Engaged Students

Saint Michael’s graduates have attained prestigious and important positions in many fields, but most still find time to give back to society.

Located two miles from Burlington, Vermont, in one of America’s top 10 college towns, according to The Princeton Review, Saint Michael's College boasts a beautiful campus within sight of the majestic Green Mountains of Vermont. Saint Michael’s students Learn What Matters through experiential education, internships, service learning and first-rate academics coached by quality, committed faculty.

Adding the World to your Degree

Founded in 1904 by the Society of St. Edmund and headed by President John J. Neuhauser, Saint Michael’s is identified by the Princeton Review as one of the nation’s Best 371 Colleges. It is one of 270 colleges and universities nationwide, and one of only 20 Catholic colleges, with a Phi Beta Kappa chapter. Saint Michael’s students and professors receive Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Pickering, Guggenheim, Fulbright, NASA, and other grants.

In nearby Burlington, students can enjoy first rate performing arts, catch local and national bands most nights, eat great foods from around the world, engage in volunteer service, and spend the day on the shores of Lake Champlain at the beach, at the boathouse, on the seven-mile bike path or out on the water. They can also participate in the best skiing and boarding in the East.

There are lots of opportunities for first-hand job experience at an internship in town. Local companies including IBM, GE Medical, Burton Snowboards and Ben and Jerry’s. Got the travel bug? Burlington is just a road-trip away from the Winter Olympic cities of Lake Placid and Montreal, plus Boston and Portland, Maine. There are lots of bus, air and train connections in town to get you where you want to go, and bring you back again.

And 50% of Saint Michael's College students study abroad for short intensive courses, a semester or a year. Service learning and field-study programs give students a hands-on academic semester, often in developing countries, focused on such themes as culture and development, ecology and conservation, and peace and conflict studies.

Distinctions:
Saint Michael’s College is focused on student learning and personal development. It is the intellectual, personal, social, moral, and spiritual development of each student that is the goal of every one of the policies, programs, courses, majors and activities at Saint Michael’s College. Through the education of its graduates, Saint Michael’s expects to contribute to the advancement of human culture in the world.

Saint Michael’s College was named recipient of the 2009 United Way Hometown Hero Award because “it makes reaching out to the community and being a good citizen an essential part of its educational enterprise” The M.O.V.E. (Mobilization of Volunteer Efforts) program gets nearly all students involved in the local community, fueling a spirit of volunteerism on the campus...

Saint Michael’s is known, and acknowledged for the culture of service that sees students, faculty and staff responding to the needs of the local community through group and individual efforts. Steeped in the tradition of service formed by the founding priests of the Society of St. Edmund, the college’s volunteer service program MOVE has long been a leader in drawing the college community into service activities.

MOVE Mobilization of Volunteer Efforts, involves over 70 percent of the student body in some 24 service programs. MOVE programs give some 22,000 hours of volunteer service to the community annually to such activities as tutoring Winooski school children and visiting senior citizens, supporting the Humane Society, Make-a-Wish, Habitat for Humanity, Little Brother/Little Sister, Woodside Juvenile Corrections Tutoring, and other programs, including  Cause for Paws, After School Games, Best Buddies, Corrections Center Volleyball, Extended Service over spring break in distant locales, Middle School Mentors, Temporary Relief, Wilderness Mentoring, Winooski Youth Connection. MOVE also sponsors international service trips to Kolkata, India; the Dominican Republic, Ghana, Tanzania, and a few other locales.

The Saint Michael’s Fire and Rescue Squads are known throughout the county for their highly skilled, compassionate service to the college and the county, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. A volunteer organization of trained students, the squad serves the campus and much of the surrounding community. They respond to more than 2,000 calls annually—including respiratory and cardiac emergencies, motor vehicle accidents, and inter-hospital neonatal transports—and have provided continuous service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, since 1969.

Programs for New Americans, carried out through classroom projects and MOVE programs, are well known for service to the local refugee community and for partnerships with Winooski and Burlington schools.

Great Teaching

Saint Michael’s believes that a college education is about more than just preparing you for your first job after graduation. It's about preparing you for your entire career. The majors and minors are combined with a liberal studies curriculum to provide the skills students need for any job or profession.

A distinguished faculty with a passion for teaching

Of Saint Michael’s 150 faculty members, 94 percent have a PhD or the highest appropriate degree. With a student to faculty ratio of just 12 to one, students are ensured personal attention from professors both in class and out of class. Students and faculty interact in many settings—sharing meals on and off-campus, collaborating on academic projects, and working together on community-service projects. For four of the last six years, a Saint Michael’s professor has been named Vermont Professor of the Year.

The Edmundite Center for Peace and Justice seeks to integrate peace and justice concerns into the everyday life of the college community. Through lectures, symposia, and academic courses, the center seeks to promote human rights, global healing, and a respect for all humanity. Past lectures have explored the spiritual dimension of Dr. King’s legacy, the ethics of global capitalism, and the ethical and policy considerations of bioethics.

The Saint Michael’s honors program gives exceptional students additional opportunities and challenges through small-group discussion, housing options, research, and extracurricular activities. Students can enroll in honors sections of classes in various disciplines. Saint Michael’s also hosts a prestigious Phi Beta Kappa chapter on campus as well as many other departmental honors societies.

All first-year students enroll in a writing-intensive first-year seminar, which engages students through discussion and active learning on a particular topic. The interdisciplinary nature of the program focuses on analyzing primary texts and understanding cultural diversity. Past topics have included race relations in the United States, revolutionary ideas in the twentieth century, and science as a way of knowing. Engineering students have a choice of a five-year cooperative program with the University of Vermont.

Numerous student-faculty summer research projects are grant-funded and repeatedly lead students into graduate programs in the sciences, social sciences and humanities, as well as into professional medical, legal and business education.

Saint Michael’s has a cooperative agreement with nearby Champlain College and Burlington College that allows students at each institution to register for courses at any of the three colleges for no additional charge. Champlain’s courses in video game production and Burlington’s course in film-making appeal to Saint Michael’s students, as Saint Michael’s extensive courses in languages, sciences, journalism and education, appeal to students at the other schools.

Saint Michael's, with its excellent track record of training science graduates, and Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (ACPHS), which provides a professional doctoral program in the field of pharmacy, have established a Dual Degree Program. Upon successful completion of the program, students will earn a bachelor’s degree in biology (or related field) from Saint Michael’s and a doctor of pharmacy degree from Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.

Academic Programs

Accounting, American Studies, Art, Biochemistry, Biology, Business Administration, Chemistry, Classics, Computer Science, Economics, Elementary Education, Engineering, English Literature, Environmental Science, French, History, Information Systems, Journalism and Mass Communication, Mathematics, Music, Philosophy, Physical Science, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Religious Studies, Anthropology/Sociology, Spanish, Environmental Studies, and Theater.

Vibrant Community

The residential nature of the campus means activities are plentiful, including a host of outdoor programs.

An interconnected community that benefits everyone

Saint Michael’s is a true residential campus: with nearly 100 percent of students living on campus, and a guarantee of on-campus housing for four years. Themed housing is one popular option as is international ambassador housing which integrates international students and American students to promote intercultural awareness and global learning.

Saint Michael’s was founded over one hundred years ago by the Society of Saint Edmund. Today the Edmundites are renowned for their commitment to social justice by leading desegregation efforts in Selma, Alabama, with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Saint Michael’s is the only Edmundite college in the world. The Edmundite campus ministry program is an active part of Saint Michael’s campus. Open to all students, it is a resource for those wanting to explore their spirituality. The campus houses a beautiful chapel—one of the largest in the state—in which daily masses are held, serving both the campus and the surrounding community.

Saint Michael’s is located in Colchester, Vermont, just three miles from Burlington, Vermont’s largest city and a metropolitan college town of 200,000 residents, in and around the city. Home to the University of Vermont (and birthplace of the band Phish), Burlington provides many outstanding venues for live music and theater. The campus is only five minutes from Lake Champlain, and less than an hour from the ski and boarding slopes of famed ski resorts.

All students in good academic standing receive an all-access season ski pass to Smugglers’ Notch Resort, just forty-five minutes from campus. Students pay only a minimal processing fee for the pass, allowing them to enjoy the best of Vermont’s winter recreation as part of their college experience, and encouraging an active, healthy lifestyle. Free buses transport students to the ski area on weekends, and lessons and equipment are also available.

Saint Michael’s makes the most of Vermont’s geography. Great places for kayaking, climbing, hiking, backpacking and other outdoor adventures are just minutes from campus. The college’s Wilderness Program offers environmentally conscious education, information, instruction, equipment, and recreational opportunities. The program coordinates an intensive five-day pre-orientation program for new students. Saint Michael’s outstanding Wilderness Program is a model for a number of nearby colleges, including Middlebury.

All students in good academic and social standing are eligible to purchase a Flynn Center/Saint Michael’s Cultural Pass for a small processing fee. This provides them with free tickets to scores of first-rate performing arts events. The Flynn Center, located at Main and Church streets in the heart of downtown Burlington’s entertainment district, is a nationally renowned performing arts venue offering the best in jazz, hip hop, world music, dance, American roots music, Broadway tours and more.

Successful Outcomes

Saint Michael’s graduates have attained prestigious and important positions in many fields, but most still find time to give back to society..

Success in the workplace and contributions to the greater good

Six months after graduating, 82 percent of Saint Michael’s graduates are employed, 15 percent are in graduate school, and 3 percent choose to participate in a year or more of volunteer service—including some 125 alumni who have served in the Peace Corps. Five years after graduation, 51 percent of Saint Michael’s students have attended graduate or professional school.

Many companies recruit on campus, including IBM, Readak Educational Services, Aetna/US Healthcare, New York Life Insurance Company, Fidelity Investments, Bear Stearns, General Electric, Deloitte Touche, Investors Bank & Trust, the U.S. Navy, and prestigious accounting firms such as KMPG.

Noteworthy alumni include U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy; professional snowboarder and half-pipe World Cup champion Olympian Tricia Byrnes; Loung Ung, nationally acclaimed author of First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers and spokesperson for the Campaign for A Landmine Free World; Tom Freston, former president and CEO of Viacom and cofounder of MTV; Tom Bowman, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for National Public Radio; Alex Okosi, VP of MTV Africa; Tom Caron, NESN sports caster and Red Sox host, and Robert White, former U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador and Paraguay, who currently leads the Center for International Policy.