I. Introduction
A. Statement of Purpose
Since its founding in 1891 as Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, Randolph College has offered students a rigorous education in the liberal arts and sciences. In keeping with the college motto, vita abundantior, integrated living and learning provide a foundation for meaningful lives characterized by a lifelong joy in learning
Randolph College encourages each student to set and meet high personal goals. Campus life is grounded in the Honor System, which fosters individual integrity and mutual trust. As students from diverse backgrounds study and live together, they are expected to respect the rights and dignity of others, to be open to cultural differences, and to exercise personal and social responsibility. They are encouraged to develop confidence and to participate fully in a community in which women and men work together and treat one another as equals.
Through excellence in teaching, advising, and scholarship, the faculty provides the challenges requisite to the intellectual development of each student. With faculty support, the undergraduate students design individualized and coherent programs of study that combine academic and co-curricular components. While each student's educational plan is unique, all programs of study foster these capacities: to think critically; to write and speak with clarity and accuracy; to employ quantitative reasoning; to use technology effectively and ethically; to cultivate an aesthetic sensibility; to understand key dimensions of the heritage of more than one society, to approach problems with creativity and imagination; to work both independently and collaboratively; and to recognize the power and limitations of knowledge. The graduate students pursue more narrowly focused programs of rigorous study designed to add specialized knowledge to their undergraduate education. The graduate programs are directed by faculty members who are especially knowledgeable about the professional standards to be met by those who earn advanced degrees.
Through their experiences at Randolph College, students are challenged to think ambitiously and to prepare thoughtfully for their futures in a diverse society and an increasingly complex world that offers them expanding opportunities for leadership, responsibility, and service.
[Approved by the Faculty, May 8, 2007; Trustees, June 7, 2007]
