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Academic Excellence, Quality of Life For Immediate Release: 
RICHMOND, Ind. — Earning high marks for its “rigorous” academics, “exceptionally diverse” student body and national leadership in international studies, Earlham College is among North America’s top 300 colleges and universities in the newly released 2006 edition of the Fiske Guide to Colleges. Citing the “remarkable educational opportunities” available at Earlham for “relatively modest cost,” the College also was assigned a spot in the Fiske Guide’s even more exclusive list of the 45 “Best Buys” in higher education in the United States and Canada. The list is divided between 17 public and 28 private or independent institutions, with Earlham included amongst the latter. The College also secured a place among the guide’s “Best Buys” for 2005, the only Indiana college to make that list (the 2006 edition adds Indiana’s DePauw University and Wabash College to the ranks of “Best Buys”). Touted by USA Today as “the best college guide you can buy,” the annual Fiske Guide is compiled by former New York Times education editor Edward Fiske. For the publication’s latest (22nd) edition, Fiske and his Alstead, N.H.-based staff sought out the “best and most interesting” of the more than 2,200 four-year colleges in the United States. Academic quality was the chief determining factor for colleges making it into the guide, which also assesses schools on the basis of social opportunities available to students and an overall “quality of life.” Making note of faculty members “selected for their excellence in teaching and their ability to cross interdisciplinary lines,” as well as Earlham’s having “one of the nation’s finest teaching libraries,” Fiske and colleagues awarded the College four “pens,” out of five, for the quality of its academic program. According to the guide’s introduction, the rating suggests a solid core curriculum “that has some particularly distinguishing academic feature, such as especially rich course offerings or an especially serious academic atmosphere.” In Earlham’s case, when it comes to distinguishing academic features, the newest Fiske Guide mentions the College’s implementation of new general education requirements — “conducive to a liberal arts education” — in 2003, and spotlights “unique courses” such as those offered in Peace and Global Studies (PAGS) and Japanese Studies. The editors also congratulate the College for its impressive study abroad programs in “far-flung locales” including Mexico, Northern Ireland and the Far East. They indicate, specifically, that two-thirds of Earlham students participate in at least one off-campus study experience, as compared to only two percent of other college students nationally. And though social opportunities for EC students are described merely as “typical” for a college of Earlham’s size, the overall “quality of life” on campus earns a perfect five-star score from the Fiske reviewers. One factor figuring large in the College’s “Q of L” rating (again, according to the Fiske editors’ explanation of how their various scores are derived), appears to be Earlham’s strong sense of supportive community, which has long been described by faculty and students alike as cooperative and constructive rather than cut-throat or competitive. The guide’s essay about the college includes a quote from one student, identified only as a PAGS major, who said, “There is … a huge feeling of community here, and students care more about their fellow students instead of being only concerned for one’s self and one’s own pursuits.” Other high-scoring quality of life aspects of Earlham, reports the guide, are an outstanding annual calendar of events that brings distinguished speakers, musicians and other performers to campus and “gives students reason to stay nearby” for enlightening as well as entertaining extracurricular activities — not to forget about the “easy-going intramural sports programs” such as the popular Ultimate Frisbee, lacrosse, soccer and rugby. “Earlham students may learn in a location few could place on a map,” conclude the Fiske Guide editors, referring to the College’s east-central Indiana campus, “but they graduate ready to take on the world, thanks to the school’s cooperative, can-do spirit and caring student-faculty community.” — EC — Contact:
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Earlham
College · 801 National Road West · Richmond,
Indiana 47374-4095 |