New England College (NEC) is a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

liberal arts Liberal arts education () is a traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''skill, art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the fine arts. ''Liberal arts education'' can refe ...

college in

Henniker, New Hampshire Henniker is a town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 census, the reported total population of the town was 6,185, although the figure, 27.9% greater than the 2010 population, has been questioned by local official ...

. It is

accredited Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

by the

New England Commission of Higher Education The New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit membership organization that performs peer evaluation and accreditation of public and private universities and colleges in the United States and othe ...

. As of fall 2020, the college enrolled 4,327 students (1,776 undergraduate and 2,551 graduate).

History

Founded in 1946, New England College was established to serve the needs of servicemen and women attending college on the

G.I. Bill The G.I. Bill, formally the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I. (military), G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in ...

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 1970, the college purchased the Tortington Park School for Girls in

Arundel Arundel ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of the South Downs, West Sussex, England. The much-conserved town has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much la ...

, in the English county of

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

. For a time, the school functioned as an extension campus for NEC students wishing to study abroad; at one point, the college even changed its logo to incorporate the flags of both countries. However, the Arundel campus closed in 1998. In 2023, New England College closed the Manchester campus and moved all remaining students to the main campus in Henniker. Lyoncenter

Campus

NEC is located in the small town of

, approximately west of Concord, the state's capital; northwest of

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

; and northwest of

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. The Contoocook River runs through the center of town and alongside the NEC campus. A covered bridge joins the main campus with roughly of athletic fields. The campus, which has no distinct borders separating it from the town of Henniker, features 30 buildings, many of which feature white clapboard-style siding or brick mid-century architecture. The campus is known throughout New England for promoting environmental education initiatives. Pats Peak ski resort lies just outside the village center, and many students participate in outdoor activities such as skiing, snowboarding, whitewater rafting, hiking in the White Mountains, and rock-climbing.

Academics

New England College offers 9 associate degree programs, 37

bachelor's A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ( ...

degree programs, 12

master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

degree programs, and 1

doctoral A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

degree program. The programs are divided into four divisions: Art & Design, Humanities, Management & the Science, Health & Education Division. The college is accredited by the

, and all programs offered by New England College are included in this regional accreditation. The school's business programs are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP). Additionally, the school's Teacher Education Program (including endorsements in Physical Education, Special Education, Elementary Education, and Secondary Education) is approved by the New Hampshire Department of Education. Currently, the school employs 40 full-time faculty members and holds a 14:1 student-to-faculty ratio. '' U.S. News & World Report'' ranks New England College #131–#171 in "Regional Universities – North, Tier 2." New England College ranks tied for 173 on the U.S. News & World Report list for "Best Online Bachelor's Programs".

Student life

The college is home to 27 student organizations, including various student government committees and Kappa Delta Phi NAS. There were originally five chapters of Greek life: two sororities (Kappa Phi Sigma and Phi Sigma Sigma) and three fraternities (Sigma Phi Delta, Lambda Epsilon Delta, and Sigma Alpha Beta), but those dissolved beginning in the late 2000s. Students also publish an award-winning campus newspaper called ''The New Englander'' and operate a campus-based radio station, WNEC-FM. New England College opened an

esports Esports (), short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams. ...

arena in January 2019. This club sport at NEC is closely connected to several academic programs, such as Game and Digital Media Design and programs focusing on art, writing, marketing, graphic or website design, science, and strategy.

Diversity

NEC has been publicly recognized by ''Time'' magazine as one of the top 25 colleges in the nation which have diversified their student body the most since 1990. The college strengthened its

diversity Diversity, diversify, or diverse may refer to: Business *Diversity (business), the inclusion of people of different identities (ethnicity, gender, age) in the workforce *Diversity marketing, marketing communication targeting diverse customers * ...

efforts by establishing an Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI). The ODI holds annual events that observe minority communities such as African American, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, Native American & LGBTQ students."

Athletics

New England College's Pilgrims compete in 21 intercollegiate

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Division III athletic sports, including

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, cross-country, football, wrestling, volleyball, rugby, and alpine skiing. The Pilgrims compete in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC). They were previously members of the

North Atlantic Conference The North Atlantic Conference (NAC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference which competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III. Member schools are primarily small liberal arts colleges in the New England state ...

(NAC) from 2011 to 2018 and the

Commonwealth Coast Conference The Conference of New England (CNE), formerly known as the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC), is an List of NCAA conferences, intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division ...

(CCC) from 1989 to 2011. In 2023, NEC announced the official reopening of their varsity football program after a 50-year hiatus. They will compete at the NCAA Division III level. The New England College Pilgrims football team will be coached by Kevin Kelly (American football coach) and participate in the Conference of New England

Notable alumni

Geena Davis Virginia Elizabeth "Geena" Davis (born January 21, 1956) is an American actor. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. Davis made her acting debut in the satirical romantic comedy ''Toots ...

(b. 1956),

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-winning

actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

who attended her freshman year at NEC before transferring to

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

* Ira Joe Fisher (b. 1947), meteorologist and former weather reporter for '' The Saturday Early Show''. * Mariela Griffor (b. 1961), poet and diplomat * Siad Haji (b. 1999), professional soccer player who attended his freshman year at NEC before transferring to

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a Public university, public research university in Richmond, Virginia, United States. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virgin ...

* Laura Harris Hales, writer, historian, and podcasterBunning, Rachel
"Graduating with her master’s degree in history, student plunges into the world of research"
'' ASU News'', 7 December 2020. Retrieved on 9 March 2021. * Mark Lindquist (b. 1949), sculptor *

Maureen Mooney Maureen Mooney is an American attorney, educator, and politician serving as a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives from the Hillsborough 21 district. Elected in November 2020, she assumed office on December 2, 2020. Mooney previou ...

, New Hampshire State Representative, attorney, and educator * Allen Steele (b. 1958),

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

author * Wallace Stickney (1934–2019), director of the

Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Exec ...

(FEMA) under President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

* Steven Zirnkilton (b. 1958), voice actor, narrator, radio show host, and politician

References

External links

*
Athletics website
{{portal bar, New Hampshire Private universities and colleges in New Hampshire Universities and colleges established in 1946 Universities and colleges in Merrimack County, New Hampshire 1946 establishments in New Hampshire Liberal arts colleges in New Hampshire Henniker, New Hampshire