Skidmore College Information

Coordinates: 43°05′52″N 73°47′07″W / 43.09778°N 73.78528°W / 43.09778; -73.78528

Skidmore College is a private liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York. Approximately 2,650 students are enrolled at Skidmore pursuing a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree in one of more than 60 areas of study.

Skidmore College has undergone many transformations since its founding in the early 20th century as a womens college. The Young Womens Industrial Club was formed in 1903 by Lucy Ann Skidmore (1853–1931) with inheritance money from her husband who died in 1879, and from her father, Joseph Russell Skidmore (1821–1882), a former 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 authority of the University of the State of New York. By 1922 the school had been chartered independently as a four-year, degree-granting college.

Skidmore College was in downtown Saratoga Springs at first, but on October 28, 1961, the college acquired the Jonsson Campus, 850 acres (3.4 km2) of land on the outer edges of Saratoga Springs. The Jonsson Campus was named for the Skidmore trustee Erik Jonsson, the founder and president of Texas Instruments and a former mayor of Dallas, Texas (1964–71). The new Jonsson Tower bears his name. The first new buildings on the campus opened in 1966, and by 1973 the move was mostly complete. The old campus was sold to Verrazzano College, a new institution that did not prove successful, and its buildings have since been put to other uses.

In 1971, the college began admitting men to its regular undergraduate program (a few dozen male World War II veterans had been admitted in 1946-49). Skidmore also launched the "University Without Walls" (UWW) program, which allows nonresident students over age 25 to earn bachelors degrees. The program ended in May 2011. Finally,[when?] 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.

In 2003, Philip A. Glotzbach became the Colleges seventh president. He remains in this role. After his presidency was announced, to welcome him to Skidmore, students rallied and drummed up support for his presidency by writing slogans in chalk on sidewalks around the campus.

2006 marked the start of the largest campaign in Skidmores history, Creative Thought. Bold Promise. The goal was to raise $200 million, which was reached and surpassed in 2010 and celebrated at Celebration Weekend.

The SS Skidmore Victory (VC2-S-AP3), a World War II cargo ship, was named after the college. Victory ships (VC2) were a class of cargo ship produced in large numbers by American shipyards to replace losses caused by German submarines. They were slightly larger and of a more modern design when compared to the earlier Liberty ships, with a more powerful steam turbine engine allowing them to join high speed convoys and to make a more difficult target for German U-boats.

Skidmore grants students the ability to pursue a wide variety of degrees. The World Language department is especially diverse, and enables students to take classes in over six different languages. Students are also encouraged to take their education outside of the classroom with internships. These can be taken for credit and can be completed throughout the academic year. Opportunities for these internships are highly publicized both by the departments themselves and by the career center.Due to the definition of degrees by New York State, Skidmore cannot accredit all departments with a Bachelors of Science. A B.S. is given to those students majoring in Art (Studio), Dance, Dance-Theater, Education, Exercise Science, Business, Social Work, and Theater. The distinction rests in the number of hours of "non-liberal arts" courses allowed toward the 120 credit hours needed for graduation, 60 for a B.S. and 30 for a B.A. These "non-liberal arts"-designated courses are considered by the college to be of a professional nature.

Skidmore is considered one of the Hidden Ivies according to Greenes Guides to Educational Planning (2000). The college was ranked the 41st best national liberal arts college in the 2019 edition of U.S. News and World Report Best Colleges Ranking. The 2019 Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education ranking of US colleges and universities placed Skidmore at 120th. For its 2018 Americas Top Colleges list, Forbes rated Skidmore 102nd overall.

The number of new students enrolling in the Fall of 2017 (class of 2021) was 665; For the class of 2021, total applications were 10,052, with an overall 24.5% acceptance rate, and a yield rate (the percentage of accepted students who enroll) of 26.8%. The median SAT score for the Class of 2021 was 1320, while the median ACT score was 30.

Most of the buildings on Skidmores 850-acre (3.4 km2) campus were constructed after 1960.

The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery is the colleges main arts facility. In addition to the Tang, Skidmore has undergraduate studio space as well as several smaller galleries. The Saisselin Art Building houses studios for animation, ceramics, communication design, drawing, fibers, metals, painting, photography, printmaking, and sculpture. Skidmore has a music program housed in the Arthur Zankel Music Center, which contains a large concert hall and facilities.

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 average class size is 17 (generally smaller in lab courses) and the typical student-to-teacher ratio is 8:1.

The Lucy Scribner Library houses approximately half a million volumes. Its five floors contain a large computer lab, approximately sixty open computers on the main floor, with classrooms and private offices. A collection of rare books is kept in the third floor Pohndorff Room. The third floor has a childrens library which is used by Saratoga residents.

Skidmore maintains nine on-campus residence halls (Howe Hall, Jonsson Tower, Kimball Hall, McClellan Hall, Penfield Hall, Rounds Hall, Wait Hall, Wiecking Hall and Wilmarth Hall) and three on-campus apartment complexes (North Woods Village, Sussman Village, and the Hillside Houses).

Residence Hall rooms at Skidmore are quite large and the college usually appears on the Princeton Reviews "Dorms Like Palaces" list. Most residence halls are arranged in suite style with 3 or 4 bedrooms sharing one common bathroom. Most suites are single sex. Gender-neutral housing is available in Wiecking Hall, the Sussman Village, Hillside, and North Woods apartments. The North Woods Apartments can hold 380 people in 3- and 4-person apartments. The Sussman Village apartments, popular among seniors, mainly consist of 4-person apartments.

The aptly named Falstaffs was built in 1986 as a student pub. It is now a largely used as a venue for student sponsored musical performances.

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