Ames Hall Green Mountain College 1 Brennan Circle Poultney VT November 2013

Green Mountain College was 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 college A liberal arts college or liberal arts institution of higher education is a college with an emphasis on Undergraduate education, undergraduate study in the Liberal arts education, liberal arts of humanities and science. Such colleges aim to impart ...

Poultney, Vermont Poultney is a town in Rutland County in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Vermont. New York state is on its western border. Castleton, Vermont, is on its northern border. Poultney was home to Green Mountain College, a private liberal ar ...

, at the foot of the

Taconic Mountains The Taconic Mountains () are a 150-mile-long sub-range of the Appalachian Mountains lying on the eastern border of New York State and adjacent New England. The range, which played a role in the history of geological science, is separated from th ...

between the

Green Mountains The Green Mountains are a mountain range in the U.S. state of Vermont and are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains. The range runs primarily south to north and extends approximately from the border with Massachusetts to the border with Que ...

and

Adirondacks The Adirondack Mountains ( ) are a massif of mountains in Northeastern New York (state), New York which form a circular dome approximately wide and covering about . The region contains more than 100 peaks, including Mount Marcy, which is the hi ...

. The college was affiliated with the

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ...

and offered a

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 ...

undergraduate education with a focus on the environment, and some graduate degrees. For part of its history it was a

women's college Women's colleges in higher education are undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institutions, often liberal arts colleges, whose student populations are composed exclusively or almost exclusively of women. Some women's colleges admit male st ...

. It was founded in 1834 and closed at the end of the 2018–19 academic year.

History

Green Mountain was founded in 1834 as Troy Conference Academy, a coeducational Methodist institution. It opened in 1837. In 1863, during a period of private operation, it became Ripley Female College; in 1874 it reopened as a Methodist college, again as Troy Conference Academy. In 1937 it was renamed Green Mountain Junior College. Green Mountain became a two-year

junior college A junior college is a type of post-secondary institution that offers vocational and academic training that is designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations or support roles in professions such as engineering, a ...

for women in 1943. In 1974, the school changed its name to Green Mountain College and returned to coeducational status, offering four-year baccalaureate degrees. In the late 1990s the college began to focus on environmental literacy and citizenship.

Closure

On January 23, 2019, Green Mountain's President, Robert W. Allen, announced that, despite a 2018 loan from the

Department of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

Rural Development Community Facilities Programs, the college had insufficient income to continue and would close that summer. Arizona's

Prescott College Prescott College is a private college in Prescott, Arizona, United States. History Prescott College was founded in 1966 after a conference titled "Emergence of a Concept". Conveners Charles Parker and the Ford Foundation brought together leade ...

, which also specializes in the environment and sustainability, agreed to allow Green Mountain students to complete their degrees at Prescott. Prescott also said it would maintain the college's student records and hire some Green Mountain faculty. There were approximately 430 students when the college closed. The campus was offered for sale and then sold at auction in August 2020 to entrepreneur Raj Bhakta for $4.5 million. In 2024, Bhakta revealed plans to use the college buildings as hotel and condominium space.

Academics

Green Mountain College's core courses were known as the Environmental Liberal Arts curriculum, in

environmental Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...

and

natural sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

, writing, reading, history and philosophy. The college offered 23 undergraduate majors and the following graduate degrees: MBA in Sustainable Business; MS in Environmental Studies; MS in Sustainable Food Systems; and MS in Resilient and Sustainable Communities. It was part of the

Eco League The EcoLeague is a six-college consortium consisting of Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage, Alaska; Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin; New College of Florida in Sarasota, Florida; Prescott College in Prescott, Arizona; College of the Atla ...

, a group of liberal arts colleges committed to

environmental sustainability Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...

Progressive program

GMC offered an educational track known as the Progressive Program. Based on the ideas of philosopher

John Dewey John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and Education reform, educational reformer. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the first half of the twentieth century. The overridi ...

, the students in the program defined their own education goals and worked with faculty members individually to meet them.

Green campus

In 2007, the

Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE, pronounced ) is a 501(c)(3) association of higher education institutions headquartered in Philadelphia. The association aims to improve sustainable practices in h ...

awarded Green Mountain College the Campus Sustainability Leadership Award in the "Under 1,000" category. The award recognizes Green Mountain for commitment to environmental sustainability in its governance and administration, curriculum and research, operations, campus culture, and community outreach. GMC was also named the Sierra Club's #1 Cool School for 2018. Green Mountain was named an EPA Energy Star Showcase Campus following campus-wide retrofitting of light fixtures. Students installed a wind turbine to power the campus greenhouse and solar panels on the roof of the student center. On April 22, 2010, GMC formally opened a new combined heat and power biomass plant costing $5.8m. Through the Student Campus Greening Fund every GMC student contributed $30 from the college activities fee. Students designed projects and submitted proposals. Awards were based on a student vote. SCGF money was used to install bike racks, purchase recycling bins, use bio-diesel in campus maintenance equipment, and upgrade the alternative energy systems that powered the farm greenhouse.

Student clubs

According to the college, its choral group was the only collegiate choir in the United States with a repertoire of Welsh language music.

Notable alumni

* Amsale Aberra – Ethiopian-born American fashion designer and entrepreneur *

William Duell Darwin William Duell (born George William Duell; August 30, 1923 – December 22, 2011) was an American actor and singer. He was known for his roles as Andrew McNair in the musical ''1776 (musical), 1776'', Jim Sefelt in the 1975 film ''One Fl ...

– actor and singer * Sandra Elkin - television talk show host * Burton D. Esmond – lawyer and New York assemblyman * Richie Grant – soccer coach *

Anna Katharine Green Anna Katharine Green (November 11, 1846 – April 11, 1935) was an American poet and novelist. She was one of the first writers of detective fiction in America and distinguished herself by writing well plotted, legally accurate stories. Green ...

– novelist and poet * Edward H. Ripley – businessman and Union Army officer in the Civil War * William Y. W. Ripley – Union Army officer in the Civil War and recipient of the Medal of Honor *

George E. Royce George Edmund Royce (January 1, 1829 – March 5, 1903) was an American businessman from Rutland (city), Vermont, Rutland, Vermont who was prominent in the quarrying and building stone industry. He was also a banker, jointly founding the Baxter ...

– businessman and banker