Earlham College Begins 164th Year with Emphasis on Environmental Programs, International Engagement

/News Release Agency - CollegePressReleases.com/ For Immediate Release August 20, 2010

RICHMOND, Ind. — Students from around the world are converging on East Central Indiana for the start of Earlham College’s 164th academic year. The year begins with several exciting changes in the curriculum and with the announcement that College President Douglas C. Bennett will retire at the end of the year.

According to Vice President and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Jeff Rickey, 345 first-year students and 15 transfers are expected. It will be Earlham’s second largest incoming class since 1988, he says.

International Engagement The liberal arts college, founded in 1847 by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), is known for its rigorous academics and far-ranging international programs. For the 2010-11 academic year, the College again draws on a tradition of increasing the international flavor of the campus with 220 international students from more than 70 countries expected to begin classes this month, says Associate Director of International Programs Kelley Lawson-Khalidi.

Earlham’s incoming first-year population will add to the diverse mix of cultures that thrive on the Earlham campus. Approximately 75 international first-year students will be arriving in Richmond. The first students from Yemen, Mauritius, Mongolia and Israel are expected to arrive this fall. Students from Cambodia and El Salvador are a part of the incoming class for the first time since the 1960s.

Conference Change This season Earlham student-athletes will play in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC). Earlham had played in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) for two decades.

Athletic Director Frank Carr says he’s excited about the change and is looking forward to new challenges in the Heartland conference.

“Everyone involved in the process in the HCAC has been very welcoming and it is going to be an easy transition,” he says.

In addition to Earlham, the HCAC includes Anderson University, Bluffton University, Defiance College, Franklin College, Hanover College, Manchester College, College of Mount St. Joseph, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and Transylvania University. 

Earlham offers 16 varsity sports — eight for women and eight for men. Women compete in basketball, cross-country, field hockey, indoor track, outdoor track, soccer, tennis and volleyball. The College’s varsity roster for men includes baseball, basketball, cross-country, football, indoor track, outdoor track, soccer and tennis.

Earlham has been granted associate membership status to continue to play field hockey in the NCAC. Transylvania University is the only other Heartland school that offers field hockey.

Environmentalism at Earlham For the 2010-11 academic year Earlham has two environmental majors for the first time: Environmental Studies and Environmental Science. 

Environmental Studies at Earlham is an interdisciplinary program of study purposefully designed to provide students with the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for engagement with both current and future environmental problems. While the focus of the coursework centers on the humanities and social sciences, students also complete a two-course sequence in the natural sciences.

The Environmental Science major provides a strong background in the natural sciences along with an emphasis on the social and humanistic aspects of environmental study. This allows environmental scientists who graduate from Earlham to have a depth of knowledge in science not only across the natural sciences, but across the social sciences and humanities as well.

There have been “green shoots” in life outside of the classroom, says Jay Roberts, assistant professor of education and convener of environmental studies, but “no complex sustainability discussions to lead to the College’s next environmental plan.”

Roberts believes that the recent completion of the Sustainability Tracking and Rating System (STARS) inventory by the College will provide the platform for beginning those discussions. Calling STARS, of which Earlham is a charter participant, a “miraculous inventory tool,” Roberts says that Earlham will be able to measure its sustainability progress against other colleges and universities for the first time.

“My hope is that we can begin campus-wide conversations on sustainability issues as early as the fall,” says Roberts. “Student interest in sustainability is at a fever pitch right now.”

Roberts also thinks that studying the environment is a natural deepening of Earlham’s Quaker values.

“This College is often not a reflection of the rest of the world, but is a light that the rest of the world should follow. We do this with Peace and Global Studies — we’re a leader in that area — and we do it in international education, as well. On the environmental front, we’ve often been followers and reflectors, but we are transitioning the College to a place from which it can lead in approaching environmental problems from a moral and ethical standpoint.”

Construction Continues This Academic Year Road construction will continue to be a part of Earlham’s daily life for those entering and exiting the campus onto National Road West (U.S. 40). The Indiana Department of Transportation’s (INDOT) multi-million dollar, multi-year project to restructure the highway, which includes widening the road in front of campus, will likely continue through 2011.

When the project is complete, INDOT has promised that a traffic signal will be placed at Earlham’s main entrance. The College has lobbied for such a signal since student David Rantanen was struck and killed crossing U.S. 40 in 1962. Since that time, several other pedestrians have been struck and at least one additional person killed near the College entrance. 

Bennett to Retire President Bennett announced earlier in August that this will be his last year as president of Earlham. At the time of his retirement, Bennett will have served 14 years as leader of the College and the Earlham School of Religion. 

In a letter sent to the Earlham community he noted, “I often say that I have the perfect job for me. No better could be imagined: to be a Quaker and an educator entrusted with leadership of this extraordinary Quaker college and seminary. I am grateful to have had this opportunity, but it is now time to pass it to someone else, and for me to embrace other challenges.”

“We will certainly miss Doug's leadership,” said Deborah Hull, chairperson of Earlham's Board of Trustees at the time of Bennett’s announcement, “but we are very grateful for all he has done for the College.”

One of American higher education's most distinctive voices, Bennett, 64, has been prominently featured in numerous national publications during his tenure at Earlham. He prominently led the national charge against the ranking of colleges and universities and has often written and spoken passionately on the topics of student assessment, engagement, accessibility and affordability issues, to name a few.

Major building projects have been a hallmark of Bennett's administration. Landrum Bolling Center, Athletics and Wellness Center, Darrell Beane Stadium and Mills Residence Hall as well as significant renovations to three residence halls have been completed thus far in Bennett's tenure.