C ON N E C T IC U TC OL L E G E

Dear Parents,

When I arrived at Connecticut College in 2006, a recently completed survey indicated that 83 percent of our alumni felt reputation was a key element of the Connecticut College experience. Many parents have also suggested to me that the quality of education here merits greater and broader recognition. I agree. At my inauguration in October 2006, I pledged, “We will earn for Connecticut College the standing and infl uence it so richly deserves. A Connecticut College education transforms lives, and people across the country will know it.” I am writing to tell you about some of the ways we are building the College’s reputation.

– Lee Higdon, President

HOW WE EARN OUR REPUTATIONWe earn our reputation by the quality of our education. Connecticut College is built on a strong foundation of academic excellence and innovation. Our interdisciplinary centers are models for other colleges and universities. We are recognized for our international programs, environmental studies and stewardship, community service learning, arts, and a strong foundation of humanities and sciences programs. We’re beginning to see the impact on our student body of our new diversity initiatives, which strengthen our community and enhance learning for all students.

As we approach our Centennial, we are introducing new collaborations between the life sciences and other disciplines. We are building new connections between academic and residential life. And we are introducing programs that will instill a global perspective into every aspect of the curriculum and campus experience. In this way, we are re-imagining liberal arts education for a new century and a changing world.

We earn our reputation through constant improvement. As the cost of higher education rises, there is a national conversation about how to measure the effectiveness of learning at colleges and universities. We are using a number of studies and evaluation tools that enable us to focus on learning outcomes and adjust our practices as necessary. For example, several years ago, despite our average class size of 18, our

research revealed that incoming students were taking larger introductory classes and were not getting to know individual faculty until their second or third year. In response, we instituted a program of fi rst-year seminars — many of which are held right in the residence halls in renovated common rooms — each limited to no more than 16 students. This program is transforming the freshman experience and adding to our reputation.

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We earn our reputation through our faculty. This past year, our professors were awarded nearly $4 million in grants from corporations and national foundations, including Mellon, Hearst and the National Science Foundation — national recognition of the exceptional research and teaching on our campus. Our professors are intellectually engaged scholar-teachers who cultivate close relationships with their students to help them succeed in this active learning environment. When Marc Zimmer, the Barbara Zaccheo Kohn ’72 Professor of Chemistry, is named Connecticut Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education — the third such Connecticut College professor to be so named since 2000; when William Frasure, Professor of Government, is honored in Vietnam for initiating and fostering one of the most expansive and lengthy relationships between a U.S. college and Vietnamese university; when Abigail Van Slyck, the Dayton Professor of Art History and chair of the Department of Art History and Architectural Studies, is awarded the Abbott Lowell Cummings Award for her book, “A Manufactured Wilderness: Summer Camps and the Shaping of American Youth, 1890-1960,” they are adding to the College’s reputation.

We earn our reputation through our students. Connecticut College students are smart, curious and self-motivated. The College increased support for students seeking post-graduate fellowships, and in 2008 saw students as fi nalists for the prestigious Marshall, Truman and Goldwater fellowships, as well as a Udall honorable mention. More than 100 students were named to the NESCAC all-academic team in

2007-08. In the past two years, 10 students have been awarded Fulbrights, a record for the College. When Elizabeth Durante ’10 travels to South Africa to build relationships among disparate communities; when a group of students writes and produces a play about race, ethnicity and difference; when Alicia Morgan ’10 presents her research at the American Chemical Society Northeast Regional Conference, they all enhance the College’s reputation for excellence.

We earn our reputation through our alumni. Connecticut College alumni are living, working and volunteering in the communities and professions where the College’s reputation takes shape. When Anita DeFrantz ’74, member of the International Olympic Organizing Committee, spoke at Commencement and told assembled graduates and their families how Connecticut College introduced her to a new world of opportunity, she was building the College’s reputation. When Kim-Toy Reynolds Huh ’77, a Chicago police lieutenant, used the Mandarin Chinese she learned at

Connecticut College to arrest an America’s Most Wanted fugitive, her achievement enhanced the College’s reputation. When Jay Lauf ’86 is named publisher of The Atlantic Monthly, when Jeff Idelson ’86 is named president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, when Maggie Turner ’05 publishes a book on contemporary artists in Belize — they all add to the College’s reputation for achievement.

We earn our reputation through high-profi le media placements. When Martha Merrill ’84, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid, appeared on the “Today” show, she stressed that academic achievement is the most important consideration for admission to Connecticut College. Two of our students were featured in a Wall Street Journal article on internships; one worked in a children’s rights organization in Mali, the other was designing a hip-hop-based curriculum for children in New York. A New York Times columnist wrote about Beatrice Biira ’08, calling her “the luckiest girl in the world.” Professor Stuart Vyse, whose latest book looks at the psychological reasons for consumer over-spending, has been quoted in Newsweek, Time, The Washington Post and dozens of other media outlets. We have an energetic media relations staff who prepare faculty, staff and students for media appearances and actively search out media opportunities to tell our story.

We earn our reputation through stewardship of our beautiful campus. Those of you who have visited campus have seen how we are improving and renewing the campus. Among the enhancements: new lighting, new landscaping, renovated common rooms and classrooms, upgrades to the athletics center, renovation of the Arboretum pond and outdoor theater — and now construction is underway for our new fi tness center. We are currently in the midst of another summer of intense construction and renovation. By September, we will have renovated every common room on campus.

We earn our reputation by the buzz we create among prospective students. That means getting out our name and stories to where teenagers spend their time: on blogs, Wikipedia and YouTube as well as in classrooms, on athletic fi elds and in the guidance counselor’s offi ce. Connections to popular culture and breaking news are of particular interest. When Amanda Clark ’05 sails for the U.S. at the Olympics, when “The Offi ce” writer Lee Eisenberg ’99 slips a “Conn College” reference into NBC’s hit comedy, when three alumni in one year bring home awards from the Sundance Film Festival — all of these help us attract the next generation of Connecticut College students, who will change the world in large and small ways.

This year, our Fall Weekend for families and alumni will be a bigger and different kind of celebration of our history, our community and our future. All families and alumni are invited to campus for a weekend of activities and events that will honor our traditions and lay the groundwork for our second century. Please mark your calendars and save Oct. 24-26 for an extraordinary weekend. Come to campus and see how your students are fl ourishing. There will be lots to do, and another step forward for the reputation of Connecticut College.

CON NECTICUT COLLEGEOffi ce of the President • 270 Mohegan Avenue, New London, CT 06320-4196 • Phone: 860-439-2666 • E-mail: lhigdon@conncoll.edu

Over the past year, there has been a great deal of media attention focused on college rankings, and particularly those that are served up every summer, with great fanfare, by U.S. News & World Report. Sometimes parents ask me, when they read about the College’s many successes, why our U.S. News ranking doesn’t rise accordingly.The answer is that college rankings are a poor refl ection of institutional quality.

For example, the methodologies used by U.S. News are highly unscientifi c and change frequently. Some of our successes may eventually affect our ranking, but only after a lag of up to several years. Other important strategic objectives — such as enhancing the quality of residential life, investing in our beautiful campus and increasing the diversity of our campus community — will never change our standing because they just aren’t part of the formula.

The criteria evaluated by U.S. News are mostly inputs: What were your students’ SATs and high school class ranks? How much money does the school spend? How much do your faculty members earn? These are interesting, even important, questions — but they do

not measure what happens here, how our students are transformed by the educational experience, and what they go on to achieve after graduation.

The transformation of our students is one of the results we will document through our participation in a long-term study of liberal arts education by the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash College. We competed to be included in this study because it analyzes and tracks student outcomes, the best indicator of the value of an education. The Wabash Study will help us better defi ne best practices and give us new tools for showing how liberal arts education helps students grow and learn.

Many schools have spent a great deal of money, time and creativity changing what they do or how they report it in the hope of a positive impact on what are fi nally arbitrary rankings. This diverts money away from an institution’s real priorities. We have a carefully thought-out set of strategic goals — and we will continue to focus our attention and effort squarely on achieving them. On these terms, on our terms, we will continue to earn a reputation of which we can all be proud.

ABOUT THE RANKINGS

SAVETHE

DATE!

October 24-26