Motto | “It's about the experience” |
---|---|
Type | Private |
Established | 1946 |
Budget | $36.6 million in 2013 |
President | Cathy S. Dove |
Academic staff
|
70 |
Undergraduates | 1,000 |
Location | Paul Smiths, New York, USA |
Campus |
Rural 14,200 acres (57 km2) Wooded 35 buildings |
Colors |
Green and White |
Athletics | Yankee Small College Conference, USCSA |
Mascot | Bobcat |
Website | www |
Paul Smith's College is a private college located in Paul Smiths, N.Y. (destination ZIP Code 12970). It is the only four-year institution of higher education within the Adirondack Park. Paul Smith's College offers both two- and four-year programs in many fields, including natural resources, environmental science, fisheries and wildlife science, forestry, recreation, biology, hotel and restaurant management, culinary arts and business. Its 14,000-acre campus is one of the largest college campuses in the world. Approximately 1,000 students attend each year.
Paul Smith's College was founded through a bequest of Phelps Smith, son of Apollos Smith, whose Paul Smith's Hotel, built in 1859, was the most famous wilderness resort of its era. The first class was matriculated in 1946, and was loosely based on the original hotel's business model. Along with the money to start a school, Phelps also left more than 20,000 acres (80 km²) of land. Paul Smith's is located northwest of Saranac Lake, N.Y., in the hamlet of Paul Smiths in the Town of Brighton.
In 2015 Joan Weill, a former college trustee with a long history of philanthropy benefiting the college, offered a $20 million donation on the condition that the institution change its name to Joan Weill-Paul Smith's College, a change that would have violated Phelps Smith's founding bequest, which required that the school be "forever known" as Paul Smith's College of Arts and Sciences. Justice John T. Ellis of the New York State Supreme Court ruled that the college could not be renamed, and the proposed donation was withdrawn.
Paul Smith's College has a long tradition of providing hands-on education with coursework applied in a variety of fields. For example, students in the Forestry program participate in professional timber harvest operations.
Classroom space is primarily located at Pickett Hall, Cantwell Hall, and Freer Science Hall. Auxiliary areas include The Joan Weill Adirondack Library, the campus' sawmill, the Saunders Sports Complex, the Joan Weill Student Center and the Paul Smith's College VIC.
Two on-campus restaurants, the Adirondack Palm and the St. Regis Cafe, are staffed by students and open to the public.
Paul Smith's Fall 2015 acceptance rate was 98% and it was ranked #31 in Regional Colleges North in the 2017 ranking by U.S. News & World Report. The college refused to fill out U.S. News statistical survey so data are from the college in previous years or from another source such as the National Center for Education Statistics.