Engaged Students

Service and community are important on the campus of Caldwell College. Through campus events, students strengthen their understanding of the needs of society. They gain an enriched foundation for serving mankind as they enter the workforce.

Service Day is a landmark event that involves the entire campus community.  Classes are cancelled and students, faculty and staff volunteer their time throughout New Jersey.  All students are involved each year as they support the needs of local shelters, work at food banks, volunteer at local community centers or clean up local parks.

Greek Life on campus is also dedicated to community service as two sororities and one fraternity work to "give back" to the community. Activities may include fundraising for victims of natural disasters or engaging in a 5k run for Caldwell College's nationally known Center for Autism & Applied Behavior Analysis. Through these types of events, students learn about the importance of community.

Campus ministry brings to life the Dominican Catholic identity by infusing the campus with a touch of spiritual life.  It offers events such as retreats and alternative spring breaks where students travel to build homes and learn about the reality and injustices of poverty.

Caldwell College offers internship opportunities to students throughout the year to enhance their learning experience.  Students have worked in all fields from healthcare to business, sports management to television networks and everything in between.

As part of their commitment to developing 'global students', Caldwell offers both semester-long and short-term study abroad programs.  This allows students to experience international customs and cultures and expand the breadth of their educational experience.  Short-term travel options provide students with a great opportunity to spend one to three weeks studying at another location without having to sacrifice an entire semester away from Caldwell's campus.

Great Teaching

One of the strengths of Caldwell College is its size.  Caldwell is committed to providing the best learning environment designed to help students succeed.  The average class size is 18 to 20 students with a student-to-faculty ratio of 12 to 1.  Within the two lecture halls on campus, there are very few courses that exceed 50 students.  In fact over 60% of the classes offered at Caldwell College have 20 students or less.

Because Caldwell is a teaching institution, all courses are taught by faculty, there are no teaching assistants. This maintains the quality of teaching and further enhances the value of a Caldwell College education.

Caldwell College offers the only doctoral program in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) in New Jersey. The faculty is recognized as one of the finest in the country.  Students can enter the dual program as undergraduates and receive a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's degree in ABA with the opportunity to learn from the highly decorated ABA faculty. Plus, graduate students have the opportunity to earn hands-on experience while working at the on-campus Center for Autism and Applied Behavior Analysis. This state-of-the art facility conducts cutting-edge research in both basic and applied principles of behavior while serving the autism community.

Many unique combined programs in medicine, veterinary medicine, dentistry, occupational or physical therapy, and athletic training are offered at Caldwell College.  These programs are designed to offer students the opportunity to save time in the educational process as well as the chance to partner with schools such as Columbia University, UMDNJ, Temple University and others. Faculty advisement is provided throughout the entire process to ensure all program requirements are met.

Caldwell College provides students with the support and the tools they need to succeed.  Coordinated by the Center for Student Success, students are offered the "Freshman Seminar" and "Freshman Connect". These programs are designed to ease the transition from high school to college and strengthen their academic skills in a controlled learning experience.  Through the "Second-Year Experience" program, students explore different majors, career planning and internship programs and work on resume writing, interviewing skills, and much more.

At Caldwell College, each student's success is taken to heart. Beside unique programs, The Center for Student Success provides advisement, early warning systems to intervene and assist students, disability services, tutoring, and more.

Vibrant Community

Caldwell College offers students opportunities that extend beyond the classroom.  With our location so close to New York City, students have the opportunity to visit museums, Broadway shows, cultural and business centers and more.  Faculty in business, the arts, music and communication arts routinely take students into NYC to enhance their learning experience.  In fact, many of the faculty, through their personal contacts, are able to provide students access to events that are normally unavailable to the public. For instance, many students have attended premiers before general public openings, or gained exposure by shadowing busy professionals in the business world.

On campus, Caldwell College is the host of art exhibits displaying the work of national, local and student artists throughout the year.  A music concert series that runs throughout the fall and spring semesters includes performances from students and musicians from around the globe.

Campus is always a "buzz" with guest lecturers, renowned authors, television personalities and many more.

If sports are your preference, Caldwell College has 12 NCAA athletic teams students may join. These include both men's and women's teams in basketball, soccer, and tennis.  For women there is softball, volleyball, cross-country, track and field, and lacrosse. Baseball completes the roster of team sports. The local community is a big supporter of Caldwell College Athletics. Youth teams as well as neighbors from town can be found in the bleachers cheering on Caldwell College teams.

C-Life is Caldwell College's unique living, learning community. It is another option for students who wish to integrate faith and campus life.  Created to foster relationships and encourage study groups, students will attend class together and participate in community service opportunities during spring break.

Caldwell College offers on-campus living in either a traditional dormitory-style setting or an apartment-style setting.  The recently renovated Caldwell Dining Hall and Cougar Den provide great places to eat, study and make friends. In the Newman Center, students will find a fitness center and indoor running track, which is open to all students.

Successful Outcomes

Caldwell prepares students for their future through its strong liberal arts foundation.

The college's CORE curriculum is designed to meet the goals of a liberal arts education.  It provides students with a perspective and informed acquaintance with the major branches of learning: the humanities; the physical and biological sciences; mathematics; and the social sciences.  The CORE is designed to develop critical thinking skills, to challenge students intellectually, to promote an appreciation for diverse cultures and to increase moral and civic awareness.  The CORE integrates writing across the entire curriculum to strengthen students' writing ability in all disciplines.

The learning objectives of the CORE include "global objectives" that cut across different disciplines.  The three global objectives articulate the expectation that upon completion of the core, Caldwell students will be able to:

• Communicate effectively in writing,
• Demonstrate the ability to use logical reasoning to support conclusions, and
• Demonstrate competence in information literacy by selecting, utilizing and documenting appropriate sources.

The purpose of the foundational core is to introduce students to the breadth of disciplines in the Liberal Arts tradition while developing the fundamental skills of writing, critical thinking, and information literacy.

The purpose of the enriched core is to reinforce central elements of the Catholic and Dominican identity of the College while giving students choice and flexibility to pursue topics of interest.

In addition to the CORE, the college has pursued national accreditations that provide external validation of its academic strength and excellence. Caldwell has received national accreditations for programs in business from the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP), in education from the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC), in nursing from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), and in graduate counseling programs from the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Education Programs (CACREP).