Colby College, located in Waterville, Maine, was founded in 1813. Colby is known for its challenging academic program, supportive faculty, and international atmosphere. 1,800 students from more than 60 countries live and study together on Mayflower Hill, one of the nation’s most picturesque college campuses. Colby offers 53 major fields of study. Many graduates attend highly selective advanced-degree programs. Volunteer programs and service-learning take many students into the surrounding community. More than two thirds of Colby students participate in study-abroad programs.
Colby is one of the nation's oldest and best independent colleges of liberal arts. Colby is known for its intellectual rigor, its supportive campus community and atmosphere, and its global reach. A residential four-year college, Colby balances a tradition of innovation with a commitment to liberal learning. It is a national leader in research- and project-based undergraduate learning. The quality of the faculty is recognized as the College's greatest asset, and the depth of student-faculty interaction and collaboration is unparalleled. More than two thirds of Colby's undergraduates study abroad during their college career, and the international makeup in the student body continues to expand, with almost 70 countries now represented. Colby's 714 acre (2.9 km²) campus is one of the nation's most beautiful. Colby students are a unique and intelligent group.
Currently, Colby is in the midst of a major campus building program, and programmatic initiatives are also underway, including the Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement, and new programs in neuroscience.
Colby is one of three small liberal arts colleges in Maine. The other two are Bates College and Bowdoin College.
Historical timeline
- 1813—the Massachusets Legistlature grants a charter to the Maine Literary and Theological Institution
- 1818—Rev. Jeremiah Chaplin is selected by the Board of Trustees as the College's first president, classes are first taught in Chaplin's home starting in the Fall
- 1821—the Maine Legistlature empowers the Institution to grant degrees and it's name is changed to Waterville College
- 1822—George Dana Boardman becomes Colby's first graduate
- 1832—planting of the Boardman Willows
- 1833—Rev. Rufus Babcock becomes Colby's second president
- 1867—name of the college changed to Colby College to honor it's benefactor Gardner Colby
- 1869—dedication of Memorial Hall, the first memorial to the dead of both sides of the Civil War
- 1875—Mary Caffrey Low becomes Colby's first female graduate, she the was valedictorian of her class
- 1923—the White Mule becomes Colby's mascot as the result of an editorial written by by Joseph Coburn Smith in the student newspaper,The Echo
- 1937—groudbreaking for the new campus located on Mayflower Hill
- 1951—the last class takes place on the old campus in Coburn Hall
Famous alumni
- Elijah P. Lovejoy 1826, abolitionist
- Benjamin F. Butler 1838, Civil War general, Congressman, Governor of Massachusetts, candidate for President
- Isaac Smith Kalloch 1852, Baptist minister, founder and first president of Ottawa University, mayor of San Francisco, California
- Harold Calvin Marston Morse 1914, mathematician
- Robert B. Parker 1954, author of the Spenser detective novels
- Doris Kearns Goodwin 1964, presidential scholar and historian
- Historian Alan Taylor 1977
- Billy Bush 1994, TV personality and nephew of President George H. W. Bush
- Author David Barr Kirtley 2000
- Astronaut Richard M. Linnehan attended Colby but graduated from the University of New Hampshire
- Former Florida governor Marcellus L. Sterns also attended Colby before leaving to fight in the Civili War
- Paleontologist David Raup attended Colby for two years before transferring to the University of Chicago.
Further reading
- Fotiades, Anestes. Colby College 1813-1963: A Venture of Faith (1994)
- Marriner, Ernest Cummings. The History of Colby College (1962)
- Marriner, Ernest Cummings. The Man of Mayflower Hill: A Biography of Franklin W. Johnson (1967)
- Marriner, Ernest Cummings. The Strider Years (1980)
- Soule, Bertha Louise. Colby's Roman, Julian Daniel Taylor (1938)
- Soule, Bertha Louise. Colby's President Roberts (1943)
- Whittemore, Edwin Carey. The History of Colby College (1927)
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