Type Private Budget $36.6 million in 2013 Academic staff 70 Acceptance rate 98.4% (2014) Mascot Bobcat Graduation rate 43.2% (2014) | Established 1946 President Cathy S. Dove Undergraduate tuition and fees 26,146 USD (2015) Total enrollment 1,007 (2010) Phone +1 518-327-6000 | |
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Motto “It's about the experience” Address 7777 NY-30, Paul Smiths, NY 12970, USA Notable alumni Laura James, John Mitzewich, Jon L Luther Similar North Country Communi, State University of New Y, Unity College, Clarkson University, State University of New Y Profiles | ||
Paul Smith's College is a private college located in Paul Smiths, N.Y. (destination ZIP Code 12970). It is the only four-year institution of higher education within the Adirondack Park. Paul Smith's College offers both two- and four-year programs in many fields, including natural resources, environmental science, fisheries and wildlife science, forestry, recreation, biology, hotel and restaurant management, culinary arts and business. Its 14,000-acre campus is one of the largest college campuses in the world. Approximately 1,000 students attend each year.
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History
Paul Smith's College was founded through a bequest of Phelps Smith, son of Apollos Smith, whose Paul Smith's Hotel, built in 1859, was the most famous wilderness resort of its era. The first class was matriculated in 1946, and was loosely based on the original hotel's business model. Along with the money to start a school, Phelps also left more than 20,000 acres (80 km²) of land. Paul Smith's is located northwest of Saranac Lake, N.Y., in the hamlet of Paul Smiths in the Town of Brighton.
In 2015 Joan Weill, a former college trustee with a long history of philanthropy benefiting the college, offered a $20 million donation on the condition that the institution change its name to Joan Weill-Paul Smith's College, a change that would have violated Phelps Smith's founding bequest, which required that the school be "forever known" as Paul Smith's College of Arts and Sciences. Justice John T. Ellis of the New York State Supreme Court ruled that the college could not be renamed, and the proposed donation was withdrawn.
Academics
Paul Smith's College has a long tradition of providing hands-on education with coursework applied in a variety of fields. For example, students in the Forestry program participate in professional timber harvest operations.
Classroom space is primarily located at Pickett Hall, Cantwell Hall, and Freer Science Hall. Auxiliary areas include The Joan Weill Adirondack Library, the campus' sawmill, the Saunders Sports Complex, the Joan Weill Student Center and the Paul Smith's College VIC.
Two on-campus restaurants, the Adirondack Palm and the St. Regis Cafe, are staffed by students and open to the public.
Paul Smith's Fall 2015 acceptance rate was 98% and it was ranked #31 in Regional Colleges North in the 2017 ranking by U.S. News & World Report. The college refused to fill out U.S. News statistical survey so data are from the college in previous years or from another source such as the National Center for Education Statistics.
Degrees
Bachelor’s degrees
Campus life
Most of the college population lives on campus. Residence halls are divided by class. Freshmen halls include Lydia Martin Smith Hall, Currier Hall, and Livermore Hall. Incoming transfer students are housed in Clinton Hall. Upperclassmen share Essex, Franklin, Lakeside, Saratoga, Alumni, Upper St. Regis, and Lower St. Regis halls. A LEED-certified "green" dorm for upper-classmen, Overlook Hall, was opened in 2011.
Wellness buildings include Livermore Hall for freshmen and Blum House and Hillside Hall for upperclassmen.
Paul Smith's rural location lends itself to many campus-based activities. Student-directed clubs administrated under the Office of Student Activities include fishing and hunting, Artisans' club, Outing club, Students for Environmental Action, Society of American Foresters, the Wildlife Society, Student Government Association, Whitewater Kayaking, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Ski and Snowboard Club, Gaming club, Fish and Game Club, Honors club, and Wrestling club, among others.
The campus is located on Lower St. Regis Lake. Students have a beach with lifeguard as well as docks and storage for canoes and kayaks.
The Lakeside Dining Hall is operated by Sodexo food service. A bakery in Cantwell Hall opens a few days a semester to sell student-produced baked goods.
Sports
The college raises a variety of sports teams from the school's general population, including basketball, soccer, rugby and cross-country. Most are under the direction of administrative staff and faculty.
The college also offers sports programs reflecting its outdoor character, such as snowshoe racing, coed woodsmen's and Nordic skiing teams, and canoe racing. In the warmer months students may rent canoes to use on Lower Saint Regis Lake, located on the southern side of campus.
The newly renovated Saunders Sports Complex houses the Bobcat fitness center, a gymnasium, dance studio, and campus pool. It is home to the school's SCUBA and dive training programs, the kayaking club's whitewater training, and log birling practice, an event in woodsman lumberjack sports competitions.
The facility is open to the general public for a nominal fee. A 32-foot (9.8 m)-tall climbing wall was opened in the adjacent Buxton Annex gymnasium in 2010.
Timbersports take place in both Fall and Spring semesters, with teams practicing every month of the school year. Events include pole climbing, log birling, chopping, splitting, sawing, pulp toss, ax-throw, and pack-board relay.
The Paul Smith's woodsmen's team's nine-year winning streak (from 1957-1966) in the sport's biggest event, the Spring Meet, is the longest in the history of intercollegiate lumberjack competition. The school's highly regarded squad travels to meets throughout the Northeast and Ontario, Canada.
Both the men and women's soccer teams at Paul Smith's compete in an annual rivalry game with the teams from SUNY-ESF (State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry), known as the Barkeater Cup. The PSC men's soccer team won the Cup in 2014. Men's and woem's team participate in the Yankee Small College Conference regionally, and the USCAA on a national level.