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Skidmore College is a private, four-year college located in Saratoga Springs, New York. Consistently ranked among the nation's top liberal arts colleges,* Skidmore is known for a rigorous curriculum that prepares students for careers, graduate school, and community leadership. The college currently enrolls approximately 2,200 students and offers B.A. and B.S. degrees in more than fifty areas of study. Admission is competitive.

History

Since its founding in the early twentieth century, Skidmore has undergone several transformations. The Young Women's Industrial Club was formed in 1903 by Lucy Skidmore Scribner with inheritance money from her father, Joseph Russell Skidmore, a prosperous coal merchant. In 1911, the club was chartered under the name "Skidmore School of Arts" as a college to vocationally and professionally train young women.

Charles Henry Keyes became the first president of the school in 1912, and in 1919 Skidmore conferred its first baccalaureate degrees under the State University of New York. By 1922 the school was independently charted as a four-year, degree-granting college.

Skidmore was first located in downtown Saratoga Springs, but on October 28, 1961, the college began its move to the Jonsson Campus, an 850-acre plot of land on the edge of Saratoga. The Jonsson Campus was named for Skidmore trustee Erik Jonsson, the founder and president of Texas Instruments and a former mayor of San Antonio, Texas (1964-1971).

1971 was an important year for Skidmore. For the first time, the college began admitting men to the regular undergraduate program (a few dozen male World War II veterans were briefly enrolled in the late 1940s). Skidmore also launched an innovative program called University Without Walls (UWW), which allows nonresident students over age 25 to earn bachelors degrees. Finally, Skidmore established a Phi Beta Kappa chapter.

In 1988, Skidmore faculty formed the Collaborative Research Program, which provides students with opportunities to co-author papers and studies with professors. Skidmore began granting masters degrees in 1991 through its Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS) program. The Skidmore Honors Forum was founded in 1998.

Skidmore has had seven presidents:

  • Charles Henry Keyes (1912 - 1925)
  • Henry T. Moore (1925 - 1957)
  • Val H. Wilson (1957 - 1965)
  • Joseph C. Palamountain, Jr. (1965 - 1987)
  • David H. Porter (1987 - 1999)
  • Jamienne S. Studley (1999 - 2003)
  • Philip A. Glotzbach (2003 - present)

Academic departments and programs

  • American Studies
  • Anthropology
  • Art
  • Art History
  • Asian Studies
  • Biology
  • Business (Management and Business)
  • Chemistry
  • Classics
  • Computer Science
  • Dance
  • Economics
  • Education Studies
  • English
  • Environmental Studies
  • Exercise Science
  • First-Year Experience
  • Foreign Languages and Literatures
  • Geosciences
  • Government (Political Science)
  • History
  • International Affairs
  • International Affairs/Environment Studies
  • Latin American Studies
  • Law and Society
  • Liberal Studies 2
  • Management and Business
  • Mathematics
  • Music
  • Neuroscience
  • Philosophy and Religion
  • Physics
  • Psychology
  • Religious Studies
  • Social Work
  • Sociology
  • Summer Six Art Program
  • Theater
  • Women's Studies

Campus and facilities

Most of the buildings on Skidmore's 850-acre campus were constructed after 1960. Consequently, the grounds have a contemporary ambience that is enhanced by the numerous sculptures and murals that decorate the quads and other common areas.

The Tang Art Museum is the college's most prominent arts facility. In addition to the Tang, Skidmore has substantial undergraduate studio space as well as several smaller galleries. The Saeselin Art Building houses studios for animation, ceramics, communication design, drawing, fibers, metals, painting, photography, printmaking, and sculpture. Skidmore has a well-known music program and is currently building a large concert hall with state-of-the art facilities to replace its current music building.

Most humanities classes are held in one of four academic buildings: Palamountain, Tisch, Bolton, and Ladd. Harder Hall houses math and computer science; geology, chemistry, physics, and biology operate out of Dana Science Center. Almost every classroom at Skidmore is equipped with a computer and a projector, and many contain other audiovisual equipment such DVD players and slide projectors.

The Lucy Scribner Library, which houses approximately half a million volumes, is notable for both its function and beauty. It contains a large computer lab, classrooms, private offices for seniors who are working on theses, and many areas for individual and group study. A substantial collection of rare books is kept on the second floor.

Skidmore maintains nine on-campus dorms and one off-campus dorm, Moore Hall (closing in 2006), which is located in downtown Saratoga. The college is currently constructing additional on-campus housing and plans to sell Moore within a few years. Most dorm rooms at Skidmore are quite large, and the college usually appears on the Princeton Review's "Dorms Like Palaces" list. Upperclassmen may apply to live in the new North Woods Condos* or in Scribner Village, an on-campus apartment community.

Much of Skidmore's property is taken up by North Woods, a 530-acre forest that adjoins the academic campus. The woods contain extensive hiking and cycling trails that are open to the general public.

Tang Museum

The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery was opened in 2000, and was designed by the world-renowned architect Antoine Predock. Predock's striking, innovative design includes two major gallery wings (the Wachenheim Gallery and the Malloy Wing), two smaller galleries (the State Farm Mezzanine and the Winter Gallery), digitally-equipped classrooms, and several event spaces. The Tang is nationally known for both its architecture and its holdings, and its excellence has been recognized by the New York Times, Art in America, and Architectural Digest, among other publications.

The Tang has a private collection of over 4,500 works, including pieces by Rembrandt van Rijn, Albrecht Dürer, Francisco de Goya, William Hogarth, Roy Lichtenstein, Gary Winogrand, W. Eugene Smith, Eugene Atget, and Nan Goldin. The museum also maintains extensive collections of African, Indian, Chinese, and South American art.

An ambitious program of relevant, scholarly exhibitions is perhaps the Tang's greatest draw. Artists who have shown at the Tang include Kara Walker, Kate Ericson and Mel Ziegler, Trisha Brown, and Richard Pettibone. Among other recent exhibitions are "Brushing the Present: Contemporary Academy Painting from China," "From Pop to Now: Selections from the Sonnabend Collection," "The World According to the Newest and Most Exact Observations: Mapping Art and Science," and "Work: Shaker Design and Recent Art."

The Tang is an educational center as well as a museum. Skidmore classes regularly meet in the galleries and classrooms, and groups from other schools visit to view exhibits, hear lectures, and participate in workshops. Tours, demonstrations, and other events are generally open to the general public. In addition to visual arts exhibitions, the Tang often hosts plays, musical performances, and dance recitals.

Arthur Zankel Music Center

Because of a record breaking donation made by the estate of Arthur Zankel, Skidmore will be gifted $42 million dollars. A portion of which will be used as a lead gift to make the state of the art Arthur Zankel Music Center. Designed by Ewing Cole the building has already won awards even though it has not been constructed, and even more so it is environmentally friendly. For example, rain water will be collected on the roof and turned into usable water in restrooms.*

Dining facilities

Despite the fact that Skidmore students generally enjoy a very high standard of living, the college has struggled to provide food service whose quality is equal to that of the rest of the school's facilities. Many of the entrees available in the dining hall are high-calorie, high-fat, and of low nutritional value. The chefs create vegetarian and vegan meals, but these options are often lacking in quality and variety. A new dining hall is scheduled to be completed by Fall 2006 that is expected to improve the quality of student dining at the College.

Student life

Student Government Association

The Skidmore College Student Government Association (SGA) is the governing body of the 100+ student-run clubs and organizations on campus, the largest of which is the Student Entertainment Company (SEC). In addition to being the official liaison between students and the administration, the Skidmore SGA advocates for college policies that benefit the short- and long-term interests of the student body. The SGA is composed of an Executive Committee, an Executive Board, an Inter-Hall Board, a Senate, and countless other individual students appointed to campus policy committees and adjudicatory bodies. Skidmore is known for having a particularly strong student government association and an administration that prides itself on working with the SGA to develop effective college policy. Recent Skidmore Student Government Association Presidents include Andy Krishenbaum (2003), Scott Minkoff (2004), Betsy Sheridan (2005), and Petria Fleming (2006).

Student media

Salmagundi
Salmagundi is a quarterly journal that focuses on the humanities and social sciences. Founded by Robert Boyers, a long-time faculty member in the English department, it has been published at Skidmore since 1969 and now has an international subscriber base of several thousand readers.

Each issue generally includes poetry, fiction, interviews, and essays. Salmagundi's editors often devote large sections of an issue to a timely special subject. Recent theme issues include "The Culture of the Museum," "Homosexuality," "Art and Ethics," "The Culture Industry," "Kitsch," and "FemIcons."

Nadine Gordimer, J. M. Coetzee, Tzvetan Todorov, George Steiner, Orlando Patterson, Norman Manea, Christopher Hitchens, Seamus Heaney, Mary Gordon, Susan Sontag, Benjamin Barber, Joyce Carol Oates, Richard Howard, Carolyn Forche, Martin Jay, and David Rieff are among the writers who have contributed to Salmagundi. Regular columnists include Benjamin Barber, Tzvetan Todorov, Martin Jay, Charles Molesworth, Marilynne Robinson, Carolyn Forché, and Mario Vargas Llosa.

Salmagundi's website is located at http://www.skidmore.edu/salmagundi/.

The Skidmore News
The Skidmore News is the college's official student-run newspaper. Its staff is composed entirely of students, and it is published on a weekly basis during the academic year.

WSPN
WSPN 91.1 FM is Skidmore's radio station. It is administered by a board of directors composed entirely of undergraduates. Students, college employees, and residents of the local community are eligible to host shows, but they must apply to the board in order to win timeslots. Competition for high-profile slots is fierce.

WSPN's staff strives to create a cutting-edge mix of musical programming and talk shows. Although it is a small station with a small broadcast area, it has built up a reputation for innovative programming. The Princeton Review consistently ranks it among the nation's top college radio stations, and its internet broadcast reaches listeners throughout the country.

Alcohol and drugs

Like many colleges and universities, Skidmore has had problems with students abusing drugs and alcohol. In 2004, an intoxicated student was injured when he fell from a third-story window. This incident compelled Skidmore's students and administration to rework the college's policy on alcohol & illegal drugs. As a result, the school has gone from being ranked first on the Princeton Review's "reefer madness" list in 2003 to not appearing on the list at all in 2005. View List. Beginning in Fall 2006, most on-campus housing will officially be "dry." However, alcohol will be permitted in Scribner Village and the North Woods Apartments, which primarily house upperclassmen who are over 21. Furthermore, students of legal age will still be allowed to serve and consume alcohol at on-campus social events like dances and parties.

Athletics

Skidmore's intercollegiate athletics program offers some of the nation's top sports opportunities for student-athletes. In 2003-2004, players from twelve Thoroughbred teams qualified for regional or national team and individual honors, and more than 95 Skidmore athletes earned league honors. The current Athletic Director is Gail Cummings-Danson.

Skidmore is a member of the Liberty League.

Notable alumni

Trivia

  • The S.S. Skidmore Victory, Navy Ship, was named after Skidmore College.*
  • Skidmore students and faculty were extras in the film Seabiscuit.[http://www.skidmore.edu/~lopitz
  • Randy Harrison, "Justin" on Queer as Folk, studied at Skidmore's summer theater program, SITI. *

External links

Educational institutions established in 1903 | Saratoga Springs, New York | Universities and colleges in New York

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Skidmore College".

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