Earlham College

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From the College

Earlham College offers a challenging intellectual environment that attracts a diverse group of students with a variety of motivations–academic, political, social, athletic, ethical, and career-minded–who want to make an impact on the world. The College’s 1,184 students–631 women and 553 men–represent forty-eight states and seventy-five other countries. Students of many races, religious backgrounds, economic levels, and ethnic traditions join together on this Midwestern campus to create and experience the Earlham Effect. They share an experience rooted in the Quaker values of tolerance, equality, justice, respect, and collaboration. They explore an unending desire to see the world differently and to bring about change when necessary. Earlham’s commitment to engaging students in a changing world is at the heart of its own mission.

Students at Earlham get involved in a wide variety of associations and organizations, including numerous extracurricular programs in music, theater, dance, social and political action, ethnic and international awareness, and intramural and varsity athletics. Students manage an FM public radio station, a food co-op, an equestrian program, a newspaper, and a literary magazine. Activities are coordinated by the Student Activities Board, the Earlham Events Committee, and various special interest groups, such as the Black Leadership Action Coalition, Women’s Program Committee, International Club, and Earlham Service Learning Center. Students are active in community service and donate more than 50,000 hours of time to the Richmond community each year.

Earlham, an NCAA Division III affiliate, is a member of the North Coast Athletic Conference. The College offers seven intercollegiate sports for men (baseball, basketball, cross-country, football, soccer, tennis, and track) and eight intercollegiate sports for women (basketball, cross-country, field hockey, soccer, tennis, track, and volleyball). Club sports include swimming, Ultimate Frisbee, lacrosse, and men’s volleyball. Thirty percent of the students participate in intercollegiate athletics, and 50 percent participate in an extensive intramural program. Earlham athletic facilities include indoor and outdoor tennis courts; football, baseball, soccer, lacrosse, and hockey fields; an all-weather track; and a $13-million athletics and wellness center.

Earlham is a residential college. Students live in the eight residence halls (including the new 45,000-square-foot Mills Hall that opened in 2006) and thirty College-owned houses near the campus.

Earlham offers a Master of Arts in Teaching degree program. This eleven-month program for liberal arts and sciences graduates leads to certification in English/language arts, math, modern foreign languages, science, and social studies, all at the middle and high school levels.

In 2006, the College approved an Earlham Master of Education degree program for licensed teachers.

Earlham’s 800-acre tree-shaded campus lies in the southwestern edge of Richmond, Indiana, a city of 40,000. Richmond is 65 miles from Cincinnati, Ohio, and Indianapolis, Indiana, and 40 miles from Dayton, Ohio. Many students find opportunities to join in local activities. The city’s arboretum and parks system, symphony orchestra, theater company, and art association all offer extra dimensions to student life.

Earlham College awards the B.A. degree in more than thirty disciplinary and interdisciplinary programs. Academic majors include African and African-American studies, art, biochemistry, biology, business and nonprofit management, chemistry, comparative languages and linguistics, computer science, economics, education, English, environmental programs, French, geosciences, German, history, human development and social relations, international studies, Japanese language and linguistics, Japanese studies, Latin American studies, mathematics, music, peace and global studies, philosophy, physics/astronomy, politics, psychobiology, psychology, religion, sociology/anthropology, Spanish, theater arts, and women’s studies. Other special academic programs are offered in film studies, Jewish studies, journalism, languages and literatures, legal studies, medieval studies, museum studies, outdoor education, Quaker studies, studio art, teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL), and wilderness. Excellent preprofessional programs are available in law, medicine, and the ministry.

Earlham aims to educate for depth and breadth, believing that one’s success in the twenty-first century depends heavily on an ability to understand and make well-educated connections across different intellectual and experiential boundaries. Earlham’s General Education Program encourages students to develop competencies in the arts, quantitative reasoning, scientific inquiry, wellness, and perspectives in diversity (including domestic multiculturalism, interculturalism, or global historical awareness and second language requirements). First- and second-year core courses (Earlham Seminars, Interpretive Practices courses, and Comparative Practices courses) emphasize ways of knowing and critical reading and writing skills.

Students gain an in-depth understanding of one or more disciplines in their major area of academic concentration. An academic major usually consists of eight to ten courses in one department, a senior research project or seminar, and a departmental comprehensive examination. Earlham grants credit for Advanced Placement examinations and higher-level International Baccalaureate subjects. Students may also receive credit for independent studies and academic internships.

The academic year consists of two semesters plus an optional May Term. During the summer, the College sponsors a two-week academic experience for high school students called Explore-A-College.

Earlham believes that classroom learning must go hand-in-hand with experience in the richness of the wider world. More than 65 percent of Earlham students participate in at least one off-campus study program. Academic credit is earned, and, except for transportation costs, no extra charge is incurred for off-campus study. Earlham students can study abroad in Austria, the Bahamas, China, Curacao, East Africa, England, France, Galapagos (tropical biology), Germany, Greece, Haiti, Japan, Martinique, Menorca, the Middle East, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Russia, Scotland, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Spain, Turkey, and Vienna. Earlhamites also participate in American programs along the U.S.-Mexico border (Border Studies) and in Philadelphia; New York; Chicago; Woods Hole, Massachusetts; and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The academic focus of these programs varies, and students in all majors are encouraged to participate in at least one off-campus program. Earlham offers a three-week wilderness experience to incoming first-year students backpacking in the Uinta Mountains of Utah or canoeing in the boundary waters of Canada.

Long considered one of the nation’s finest teaching libraries, Earlham’s Lilly and Wildman Science Libraries received the 2001 Excellence in Academic Libraries Award from the Association of College and Research Libraries. In total, Earlham students and faculty members have ready access to some 3.5 million volumes. Locally, Earlham houses more than 400,000 volumes and currently subscribes to some 1,200 print periodicals and newspapers. Maps, music, and works of art are also available. Another 17,000 periodicals are available online. Special holdings include the Herbert Hoover Peace Studies Collection and the Quaker Collection. Earlham is a Library of Congress selected depository for government documents.

The $13-million Landrum Bolling Center for Interdisciplinary Studies and Social Sciences opened in 2002, providing technologically equipped classrooms, offices, and common areas to enable pursuits in interdisciplinary programs, global outreach, experiential learning, collaborative projects, and networked information resources.

Modern, well-equipped science laboratories for biology, chemistry, geology, and physics are found in Stanley and Dennis Halls. Dennis Hall is also the location of the Joseph Moore Natural History Museum and the Ralph Teetor Planetarium. Earlham’s observatory has a 14-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. Through updated computing and network resources, students have high-speed access to e-mail and the Internet. Eight microcomputer labs with 165 workstations (Macintosh-, Windows-, and UNIX-based) support word processing, programming, research, and Internet and e-mail access. One mixed-platform lab (Macintoshes and Windows) is available to students and faculty and staff members 24 hours a day. All residence hall rooms are wired for Internet access, and wireless networking is available in all academic buildings and campus houses.

Music and art studios are found in the Runyan Student Center, which also houses a modern theater, the campus radio station, and the College bookstore. Other studios and Goddard Auditorium are located in Carpenter Hall.

Tuition, fees, and room and board charges for 2008–09 totaled $40,844. Students have free admission to the Earlham Artist Series, athletic events, speaker series, and numerous lectures, concerts, and dances.

Most financial aid is awarded on the basis of demonstrated need; more than 75 percent of Earlham’s first-year students receive financial assistance. Earlham usually meets the full need of all accepted students with a combination of Earlham Grants, endowed scholarships, loans, federal and state grants, and campus work. Students must file both the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and a special Earlham form.

Scholarships are awarded without regard to financial need and recognize academic achievement. Earlham also offers scholarships through the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Special scholarships are available to members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and to students who are likely to enhance the diversity of the student body. Scholarships and limited financial aid are available for international students.

Earlham’s faculty members are dedicated professionals whose first priority is teaching. Ninety-seven percent of the 103 teaching faculty members hold doctoral degrees or terminal degrees in their fields. In recent years their teaching, creative endeavors, and scholarly research have been recognized by numerous grants and fellowships from the Ford Foundation, Danforth Foundation, IBM, Woodrow Wilson Foundation, Fulbright-Hayes Program, Kellogg Foundation, Japan Foundation, Lilly Endowment Inc., National Endowment for the Humanities, National Science Foundation, and Carnegie-Mellon Foundation. The student-faculty ratio is 12:1.

Earlham’s distinctive approach to consensus governance recalls its Quaker roots. The philosophical system is summarized in a code of principles and practices based on the ideals of respect for individuals and community, integrity, simplicity, peace and justice, and consensus governance. Campus organizations reach decisions by consensus rather than by parliamentary procedure or majority rule. The process emphasizes individual thought, group discussion, listening, and synthesizing.

Admission decisions are based on more than SAT and ACT scores or high school grades, as important as these criteria are. Earlham pays close attention to the quality of the academic program, teacher and counselor recommendations, application essays, and personal interviews. Applicants should have had an academic or college-preparatory high school program. The SAT or ACT is required. Interviews are strongly recommended although not required.

Earlham offers several admission options. The early decision deadline is December 1 (notification on December 15), the early action deadline is January 1 (notification on February 1), the regular decision deadline is February 15 (notification on March 15), and the transfer deadline is April 1. International students (non-U.S. citizens) should apply by February 1.

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