Colby College: A Liberal Arts Education Rooted in Waterville, Maine
Colby College, a private liberal arts college, is located in Waterville, Maine, United States. Founded in 1813, Colby has a rich history and a strong connection to its surrounding community. With a 714-acre Neo-Georgian campus atop Mayflower Hill, Colby overlooks downtown Waterville and the Kennebec River Valley, offering students a beautiful and engaging environment for learning and growth.
A Historical Overview
Colby's origins trace back to February 27, 1813, when the Commonwealth of Massachusetts adopted a petition to establish the Maine Literary and Theological Institution. The institution was subsequently moved to Waterville, Maine, on 179 acres of land donated by citizens. In 1818, Jeremiah Chaplin was assigned by trustees to lead the institution, and classes commenced in a vacant Waterville home.
Following Maine's separation from Massachusetts in 1820, the first Maine legislature affirmed the Massachusetts charter for the institution, implementing significant changes. These changes ensured that admission would not be denied based on religion, prohibited the application of religious tests for board member selection, and granted the trustees authority to award degrees.
In 1821, the institution was renamed Waterville College, and in 1833, Rufus Babcock became its second president. The college faced challenges during the Civil War, with many young men leaving to join the fight. Twenty-seven Waterville College students lost their lives in the war.
In the fall of 1871, Colby University made history as the first all-male college in New England to accept female students. The national Sigma Kappa sorority was founded at Colby in 1874 by the college's first five female students. However, the college resegregated them in 1890. One of the buildings is named after the first woman to attend, Mary Caffrey Low, who was the valedictorian of the class of 1875.
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In 1874, Colby established relationships with Hebron Academy and Houlton Academy (most recently known as Ricker College), building on the success of its partnership with the Coburn Classical Institute. In 1893, the Higgins Classical Institute was also deeded to Colby, marking the last preparatory school acquisition for the university.
The first issue of The Colby Echo, the student publication, was released in 1877. On January 25, 1899, Colby president Nathaniel Butler Jr. oversaw the renaming of the institution to Colby College, reflecting its liberal arts college curriculum.
Relocation to Mayflower Hill
In June 1929, Franklin W. Johnson was appointed president of the college. That same year, the Maine Higher Education Survey Report was publicly released, delivering a less than favorable assessment of Colby's campus. Criticisms included its confined location of just 28 acres between the Kennebec River and the Maine Central Railroad Company tracks, an aging physical plant, proximity to the odors of a pulp mill, and the soot from the railroad.
President Johnson, using the report as justification, proposed to the Trustees on June 14, 1929, that the college be moved to a more suitable location. The fundraising campaign for the move was immediately complicated by the Wall Street crash of 1929 and the Great Depression, and competing offers for the college's contemplated location emerged. William H. Gannett offered a site in Augusta, which was financially attractive for the college but potentially detrimental to the town of Waterville.
Construction on Lorimer Chapel, the first building on the new Mayflower Hill campus, broke ground in 1937, according to master plans drawn up by Jens Fredrick Larson. In 1956, the Maine State Highway Commission rerouted the proposed path of Interstate 95 to avoid the new campus to the west.
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Academics and Student Life
Colby offers students a wide range of academic opportunities, with courses in 54 major fields. Students have the flexibility to design independent study programs, elect special majors, and participate in internships and study-abroad programs. Project-based learning is a key emphasis at Colby.
Popular majors among 2021 graduates included econometrics and quantitative economics, political science and government, computer science, psychology, environmental science, biology and biological sciences, and neuroscience.
More than two-thirds of Colby's students engage in off-campus study before graduating, with credits recognized at over 200 programs in more than 60 countries. Colby also participates in engineering dual-degree programs with Columbia University's Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science and Dartmouth College's Thayer School of Engineering.
Colby's 2,000 students, evenly divided between men and women, come from every state and more than 60 countries. The college hosts numerous student-run organizations. There are 16 varsity teams for women, 15 for men, and one co-ed team. Approximately one-third of the student population participates in one or more of 32 intercollegiate varsity sports. Colby also offers club sports and an intramural sports program called I-Play. The Harold Alfond Athletic Center serves as the hub of athletic life at Colby, and is home to the Colby Mules.
Campus and Community Engagement
Colby's 714-acre campus is located on Mayflower Hill, overlooking Waterville, Maine, in the Kennebec River Valley. The campus features predominantly Georgian Revival style architecture.
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The Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement organizes Colby's engagement in the local community and its civic engagement programs.
The Colby College Museum of Art, founded in 1959, is a valuable teaching resource and a cultural institution for the residents of Maine and visitors. Admission is free to the museum, which features a wing dedicated to works by American painter Alex Katz, a strong collection of American art, and outdoor sculptures by Richard Serra and Sol LeWitt. The museum is part of the Bixler Art and Music Center.
Colby launched Green Colby in the fall of 2009 to highlight its environmental policies, including its carbon footprint, conservation efforts, and student-led initiatives. The school has signed agreements to reduce its environmental impact, such as the Maine Governor's Carbon Challenge and the American College and University President's Climate Commitment (ACUPCC).
Colby College is only five minutes from downtown Waterville, so it is an integral part of the area. This is especially true considering the connections Colby has to the Green Block + Studios and Waterville Opera House. To make life easier for the students, Colby College has a shuttle that runs every 15 minutes to and from the dorms to campus. Students participate in many community organizations, whether it’s through the Office of Civic Engagement, volunteering organizations, or the Center of Arts and Humanities, which is a center on campus that does a lot of ethnographic research. This research connects students to hands-on learning opportunities with members of the community. The students at Colby live either on Mayflower Hill or in the dorms downtown. There are also living spaces in the Lockwood Hotel for students, so there are plenty of options for students who want to live on campus.
Waterville: A College Town
Colby College is located in Waterville, Maine, a college city of about 16,000 people. There’s been a lot of revitalization efforts to revamp the downtown area and make it more vibrant. Right now, there is an independent movie theater and opera house that puts on concerts and theater productions that Colby students can participate in. There is also a new hotel in the downtown area called Lockwood Hotel and a new sandwich shop going up near the dorms. Across the river from Waterville is Winslow, another city where many students visit after classes or on the weekends.
Students at Colby are big on experiencing the food scene in Waterville. While the city is small, there are plenty of restaurants and shops to explore. A Colby favorite are the tea rooms downtown, which are great study spots that offer warm tea and coffee for those cold winter days. They have many vegan options, such as chocolate cupcakes and cookies, which are very popular among students. Waterville is an incredible town for food but it’s also a great place for art and culture. The Green Block + Studios were recently opened and it features a gallery, exhibit space, and studio space for visiting artists, students, and professors.
Colby College is right by some great walking and hiking trails that many students go to on the weekends. There is also the Belgrade Lake, only 20 minutes from campus, which has beautiful areas for swimming and hiking. While you can’t swim during the winter, the hiking trails are open year-round and have incredible views. Waterville is a place where you can see and participate in an incredibly impactful community.
Seal and Motto
"Lux Mentis Scientia," meaning "knowledge is the light of the mind," is the college's motto. The college was originally authorized to have a seal by its founding charter, granted by the Massachusetts General Court in 1813. The history of the seal reflects the history of the school, which began under the name Maine Literary and Theological Institution.
The earliest known seal came while the school was called Colby University. It featured a sun in splendour with eight straight rays above the school's Latin motto. Surrounding the center are the words "Sigillum Universitatis Colbianae," meaning "the seal of Colby College," and two crossed olive branches with five leaves each.
In 1936, President Franklin W. Johnson commissioned William Addison Dwiggins to design a seal to replace the one then existing, specifying only that it used the same motto as the first and retain the sun as the central theme. In 2002, the college contracted with design firm Corey McPherson Nash for updates to its entire visual identity system, including the seal. The current seal is set in Perpetua typeface around a sunburst.
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