Davidson College

Think

Opportunity. Inquiry. Collaboration.

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Live

Davidson. Lake Norman. Charlotte.

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Thrive

Sustainable.
Liveable. Green.

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A National Award for "Terching"

Prof. Julio Ramirez is the first-ever undergraduate educator to receive the Society for Neuroscience's "Award for Education," presented annually to someone who has made outstanding contributions to neuroscience education and training.

Ramirez's work focuses on memory function and may help with issues related to Alzheimer’s disease. Like other Davidson faculty, he involves students in his work, mentoring them in the lab and collaborating closely with them on research.

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Davidson has long been recognized as a leader in undergraduate research. Professors teach through research, inviting and encouraging students to join them. Intensive summer research opportunities are also available for students.

At Davidson, learning extends beyond the classroom. Students are as committed to service as they are to academic pursuits, promoting learning through service and community engagement, locally and globally.

The Center for Teaching and Learning, located in E.H. Little Library, supports Davidson’s commitment to academic excellence with space for technology, resources for diverse learning strategies, and support for creative collaboration.

Davidson faculty conduct research about, and around, the world. For example, Prof. Shelley Rigger is a leading Taiwan scholar. In 2011, she was elected to the Board of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.

Students from the Herpetology Lab participate in a variety of outreach programs and events to raise awareness about reptile and amphibian conservation and to engage the local community in citizen-science projects.

Personal relationships with professors and class sizes of 20 or fewer students allow for the development of creative, collaborative relationships resulting in a unique academic experience.

Davidson's permanent art collection comprises more than 3,200 works spanning more than five centuries—sculptures, paintings, photographs, outdoor installations and more.

Student Essays Bring Unique Voice to Art Collection

Davidson Collects: 100 Writers Respond to Art explores works from the college's extensive permanent art collection through the eyes of students.

Each of the 100 writers, chosen from across the spectrum of the college's liberal arts and science disciplines, spent time with a single work of art assigned by lottery. Artists included Arbus, Dali, Delacroix, Dürer, de Kooning, Munch, Picasso, Rodin, Sargent, Warhol and others.

The book offered students an unfiltered and direct personal adventure—an inquiry of spirit as well as of mind.

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A Place You'll Call Home

Davidson students get the best of all worlds—a vibrant campus community in a small, supportive college town close to a major metropolitan area.

Charlotte—North Carolina’s largest city—is just 20 minutes away, offering students easy access to professional arts and sports, museums, music venues, and great shopping and dining.

Charlotte provides a wealth of opportunities for Davidson students to tap into a thriving business community.

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The college's close proximity to Charlotte—a vibrant center for the arts and culture, and one of the nation's largest financial centers—provides students with great internship, research and community service opportunities.

In Davidson, you'll find local shops and restaurants within a short walk of campus, including student favorites Ben & Jerry’s, Summit Coffee, and Our Town Cinemas. More restaurants and shopping are just a few minutes down the interstate.

Located five minutes from campus on Lake Norman, Davidson's 106-acre Lake Campus is a popular spot for students to swim, play beach volleyball, fire up the grill, or lounge with friends on the peninsula.

The college offers state-of-the-art facilities and venues for arts. You can watch a student theatre production, take in a Broadway show, attend a gallery opening, catch a concert, or see a dance performance without leaving campus.

The Honor Code is central to life at Davidson, ensuring academic integrity and providing the foundation for an open environment in which Davidson students live and study together.

The combination of outstanding facilities and school spirit makes Davidson an exciting place year-round. More than 80 percent of students at Davidson are active in intramural or Division I athletics.

The best way to get a sense of the campus and the people here is to visit. You'll be able to talk with current students, attend classes, and gain a better understanding of Davidson's academic and extracurricular opportunities.

Location is Everything

Davidson’s 450-acre campus features stately, neoclassical architecture and picturesque, tree-lined, brick walkways. The college is located in a moderate climate that offers year-round appeal. It is ideally situated for the seasons; brilliant fall colors and the occasional winter snow, abundant spring flora and summers near Lake Norman.

Within two to four hours of Davidson, you can enjoy the Atlantic coast or Appalachian Mountains, wind surfing or snowboarding.

The college’s location and climate provide the perfect setting for academic inquiry and scholarship.

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Kudzu vs. Goats

The cure for kudzu? It may be the common goat. Thirty of the persistent ruminants recently spent time on campus, the latest weapon in Davidson's efforts to curtail a 3.5-acre stand of kudzu on the cross-country trails. The initiative-completely sustainable!-was the brainchild of Rebecca McKee '14, who suggested the college adopt "goatscaping" after seeing it work at her high school.

The goats are just one example of the central role that sustainability plays in the academic and student life of the college.

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The campus laundry has eliminated phosphate products, uses eco-friendly detergents and has replaced chlorine bleach with active oxygen bleach. In 2011 the laundry stopped returning clothes in paper; instead, each student now receives a reusable canvas bag.

Zipcar is coming to Davidson. Students will have a fast, convenient, and affordable way to get off campus for errands, entertainment, or service work. And fewer cars on campus is better for the environment.

Davidson’s average waste diversion rate is just 22 percent, placing Davidson in the top 10 percent of colleges surveyed. In a recent year, Dining Services even recycled 77 percent of Davidson's food and solid waste.

Sustainability is central to life at Davidson. Students and faculty explore sustainability issues through courses and collaborative research, and students can major in environmental studies and explore related issues in other disciplines.

The Nisbet Fitness Center now has a set of energy-generating elliptical machines that convert workout energy into electricity, sending power back into the facility’s power grid.

Davidson's admission process and the first-year housing process are paperless. In addition, PawPrint, a print management system, has reduced paper consumption by 23 percent campus-wide.

New solar panels at Baker Sports Complex will reduce energy expenses and help Davidson advance its commitment to sustainability by lowering the college’s carbon footprint.

Let the Sun Shine In

Two arrays of solar panels-one featuring 64 solar thermal collector panels, and another featuring 378 photovoltaic (PV) panels-were installed on the roof of Baker Sports Complex in 2011. The thermal panels provide energy to heat the showers and Cannon Pool, and the PV panels supply electricity for the building. Both systems will provide students with hands-on, up-close experience with the operation of a solar energy system.

Davidson College is a signatory of the American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment, by which it pledges to reduce the college's carbon footprint in specific, measurable ways.

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Watch Commencement Live

Davidson plans to live stream Commencement ceremonies at 10 a.m. Sunday, May 20.

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Up for the Challenge?

Help Davidson achieve its 60 percent alumni participation rate in the Annual Fund for a tenth year, and four current and former trustees will give $1 million!
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Our Religious Heritage

Davidson is strongly committed to diversity and inclusiveness. This commitment is driven in no small part by our grounding in the Reformed Tradition.

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The Trust on the Hill

In early February, President Carol Quillen spoke about The Davidson Trust to a U.S. Senate committee on “Innovations in College Affordability."
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Plan Your Visit

The best way to get a sense of campus is to visit. Talk with students, eat a meal, attend classes, learn about extracurricular opportunities, meet faculty, and just explore.
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Davidson Journal

The online version of Davidson College’s magazine features all the content of the print issue, plus Web exclusives, including podcasts and videos.
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What's Happening?

Psychology Honor Society Receives National Accolades
The Psi Chi national psychology honor society at Davidson has earned the "model chapter" designation from the international Psi Chi organization. A select group of chapters earned the designation this year, based on consistency in membership inductions, chapter correspondence, service projects, and participation in research conferences and the Psi Chi award/grants programs.

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What's Happening?

Commencement May 20, 2012 | 10:00 amGraduands, parents, guests, faculty, and staff are invited to attend commencement on Sunday, May 20, at 10 a.m. The ceremony will take place outdoors under the oaks of the front campus. In the event of inclement weather, commencement will be held in Baker Sports Complex. The event will be live streamed. For a complete schedule and additiona...

Academic Technology Showcase May 16, 2012 | 11:00 am
Army ROTC Commissioning May 19, 2012 | 11:00 am
Farewell to Seniors Chorale Concert May 19, 2012 | 7:15 pm

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What's Happening?

Shout-Outs Abound in the Wonderful World of DavidsonMay 16, 2012 | 9:57 am

It’s the last day of exams, it’s four days before graduation, it’s three weeks and a day before Alumni Reunion Weekend, and it’s a scant six weeks until the end of Davidson’s fundraising year. The joint’s a-jumping, and I orta be working on some dang deadline assignment, but I just have to ta...
Up On The Roof, ReduxMay 15, 2012 | 2:27 pm

Forgive me, Dear Readers, for recycling this vintage piece from spring 2006. But recycling is good, right? Anyway, it’s the week before graduation, we’re all about efficiency on a hard deadline right now, and I must dash. Enjoy! —JSS It is the first day of spring—not by the calendar, but by the campus daffodils—and there is a co...
New York Times, Above the Fold: I Know That Guy!May 11, 2012 | 4:48 pm

Surveilling Facebook over my second cuppa joe this morning, I saw a post by my pal Charles Oldham ’97, a Charlotte attorney. It was himself in a picture above the fold, on the front page of the New York Times! I quick made a ROFLMAO-style Facebook comment, then messaged him to ask for commentary for Daybook during this 15 minute...
Happy and Unhappy and EverythingMay 8, 2012 | 12:14 am

I had a dream that Dodger was running free in Richardson Stadium at Davidson College, which is against the rules. I was crawling across the rubbery track, doing a breathlessly dreamy slo-mo “fail” at getting to him. He dashed merrily about the artificial turf field, paying no mind to the authoritative benchmarks of the gridiron,...

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My Davidson Moment: Angela Solis ’12

Angela Solis ’12 shares her “Davidson Moment,” serving as a Hall Counselor her junior year. My Davidson Moment: Angela Solis ’12 “My Davidson Moment” is a collection of short recordings, snapshots of an individual’s time at Davidson. Collectively, these snapshots aim to showcase the larg...
My Davidson Moment: Jadry Gruen ’12

Jadry Gruen ’12 shares her “Davidson Moment,” the moment she decided Davidson was where she wanted to enroll. My Davidson Moment: Jadry Gruen ’12 “My Davidson Moment” is a collection of short recordings, snapshots of an individual’s time at Davidson. Collectively, these snapshots aim to ...
My Davidson Moment: Juan Zapata ’12

Juan Zapata ’12 shares his “Davidson Moment,” realizing small classes and the community they create is why he chose Davidson. My Davidson Moment: Juan Zapata ’12 “My Davidson Moment” is a collection of short recordings, snapshots of an individual’s time at Davidson. Collectively, these s...
My Davidson Moment: Lauren Khater ’12

Lauren Khater ’12 shares her two “Davidson Moments,” rowing her freshmen year and creating relationships with faculty through research. My Davidson Moment: Lauren Khater ’12 “My Davidson Moment” is a collection of short recordings, snapshots of an individual’s time at Davidson. Collectiv...