Saint Michael’s welcomes 587 new students on Thursday, August 25, with bells and whistles

Saint Michael’s College welcomes new students on Thursday, August 25, with a full day of spirited events, involving the traditional SMC raucous welcome with whistles, balloons, posters, and help moving in. The process starts in the Ross Sports Center between 9 a.m. and noon. New students will meet with their resident assistants in the afternoon; and will attend several other meetings, followed by New Student Convocation at 7 p.m. in the SMC Chapel with the principal address to be given by Dr. Richard Kujawa, geology professor.
Professor Kujawa received the 2010 Joanne Rathgeb Teaching Award, and as such, is the designated speaker for this year’s convocation. The new class is ceremonially presented to the faculty, the alma mater is sung, and President John J. Neuhauser also addresses the class and their families. Classes begin for all students Monday, August 29.
New Liberal Studies Curriculum
For the first time in more than 15 years, Saint Michael’s students this fall will be working with a new curriculum that sharpens the focus of what is at the heart of their liberal arts education. The new Liberal Studies Curriculum still includes literature, history, arts and sciences along with Catholic and other religious topics and philosophy. Now there’s also emphasis on quantitative skills, global understanding, and the purposeful bringing together of student life and academics to tap into and recognize the rich expanse of ‘experiential learning’ opportunities’internships, study abroad, Fire and Rescue, wilderness adventures, service trips, and other experiences typical for Saint Michael’s students. The revised curriculum will be incorporated into a new 4/4 template, in which students take four courses per semester worth four credits each. The college will be tracking what students learn: all the course overhauls are’outcomes-driven,’ with faculty and administrators more clearly spelling out what they hope will result from each student’s educational experience.
Over 20% of the new class rank in top 10% of their high school class
The new class, Class of 2015, entering this fall at Saint Michael’s includes 548 first-year students and 37 transfer students. They come from over 25 states, including Washington, Kentucky, Minnesota, Florida,California; and other countries, including Puerto Rico, Nepal, Norway, Switzerland, China and Canada. Some 17 percent of the new students are from Vermont; 83 percent are out-of-state; the class is made up of 54 percent female students and 46 percent male students, with over 20 percent of the incoming students ranking in the top 10 percent of their high school class.
First environmental studies professor
Saint Michael’s has ten new full-time faculty members, one of whom Dr. Laura Stroup is the first environmental studies professor. She will work closely with faculty in biology, chemistry, geology and economics in this newly enhanced, cross-disciplinary major, Environmental Studies. Professor Stroup has a particular interest in studying the changing impact of the human environment on water resources. She plans a field study trip to her research area in the Everglades, cooperative studies with Saint Michael's biologists, and possibly a project with the popular SMC Wilderness Program.
New full-time professors joining the Saint Michael's College faculty this fall are:
Dr. Laura Stroup, assistant professor of environmental students, with a doctorate from the University ofSouth Carolina
Dr. Scott Asher, visiting instructor of biology, with a master’s degree from the University of Maryland,College Park
Dr. Christina Chant, assistant professor of chemistry with a doctorate from Pennsylvania StateUniversity.
Dr. Leah Clark, visiting humanities scholar-in-residence, in the fine arts department, with a doctorate fromMcGill University
Dr. William Ellis, assistant professor of fine arts, music, with a doctorate from the University of Memphis
Brian Collier, assistant professor of fine arts, with a master’s in fine arts from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Dr. Nicole Maribona Mombell, assistant professor of modern languages, with a doctorate from YaleUniversity
Dr. Peter Vantine, assistant professor of modern languages, with a doctorate from the University ofWisconsin, Madison
Dr. Carolyn Sawin, visiting assistant professor of sociology, with a doctorate from the University of Washington, Seattle
Dr. Kathryn Dungy, assistant professor of history with a doctorate from Duke University
Learn What Matters at Saint Michael's College, The Edmundite Catholic liberal arts college, www.smcvt.edu . Saint Michael's provides education with a social conscience, producing graduates with the intellectual tools to lead successful, purposeful lives that will contribute to peace and justice in our world. Founded in 1904 by the Society of St. Edmund and headed by President John J. Neuhauser, Saint Michael's College is located three miles from Burlington, Vermont, one ofAmerica's top college towns. Identified by the Princeton Review as one of the nations Best 373 Colleges, and included in the 2011 Fiske Guide to Colleges, Saint Michael's has 1,900 undergraduate students and 500 graduate students. Saint Michael's students and professors have received Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Pickering, Guggenheim, Fulbright, and other grants. The college is one of the nation's top-100, Best Liberal Arts Colleges as listed in the 2011 U.S. News & World Report rankings.