At Colgate, the way students learn is as integral to their education as what they learn.
With a 9:1 student-faculty ratio, our students work in close proximity with award-winning faculty who are at the top of their intellectual game and have earned terminal degrees.
In 2011 and 2012, Colgate went against the cost-cutting norm at most colleges and universities by adding 17 new faculty positions.
The intellectual engagement process for first-years begins with a shared summer reading assignment followed by in-depth discussions at orientation – and that’s before they embark on a first-year seminar examining three areas of inquiry that cross disciplines: human thought and expression; social relations, institutions, and agents; and natural sciences and mathematics.
With
52 majors and nine minors, and multiple undergraduate research opportunities, students build both a broad intellectual foundation and an intensive academic focus.
The
core curriculum, a source of great pride at Colgate, provides more common ground for wide-ranging student-faculty interactions. Designed to be ambitious and enduring, the core encompasses four common courses that develop critical thinking, effective writing, diverse perspectives, and lifelong inquiry.
As part of the core, students also choose among electives that carry “global engagement” designations.
Classroom learning is just one form of intellectual engagement here. Each year, Colgate offers more than 20
faculty-led off-campus study programs, as well as short-term
extended-study programs, usually including three to six trips that are connected to a Colgate course.
Colgate's major institutes that offer a broad range of learning, research, volunteer, and off-campus experiences include the Upstate Institute, the Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute, and the Institute for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.
To further enhance their education, students may choose from a broad array of living-learning arrangements and theme houses, humanitarian missions, summer research projects and internships, and a wide variety of academically oriented club activities.