BURLINGTON, VT (08/24/2010)(readMedia)-- Champlain College will welcome students back to campus on Friday, Aug. 27, when more than 600 first-year students are expected to arrive to begin moving into their residence halls, meet their new roommates, sort out class schedules and get oriented to life at their new home for the next four years.

A full weekend of activities begins Friday for the Class of 2014 including orientation workshops on the nuts and bolts of beginning your college career; a lunch for friends, family and students in the courtyard, and the official welcome from Champlain College President David F. Finney, Director of Admission Ian Mortimer and representatives of the Student Government Association. Classes begin Monday, Aug. 30.

The formal Champlain College Convocation ceremony at Skiff Hall will feature a procession of Champlain's 100-plus faculty and staff in full academic regalia led down South Willard Street by The St. Andrew's Pipe Band of Vermont. The 2010 Champlain College Distinguished Citizen Award will be presented to Vermont Adjutant General Michael Dubie of Burlington, who will speak at the convocation.

Champlain College expects enrollment of traditional undergraduate students to settle in around 1,990, up slightly from last year, and of those, about 1,120 are residential students. Champlain offers 30 undergraduate programs, six graduate programs and offers more than 20 online continuing professional studies programs. Champlain currently hosts students from 40 states and 21 countries and offers scholarship programs for New Americans, Vermont First students, Single Parents and for returning soldiers through the Yellow Ribbon GI Bill.

New this year is the $12 million Welcome and Admission Center at Roger H. Perry Hall, a combination of a carefully restored 1859 Hill Section home with a completely modern and sustainable addition that will serve as the administrative hub and campus welcome center for prospective and current students. Perry Hall also features one of the only geothermal heating systems in Burlington and is seeking the designation of Platinum LEED from the Leadership in Energy Design Green Building Rating System. A public grand opening of the new building and a new digital studio in the Perry Carriage Barn will be held Sept. 24.

Also new this year, Champlain College is offering its first on-campus, residential Master of Fine Arts degree in Emergent Media. It will be based at the Champlain Emergent Media Center. Champlain offers 30 undergraduate programs in four divisions: Business, Communication & Creative Media, Education & Human Studies, and Information Technology & Sciences; six graduate programs and more than 20 continuing professional studies and online degree programs.

More Champlain College students are expected to spend part of the year studying abroad at Champlain's campuses in Montreal, Quebec and Dublin, Ireland. Some 85 undergraduate students are expected to study at one of these two sites and about 40 students are expected to participate in outside international academic programs.

Champlain has been recognized as one of America's "Top Up-and-Coming Schools" - one of only 77 colleges and universities given this designation in 2010's US News and World Report's Best Colleges publication. The category, which began two years ago, recognizes institutions that "have recently made striking improvements or innovations" in areas such as academic programs, faculty, students, or facilities. Champlain is also ranked in the top tier of Regional Colleges in the North by the annual publication.

"Over the past decade, we have transformed Champlain and developed an innovative curriculum that is a national model in professionally-focused education, enhanced by a comprehensive and interdisciplinary core liberal arts curriculum," Finney added.

Examples of that can be found in Champlain College's award-winning Emergent Media Center in Champlain Mill in Winooski where students are completing work with the United Nations on a global game to help reduce violence against women. Champlain is also seeing increased interest by entrepreneurial-minded students in the innovative Bring Your Own Business BYOBiz program.

The Chronicle of Higher Education, a weekly publication covering news and trends at colleges and universities, recently described Champlain College's approach to learning. It reported Champlain "has radically revamped its class structure to better prepare students for life beyond the lecture halls." The Chronicle noted that Champlain's innovative curriculum produces well-rounded, multidimensional graduates who are ready for life after college.

The "Fiske Guide to Getting into the Right College" highlights Champlain among nine colleges to have "the most innovative curriculums." Fiske writes, "A cozy New England college that offers practical training with a personal touch. Champlain's upside-down curriculum allows students to take in-depth courses in their majors from day one. Upperclassmen have more time for internships, which are offered in virtually al majors."

"Our approach at Champlain College is equal parts creative cauldron, think tank and professional apprenticeship to deliver the knowledge and practice, leadership skills and global connections students today need to succeed – not just in their first job, but over a lifetime of careers," noted Mortimer, Champlain College's director of admission.

Champlain College, founded in 1878, offers a distinctive educational approach to professionally focused majors, developing life skills and leadership based on critical and creative thinking. To learn more about Champlain College and to get information about applying, visit go.champlain.edu/admission or call 800-570-5858 or visit www.champlain.edu.

Posted Tuesday August 24, 2010 at 01:22 pm by Champlain College
Last Updated Thursday August 26, 2010 at 11:10 am