TRI ADN E WS Latest college rankings bring new accolades The annual college rankings season this year included a few new wrinkles—not to mention some new accolades—for Warren Wilson. One of the more impressive recognitions came from Outside magazine, which ranked Warren Wilson No. 7 nationally in its feature “Outside University: The Top 25 Colleges for Outside Readers.” CalBerkeley was No. 1 as California universities dominated the list, but Warren Wilson had the highest ranking of any school in the Southeast. Washington Monthly gave Warren Wilson another lofty ranking, placing the College 25th nationwide among its Top 30 Liberal Arts Colleges in the magazine’s 2012 college rankings. The rankings are based on student social mobility, faculty research production and colleges’ commitment to service.
On the graduate level, Warren Wilson’s renowned MFA Program for Writers was named the “Most Popular” low-residency MFA program by Poets & Writers magazine. Warren Wilson also fared well in regional college rankings, being selected as the No. 1 “All-Around Blue Ridge Outdoor School” by Blue Ridge Outdoors. The College maintained its excellent standing in several other rankings as well. It was named a private college “Best Buy”— one of 20 nationwide—by the highly regarded Fiske Guide to Colleges for the seventh time since 2005. Warren Wilson also continued as a Sierra magazine “Coolest School,” as it has every year since Sierra began the feature in 2007. And the College again was named to The Princeton Review Green Rating Honor Roll, one of 21 schools to make the grade.
Urban and Community Forest Grant The North Carolina Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forest Grant Program has awarded the College a $15,000 grant to complete a comprehensive tree inventory of the main campus. Based on the inventory, the grant team, led by landscaping supervisor Tom LaMuraglia and assistant supervisor Caleb Mende (pictured), will create a forest management plan and measure the carbon sequestration capacity of the campus forest. Environmental studies major Linden Blasius ’11 is the grant intern who will lead students in collecting and analyzing data. Global studies/ GIS professor David Abernathy and forestry/environmental studies professor David Ellum will serve as consultants and integrate the grant work with classes.
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Students receive awards at N.C. Academy of Science Five students who presented their research at the annual meeting of the N.C. Academy of Science have been awarded Derieux Prizes for Excellence in Undergraduate Research. The following students received prizes for original research: Melanie Kemp, first place, physiology/toxicology/biochemistry; Jessica Schaner, second place, health/ environmental sciences; Alice Sloan, second place, ecology; Camille Taylor, third place, botany; and Laura Lilley, third place, physiology/toxicology/biochemistry. A total of 12 WWC students presented results of their research at the 2012 meeting. Over the years Warren Wilson students have won more N.C. Academy of Science awards for papers on their research than students from any other college or university in the state.
OWL & SPADE