Roanoke College is named to a list of up and comers in the U.S. News Best Colleges rankings for 2011. Roanoke tied with the University of Richmond in the National Liberal Arts Colleges category and is in good company with George Mason and Wake Forest universities in the National Universities section.
College administrators surveyed in the spring of 2010 for the overall listings also were asked to nominate institutions that they think have recently made the most promising and innovative changes in the areas of academics, faculty, student life, campus or facilities.
The major change on campus at Roanoke this year was the launch of a new core curriculum, which eliminates the ordinary introductory courses that most colleges use as their core in favor of new topic-based courses that put the classic liberal arts skills into real world context.
For example, instead of taking a typical Introduction to Statistics course, students explore statistics within the context of a topic that interests them. One choice is the course Does Gun Control Save Lives?, in which students analyze state and national data to determine the effectiveness of gun control laws.
“Up-and-Comer describes perfectly Roanoke College. Roanoke is on the move upward and this list is a great affirmation,” said Roanoke College President Michael C. Maxey.
Last year, Roanoke College was recognized by Campus Activities Magazine as the “Campus of the Year” for its student activity programming. The college also hosted former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor as its Constitution Day speaker.