Manchester Newspapers’ Poultney's 250th Birthday Special Edition - Week of September 12, 2011 - 9
Celebrating 250 years
Green Mountain College has long, rich history Founded as a coeducational institution in 1834, Green Mountain has a long and rich history. It became a two-year college for women in 1943 when World War II altered the composition of the student body. In 1974, it returned to coeducational status, offering four-year baccalaureate degrees to both men and women. Though historically tied to the United Methodist Church, the College community now reflects a vital respect for spiritual values, individual conscience, and interfaith dialogue. In 1995, Green Mountain College formally adopted its environmental liberal arts mission. Environmental sustainability is the unifying theme underlying the academic and social experience of the campus. Through a broad range of liberal arts and career-focused majors and a vigorous, service-oriented student affairs program, the College aims to foster the ideals of environmental responsibility, public service, international understanding, and lifelong intellectual, physical and spiritual development. Named the greenest school in the nation by Sierra magazine in 2010, Green Mountain College offers 45 undergraduate programs and three graduate studies programs. GMC grants bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, bachelor of fine arts, master of science, and master of business administration degrees. Students are drawn from 22 states and 9 foreign countries. The College employs nearly 200 people
written about the college by New York City poet Ed Moran.
Timeline History
The entrance to Green Mountain College. (including 50 full-time faculty members), making it one of the largest employers in Rutland County.
Welsh Heritage Many Welsh immigrants, attracted by the area’s slate industry, settled in this valley to produce one of the strongest Welsh-American communities in the country. The Green Mountain College Welsh Heritage Program seeks to maintain and cultivate that cultural legacy and to foster an interest in Wales and Welsh culture among our students and faculty. The College’s Griswold Library houses a special collection related to Wales and Welsh culture. It contains an archive of books, documents, photographs, press clippings, oral histories, family histories and other archival
material and artifacts related to the local Welsh-American community. The latest works in Welsh and WelshAmerican studies are available. During Vermont’s fall foliage season each October, the college holds the GMC Welsh Festival, featuring the talents of visiting artists and scholars from Wales as well as students and community members. Under the direction of Professor James Cassarino, Côry Mynydd Glas and Cantorion, our student choir and ensemble, is the only American choir to perform Welsh hymns and folksongs at each of its performances. They have performed for Welsh societies across America and have toured Wales multiple times. The college anthem incorporates the music and words of the Welsh hymn Calon Lan with the poem, This Green Place,
Green Mountain College had its origins in 1833, when the newly formed Troy Conference of the Methodist Church decided they must have a strong and influential institution near the center of the Conference. West Poultney, Vermont was chosen as a site in 1834, because of the “deep interest and enthusiasm of the inhabitants, and the good morals of its industrious citizens who carefully observe the Sabbath,” and also because they had subscribed $5,000 for the institution. On October 25, 1834, the Vermont General Assembly passed the Act of Incorporation. In 1836, the Troy Conference opened with the Rev. S. Stocking as principal. An academy in the 19th century was actually a combination grammar and high school. In the better academies (of which TCA was one), the more advanced subjects could now be considered college level. TCA’s first graduate received a diploma in 1844. In 1860, the Vermont Legislature granted TCA the right to convey baccalaureate degrees to young ladies. A major change for the school occurred in 1863, when former teacher and principal John Newman purchased the academy and turned it into Ripley Female College. The school awarded its first
See COLLEGE, pg. 10
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