Member institutions
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher education in Massachusetts.



Since 1855, Bates College has been dedicated to the emancipating potential of the liberal arts. Bates educates the whole person through creative and rigorous scholarship in a collaborative residential community. With ardor and devotion — Amore ac Studio — they engage the transformative power of our differences, cultivating intellectual discovery and informed civic action. Preparing leaders sustained by a love of learning and a commitment to responsible stewardship of the wider world, Bates is a college for coming times.



Bowdoin College is a private liberal arts college in the state of Maine, USA. Bowdoin is recognised as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country and historically performs well in rankings. Bowdoin was founded in 1794, the first class began in 1802 and comprised just eight students. After receiving an expansive library and art collection theBowdoin’s gallery became one of America’s first art museums in 1812. The college continued to develop and grow over many years, and many of its alumni played important roles in the history of their country. These days Bowdoin is home a couple of thousand students studying an array of programs – the college offers over 40 majors. Areas of study range from biochemistry to classics and from neuroscience to theatre and dance. The college believes in providing its students with a broad grounding and aims to foster creativity, curiosity and critical thinking in their students.
The College of the Holy Cross was founded in 1843 by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in Worcester, Massachusetts. With an enrollment of about 3,000 men and women from across the United States and abroad, offering academic programs in some 60 fields on a campus unmatched for its beauty and sophistication, the College of the Holy Cross stands as one of the finest undergraduate, liberal arts colleges in our nation. Faithful to its Jesuit tradition and character, religion in both scholarship and practice plays an important part in the curriculum and daily life of the College. With an agreed-upon mission to educate men and women for and with others, Holy Cross students are urged to measure their personal successes in life by what they have done to better the lives of others, especially those less fortunate than themselves.
Davidson College is an institution of higher learning established in 1837 by Presbyterians of North Carolina. Since its founding, the ties that bind the college to its Presbyterian heritage, including the historic understanding of Christian faith called The Reformed Tradition, have remained close and strong. The college is committed to continuing this vital relationship.
The primary purpose of Davidson College is to assist students in developing humane instincts and disciplined and creative minds for lives of leadership and service. In fulfilling its purpose, Davidson has chosen to be a liberal arts college, to maintain itself as a residential community of scholars, to emphasize the teaching responsibility of all professors, and to ensure the opportunity for personal relationships between students and teachers. Further, Davidson believes it is vital that all students in every class know and study under mature and scholarly teachers who are able and eager to provide for each of them stimulation, instruction, and guidance.



In 1783, Benjamin Rush, a revolutionary in both spirit and life, established Dickinson College with the intent of providing a different kind of liberal-arts education. Here, students are encouraged to be actively engaged with the wider world and challenged to think differently and act boldly. Dickinsonians are guided by a core set of tenets—to be decisive, useful, curious and unafraid to take risks. We produce critical thinkers who see how everything is connected. Graduates forever ready to make a difference. This is how we’ve taught successful graduates of all kinds, from lawyers to researchers to writers to CEOs. Dickinson’s brand of liberal arts has been around for more than 200 years for one reason—it works.
At Denison, students have to step up—there’s no hiding in the back of a 300-seat lecture hall, no anonymity, no flying under the radar. They matter as individuals, and they are prepared for lives of consequence by the best faculty—professors who know their stuff, know their students’ names, and know how to inspire great things. And learning reaches outside the classrooms, labs, and studios, into the halls where students live, because this is a residential campus community, where students live and learn together, and where they embrace ideals of integrity, intellect, diversity, and respect for each other and the environment.
The outcome is an old term that we take for granted: “well-rounded.” But consider what it means: Denison graduates have a voice. They can speak, write, listen, collaborate, innovate, take responsibility, solve, adapt, and lead. Americans change jobs, even careers, something like seven times during their lives—a number that seems likely to rise. The liberal arts’ broad curriculum ensures that Denison graduates have studied across disciplines, so they are not narrowly trained in one field. And when the going gets tough, the tough get the best education and then go on to lead successful lives.
Founded in 1826, Furman University is the oldest private university in South Carolina and among the 75 oldest institutions of higher education in operation nationally today. The university is named for Richard Furman, among the most important Baptist clergyman during the early decades of the new nation and an influential advocate of educational institutions throughout the country.
Furman has always nurtured the cultivation of the whole person, and at the heart of that are myriad athletic, cultural, faith-based, volunteer, and social opportunities. Thirteen national fraternities and sororities have chapters on campus. Furman’s largest student organization is the Heller Service Corps, which places student volunteers in over 60 local nonprofit organizations.
In championing the liberal arts and sciences, Furman University cultivates a community of learners engaged in an effort to understand themselves, the world, and their place in it.
To support this quest for knowledge and meaning, Furman steadfastly protects freedom of inquiry and holds themselves to high standards of excellence and integrity. Furman fosters a passion for lifelong learning by nurturing the growth of each individual as a whole person: intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, and physically.
From Furman’s mission statement: “As we draw lessons from thoughtful consideration of our university’s past, we advocate respect for all people and actively welcome perspectives from a wide variety of backgrounds, cultures, and beliefs.
We aspire to advance thriving communities that honor inquiry, promote diversity, strive for equity, appreciate beauty, and act as responsible stewards of our planet.
These aspirations inspire our vision and shape our mission, calling us to meet the challenges and responsibilities of a complex, diverse, and rapidly changing world with courage, moderation, justice, wisdom, and humility.”



Franklin & Marshall College is a residential college dedicated to excellence in undergraduate liberal education. Its aims are to inspire in young people of high promise and diverse backgrounds a genuine and enduring love for learning, to teach them to read, write, and think critically, to instill in them the capacity for both independent and collaborative action, and to educate them to explore and understand the natural, social and cultural worlds in which they live. In so doing, the College seeks to foster in its students qualities of intellect, creativity, and character, that they may live fulfilling lives and contribute meaningfully to their occupations, their communities, and their world. Franklin & Marshall College is one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the United States. Our roots go back to Franklin College, founded in 1787 with a generous financial contribution from Benjamin Franklin.



Lafayette College is a private liberal arts college based in Easton, Pennsylvania, with a small satellite campus in New York City. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the school first held classes in 1832. The founders voted to name the school after General Lafayette, a hero of the American Revolution who toured the country in 1824–25, as “a testimony of respect for [his] talents, virtues, and signal services… in the great cause of freedom”. Lafayette is considered a Hidden Ivy as well as one of the northeastern Little Ivies. Located on College Hill in Easton, the campus is in the Lehigh Valley, about 70 mi (110 km) west of New York City and 60 mi (97 km) north of Philadelphia. Lafayette College guarantees campus housing to all enrolled students. The school requires students to live in campus housing unless approved for residing in private off-campus housing, or at home as a commuter. The student body, consisting entirely of undergraduates, comes from 46 U.S. states and territories and nearly 60 countries. Students at Lafayette have access to more than 250 clubs and organizations, including athletics, fraternities and sororities, special interest groups, community service clubs, and honor societies.
Lawrence University is a residential liberal arts college and conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. Lawrence is a supportive and welcoming academic community of 1,500 intellectually curious, diverse, multi-interested students from nearly every state and 50 countries—all committed to a rigorous and challenging educational experience. Led by a faculty of 173 professors (91 percent of whom have a Ph.D. or other terminal degree), Lawrence is devoted to Engaged Learning as the most effective way to prepare students for lives of personal fulfillment and professional accomplishment. It is a demanding approach to education for students who demand much of themselves. Engaged Learning takes place in the classroom, the residence hall, the community and all our off-campus and international programs. It is what characterizes a Lawrence education and distinguishes Lawrentians.



The mission of Lewis & Clark is to know the traditions of the liberal arts, to test their boundaries through ongoing exploration, and to hand on to successive generations the tools and discoveries of this quest. By these means the institution pursues the aims of all liberal learning: to seek knowledge for its own sake and to prepare for civic leadership. Lewis & Clark carries out this mission through undergraduate programs in the arts and sciences and postgraduate programs in the closely related professions of education, counseling, and law. Lewis & Clark mounts these programs as both separately valid and mutually supportive enterprises. In all its endeavors it seeks to be a community of scholars who are alive to inquiry, open to diversity, and disciplined to work in an interdependent world. Core Themes
- We are a community of scholars vigorously engaged in learning, teaching, research, and creative inquiry.
- We are a community that integrates theory and practice within the overall educational experience.
- We are a community that commits itself to diversity and sustainability as dimensions of a just society.
- We are a community that cultivates leadership and engagement in a complex and interdependent world.
Middlebury is an undergraduate college; a graduate school for international studies; a home for immersive language study; a graduate school for the study of literature, literacy, and pedagogy; a leader of schools abroad sites that span the globe; and a home for the oldest and most prestigious writers’ conference in the world. Middlebury is an institution that prepares students to address the world’s most challenging problems, and it does so by engaging them in the life of the mind and soul. At Middlebury, we are committed to educating students in the tradition of the liberal arts, which embodies a method of discourse as well as a group of disciplines; in our scientifically and mathematically oriented majors, just as in the humanities, the social sciences, the arts, and the languages, we emphasize reflection, discussion, and intensive interactions between students and faculty members. Our vibrant residential community, remarkable facilities, and the diversity of our co-curricular activities and support services all exist primarily to serve these educational purposes.
Muhlenberg College aims to develop independent critical thinkers who are intellectually agile, characterized by a zest for reasoned and civil debate, committed to understanding the diversity of the human experience, able to express ideas with clarity and grace, committed to lifelong learning, equipped with ethical and civic values and prepared for lives of leadership and service.
The College is committed to providing an intellectually rigorous education within the context of an inclusive and diverse campus; we strongly believe that diversity is essential to learning and to our success as a pluralistic community. Our curriculum integrates the traditional liberal arts with selected preprofessional studies. Our faculty are passionate about teaching, value close relationships with students and are committed to the pedagogical and intellectual importance of research.
All members of our community are committed to educating the whole person through experiences within and beyond the classroom. Honoring its historical heritage from the Lutheran Church and its continuing connection with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Muhlenberg encourages, welcomes and celebrates a variety of faith traditions and spiritual perspectives.



Founded in 1908 in southeast Portland, Oregon, Reed College is a coeducational, independent liberal arts and sciences college. Referred to as one of the most intellectual colleges in the country, Reed is known for its high standards of scholarly practice, creative thinking, and engaged citizenship. Reed students pursue the bachelor of arts degree in 40 majors and programs. The curriculum includes a yearlong humanities course, broad distribution requirements, and a senior thesis. A 9:1 student-to-faculty ratio and small conference-style classes allow faculty members to truly mentor students and engage with them in individual discussions. Reed also offers a graduate program leading to a master of arts degree in liberal studies.



Sarah Lawrence is a prestigious, residential, coeducational liberal arts college. Founded in 1926 and consistently ranked among the leading liberal arts colleges in the country, Sarah Lawrence is known for its pioneering approach to education, rich history of impassioned intellectual and civic engagement, and vibrant, successful alumni. In close proximity to the unparalleled offerings of New York City, our historic campus is home to an inclusive, intellectually curious, and diverse community. Talented, creative students choose Sarah Lawrence for the opportunity to take charge of their education. In close collaboration with our dedicated, distinguished faculty, students create a rigorous, personalized course of study, conduct independent research, and connect a wide array of disciplines. They graduate knowing how to apply the knowledge, skills, and critical thinking necessary for life after college.
Skidmore is a highly ranked, residential, liberal arts college situated on 1,000 acres of natural beauty in Saratoga Springs, New York. With 2,500 students from 40 states and 70 countries, 43 majors, more than 100 student clubs, funded research and internship opportunities, and 118 study abroad programs, it offers a dynamic college experience. Consistently acclaimed in national rankings, Skidmore has been recognized as one of “America’s Most Entrepreneurial Colleges,” a “Best Value” school and a “Hidden Ivy.”



Since its founding in 1871, Smith College has provided women of high ability and promise an education of uncompromising quality. A world-class faculty of scholars are fully engaged in students’ intellectual development, and an open curriculum encourages them to explore many fields of knowledge. Mentors for scholarship, leadership and service help students observe different models of achievement so you can set your own course with conviction and confidence. Founded in 1871, Smith College opened in 1875 with 14 students. Today, Smith is among the largest women’s colleges in the United States, with students from 48 states and 68 countries. An independent, nondenominational college, Smith remains strongly committed to the education of women at the undergraduate level, but admits both men and women as graduate students.



Trinity College is a preeminent New England liberal arts college, located in an urban setting. The college is nearly 200 years old, but they provide an education that is both relevant and timeless. Trinity was founded in the Episcopal tradition, but they’re rooted in principles of religious and academic freedom. At Trinity College, they believe in transcending boundaries. Defying standard definitions. Staying true to ourselves, and going our own way. Trinity wants students to do the same. This is where liberal arts meets the real world. If you want to become an engineer and minor in art, you can do that here. You can chase a career in politics and also cultivate a love of biology. It’s Trinity’s mission to help you pursue whatever path you choose, and ensure that you gain real-world experience along the way.






As a small residential liberal arts college in Walla Walla, Washington, Whitman is rooted in the traditional liberal arts values like critical thought and academic rigor. But at our foundation is also a belief in the value of community and power of relationships. Our graduates are scholars, but also explorers, advocates and scientists. They climb mountains, travel to far-off corners and give voice to others. They care about community and aim to become citizens of the world. Founded in 1859 as Whitman Seminary, Whitman College became a non-sectarian, four-year, degree-granting college in 1883. As a private institution, the college prides itself on its independence from sectarian and political control.



Established in 1793 with funds bequeathed by Colonel Ephraim Williams, the college is private, residential, and liberal arts, with graduate programs in the history of art and in development economics. The undergraduate enrollment is approximately 2,000 students.