867. The population was 1,236 at the 2020 census. Plainfield is the location of Goddard College.
Ernest Joseph "Trey" Anastasio III is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Phish, which he co-founded in 1983. He is credited by name as composer of 152 Phish original songs, 141 of them as a solo credit, in addition to 41 credits attributed to the band as a whole.
The Evergreen State College is a public liberal arts college in Olympia, Washington. Founded in 1967, it offers a non-traditional undergraduate curriculum in which students have the option to design their own study towards a degree or follow a pre-determined path of study. Full-time students can enroll in interdisciplinary academic programs, in addition to stand-alone classes. Programs typically offer students the opportunity to study several disciplines in a coordinated manner. Faculty write substantive narrative evaluations of students' work in place of issuing grades.
Page Samuel McConnell is an American multi-instrumentalist most noted for his work as the keyboardist and a songwriter for the band Phish.
Castleton University is a public university in Castleton, Vermont. It has an enrollment of 2000 students and offers more than 30 undergraduate programs, as well as master's degrees in education and accounting. It is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.
Green Mountain College was a private liberal arts college in Poultney, Vermont, at the foot of the Taconic Mountains between the Green Mountains and Adirondacks. The college was affiliated with the United Methodist Church and offered a liberal arts undergraduate education with a focus on the environment, and some graduate degrees. For part of its history it was a women's college. It was founded in 1834 and closed at the end of the 2018–19 academic year.
Union Presbyterian Seminary is a Presbyterian seminary in Richmond, Virginia. It also has a non-residential campus in Charlotte, North Carolina and an online blended learning program.
Jon Fishman is an American drummer known for his work with the band Phish, which he co-founded in 1983, and which was, in part, named after him. He is credited with co-writing nineteen Phish songs, eight with a solo credit.
Lancaster Bible College | Capital Seminary and Graduate School is a private Bible college, seminary, and graduate school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
The Institute for Social Ecology (ISE) is an educational institution in Plainfield, Vermont dedicated to the study of social ecology, "an interdisciplinary field drawing on philosophy, political and social theory, anthropology, history, economics, the natural sciences, and feminism." Founded in 1974, ISE offered some of the first courses in the country on urbanism and ecology, radical technology, ecology and feminism, activist art and community; it "won an international reputation" for its courses in social theory, eco-philosophy and alternative technologies.
A low-residency program is a form of education, normally at the university level, which involves some amount of distance education and brief on-campus or specific-site residencies—residencies may be one weekend or several weeks. These programs are most frequently offered by colleges and universities that also teach standard full-time courses on campus. There are numerous master's degree programs in a wide range of content areas; one of the most popular limited residency degree programs is the Master of Fine Arts in creative writing. The first such program was developed by Evalyn Bates and launched in 1963 at Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont.
Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA) is a private graduate-level art school in Montpelier, Vermont. It offers Master's degrees in low-residency and residential programs. Its faculty includes Pulitzer Prize finalists, National Book Award winners, Newbery Medal honorees, Guggenheim Fellowship and Fulbright Program fellows, and Ford Foundation grant recipients. The literary magazine Hunger Mountain is operated by VCFA writing faculty and students.
Union Institute & University (UI&U) is a private university in Cincinnati, Ohio. It specializes in limited residence and distance learning programs. The university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and operates satellite campuses in Florida and California.
Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg is an American poet, writer and professor, honored as the third Kansas Poet Laureate (2009–2012). A professor at Goddard College, a private, liberal arts college in Plainfield, Vermont, she serves as the coordinator for the Transformative Language Arts track, which she initiated. Enriching people across the United States, Mirriam-Goldberg uses workshops, retreats, and readings to broaden different communities' ideals about spoken, written, and sung word.
Evalyn Cora Bates (1907–2010) was an American educator who helped found Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont.
Royce Stanley “Tim” Pitkin was an American educator. He was President of Goddard College from 1938 to 1969.
The Allenwood Farm is a historic farm property on United States Route 2 in Plainfield, Vermont. Developed in 1827 by Allen Martin, the son of an early settler, it is a well-preserved example of a transitional Federal-Greek Revival detached farmstead. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Ram Dass (Richard Alpert) at The Alternative Media Conference, June 1970 at Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont.
Assemblyman Tucker is serving his fourth term in the Assembly. Mr. Tucker is an at-large city councilman in Newark, a position he has held since 1974. He was born in Newark on March 18, 1938, and is a graduate of the city's Central High School. He received a degree in urban planning at Goddard College in Vermont and has taken post-graduate public administration courses at Rutgers University. Assemblyman Tucker is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, having served from 1955 to 1959. The assemblyman is a founding member of the United Brothers, the Centre, Inc., the Newark Coalition for Low Income Housing, the Newark Tenants Council, and the city's first comprehensive drug treatment program and first high school equivalency program. He is a former field secretary and vice chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) of Essex County. He worked in the civil rights movement in Mississippi and Maryland during the 1960s. He is married to the former Cleopatra Gibson and has two adult children.
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(help)Feign, who would later attend UC Berkeley for two years, graduate from Goddard College, and begin graduate work at the University of Hawaii, finished high school at Hillview Continuation School in 1972 at age 16.
ayton received her bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley, her master's degree from Goddard College and a doctoral degree from Sierra University.
Hopkins was born in Savannah, GA and went to college at Goddard Seminary (now Goddard College) in Plainfield, VT
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(help)Local Goddard College has always attracted educated liberal types with colorful flair, including members of the band Phish, David Mamet, Piers Anthony, and abstract artist Robert M. Fisher.
Smith said he's always been fighting for education and human rights and became part of the masters program at Goddard because he could use his teaching and writing experience towards his degree.