Sterling College (Vermont)

Last updated
Sterling College
MottoEcological Thinking and Action
Type Private work college
Established1958;65 years ago (1958) (as a boys' preparatory school)
Accreditation NECHE
Endowment $1.1 million
President Scott Thomas
Academic staff
11 [1]
Total staff
34
Students100
Location, ,
United States

44°39′08″N72°22′56″W / 44.6523°N 72.3823°W / 44.6523; -72.3823
CampusRural
Website www.sterlingcollege.edu
Sterling-College-Logo.png

Sterling College is a private work college in Craftsbury, Vermont. Its curriculum is focused on ecological thinking and action through a major in Environmental Studies with concentrations in Ecology, Environmental Humanities, Outdoor Education, and Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems. The college is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.

Contents

History

Sterling School was founded as a boys' college preparatory school in 1958. The school's educational philosophy was later influenced by that of Outward Bound founder Kurt Hahn. The school's transition to higher education in the 1970s began with the Academic Short Course in Outdoor Leadership, a 21-day program. In 1974, Sterling School was faced with closure and a small group of faculty launched the educational model that became Sterling College.

In 1974, a small group of faculty 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. It awards Bachelor of Arts degrees in Ecology, Environmental Humanities, Outdoor Education, and Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems. Sterling College joined the Work Colleges Consortium in 1999.

In 2013, Sterling College announced that it would be the first college in Vermont, and the third college in the nation, to divest its endowment from fossil fuel extractors. [2]

On April 11th, 2023, Scott L. Thomas was announced as Sterling's 12th president; he will begin on July 1. [3]

Academics

a solar panel at Sterling College Sunflowers Sterling College (Vermont).jpg
a solar panel at Sterling College

Sterling College offers associate and bachelor's degrees. It was the first college in the nation to offer a minor in Draft Horse Management. [4]

In 2013, Sterling College created the Rian Fried Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems. Named for the late trustee, it will be the center point for the college's focus on sustainable agriculture and sustainable food systems. [5]

Sterling College also launched a continuing education program in 2013, with a series of 2- and 4-week short courses. The first course offered was a two-week cheese-making intensive in partnership with the Cellars at Jasper Hill. [6] Other courses feature guest faculty such as Sandor Katz, [7] John Elder, Rowan Jacobsen, Ginger Strand, and Clare Walker Leslie. [8]

Campus

The primary campus is 130 acres (53 ha). It has 14 buildings, including a woodworking shop and a library. Outdoor teaching facilities include a managed woodlot, a challenge course, a 30 feet (9.1 m) climbing tower, managed gardens, and a working livestock farm with two solar-powered barns. Much of what is grown and raised on campus is consumed in the dining hall. Sterling produces approximately 35% of its own food, with an overall 53% coming from within a 150-mile radius of the college. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Vermont</span> Public university in Burlington, Vermont, U.S.

The University of Vermont (UVM), officially titled as University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a public land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. Founded in 1791, the university is the oldest in Vermont and the fifth-oldest in New England, making it among the oldest in the United States. It is one of the original eight Public Ivies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middlebury College</span> Private college in Middlebury, Vermont, US

Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goddard College</span> Private liberal arts college in Vermont, United States

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green Mountain College</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnson State College</span> Former state college in Johnson, Vermont

Johnson State College was a public liberal arts college in Johnson, Vermont. Founded in 1828 by John Chesamore, in 2018 Johnson State College was merged with the former Lyndon State College to create Northern Vermont University. In July 2023, Castleton University, Northern Vermont University-Johnson, Northern Vermont University-Lyndon, and Vermont Technical College merged to become Vermont State University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vermont Law and Graduate School</span> American private graduate school

Vermont Law and Graduate School (VLGS) is a private law and public policy graduate school in South Royalton, Vermont. It offers several degrees, including Juris Doctor (JD), Master of Laws (LLM) in Environmental Law, Master of Environmental Law and Policy (MELP), Master of Food and Agriculture Law and Policy (MFALP), Master of Energy Regulation and Law (MERL), and dual degrees with a diverse range of institutions. According to the school's 2018 ABA-required disclosures, 61.5% of the Class of 2018 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New England Culinary Institute</span> American culinary college

The New England Culinary Institute (NECI) was a private for-profit culinary school in Montpelier, Vermont. It was open for 40 years before shutting down as result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The King's University (Edmonton)</span>

The King's University located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, is a Canadian Christian university offering bachelor's degrees in the arts, humanities, music, social sciences, natural sciences, business, and education. King's is one of 26 publicly funded post-secondary institutions in Alberta. The University serves more than 900 students from across Canada and abroad, representing more than 16 nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outdoor education</span> Organized learning that takes place in the outdoors

Outdoor education is organized learning that takes place in the outdoors, typically during school camping trips. Outdoor education programs sometimes involve residential or journey wilderness-based experiences in which students participate in a variety of adventurous challenges and outdoor activities such as hiking, climbing, canoeing, ropes courses and group games. Outdoor education draws upon the philosophy, theory, and practices of experiential education and environmental education.

The Community College of Vermont (CCV) is a public community college in Vermont. It is Vermont's second largest college, serving 7,000 students each semester and is part of the Vermont State Colleges System. The college has 12 locations throughout Vermont as well as extensive online learning options.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antioch University New England</span> Campus of Antioch University in New Hampshire

Antioch University New England is a private graduate school located in Keene, New Hampshire, United States. It is part of the Antioch University system, a private, non-profit, 501(c)(3) institution that includes campuses in Seattle, Washington; Los Angeles, California; and Santa Barbara, California. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. The most well-known campus was Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, which is now independent of the Antioch University system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Guelph</span> Public university in Guelph, Ontario, Canada

The University of Guelph is a comprehensive public research university in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1964 after the amalgamation of Ontario Agricultural College (1874), the MacDonald Institute (1903), and the Ontario Veterinary College (1922), and has since grown to an institution of almost 30,000 students and employs 830 full-time faculty as of fall 2019. It offers 94 undergraduate degrees, 48 graduate programs, and 6 associate degrees in many different disciplines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unity Environmental University</span> Private college in Unity, ME

Unity Environmental University is a private university based in New Gloucester, Maine with an additional campus in Unity and facilities in Moose River and Thorndike. It offers undergraduate and graduate education based on sustainability science that emphasizes study of the environment and natural resources. Initially founded as a residential school in Unity, Maine, the university expanded into online education in 2016 which grew both its enrollment and number of academic programs. The university moved its online program to the historic Pineland Farms campus in New Gloucester in 2019 and later relocated their administrative headquarters there. Unity Environmental University operates both an online-only program and a hybrid program with on-campus courses in New Gloucester and Unity. It also operates a farm and indoor growing facility in Thorndike and an outdoor center in Moose River.

The College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS) is one of seventeen colleges and professional schools at the University of Minnesota. The College offers 14 majors, 3 pre-major and pre-professional majors and 26 freestanding minors for undergraduate students and a variety of graduate study options that include master's, doctoral and joint degree programs.

Vermont Commons School is an independent college preparatory school located in South Burlington, Vermont, serving grades 6–12.

North American collegiate sustainability programs are institutions of higher education in the United States, Mexico, and Canada that have majors and/or minors dedicated to the subject of sustainability. Sustainability as a major and minor is spreading to more and more colleges as the need for humanity to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle becomes increasingly apparent with the onset of global warming. The majors and minors listed here cover a wide array of sustainability aspects from business to construction to agriculture to simply the study of sustainability itself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Bicol State University of Agriculture</span> State university located in Pili, Camarines Sur, Philippines

The Central Bicol State University of Agriculture, or simply referred to by its acronym CBSUA, is a state university in the province of Camarines Sur, Philippines, and is the regional center for higher learning in agriculture in the Bicol Region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew Derr</span>

Matthew Derr is a higher education and foundation leader. He presently serves as the Executive Director of the Chelsea Green Foundation and as an Editor for Chelsea Green Publishing. For nearly a decade, before being appointed President Emeritus in 2021, he led Sterling College. In December 2010, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education awarded Derr with the organization's Chief Executive Leadership Award and the Great Lakes Colleges Association recognized his efforts on behalf of liberal education with a visiting fellowship.

Northern Vermont University (NVU) was a public university in Johnson and Lyndon, Vermont. It was established in 2018 by the unification of the former Johnson State College and Lyndon State College. The university offered over 50 Bachelor's degree programs and Master's degree programs. On July 1, 2023, its two locations became campuses of the newly formed Vermont State University.

Vermont State University is a public university in the state of Vermont formed through the merger of three institutions: Castleton University, Northern Vermont University, and Vermont Technical College. First proposed in December 2020 as a way to consolidate the Vermont State Colleges, the state's public university system, it is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.

References

  1. "College Overview - Sterling College". Peterson's. 2006-10-23. Retrieved 2007-01-26.
  2. "Fossil Free – Commitments". Gofossilfree.org. Retrieved 2016-10-12.
  3. D'Auria, Peter (2023-04-13). "Sterling College names University of Wyoming administrator as new president". VTDigger. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  4. "Minor In Draft Horsing? Well Yes, At Sterling College". Farmprogress.com. 2013-08-30. Retrieved 2016-10-12.
  5. "Sterling College Launches Sustainable Ag and Food Systems Center". WAMC. 2013-08-27. Retrieved 2016-10-12.
  6. Palmer, Hannah. "Sterling College Introduces Artisan Cheesemaking Intensive | Food News | Seven Days | Vermont's Independent Voice". Sevendaysvt.com. Retrieved 2016-10-12.
  7. Levitt, Alice (2014-01-29). "Sandor Katz to Teach Fermentation at Sterling College | Bite Club". Sevendaysvt.com. Retrieved 2016-10-12.
  8. "New writing workshop announced at Sterling College". Vtdigger.org. 2014-02-24. Retrieved 2016-10-12.
  9. "FOR THE THIRD CONSECUTIVE YEAR, STERLING COLLEGE IS #1 FOR REAL FOOD". Sterling College. Retrieved 23 April 2018.