Introduction to the College

Mission

Guilford's purpose is to provide a transformative, practical and excellent liberal arts education that produces critical thinkers in an inclusive, diverse, environment, guided by Quaker testimonies of community, equality, integrity, peace, and simplicity and emphasizing the creative problem-solving skills, experience, enthusiasm, and international perspectives necessary to promote positive change in the world.

 

Toward that end the college provides:

• student-centered instruction that nurtures each individual amid an intentionally diverse community.
• a challenging academic program that fosters critical and creative thinking through the development of essential skills: analysis, inquiry, communication, consensus-building, problem-solving, and leadership.
• a global perspective that values people of other cultures and the natural environment in which we all live.
• a values-rich education that explores the ethical dimension of knowledge and promotes honesty, compassion, integrity, courage, and respect for the individual.
• access to work and service opportunities that forge a connection between thought and action.
  

Guilford seeks above all to create a special kind of learning community. We are not perfect at this. Our goal of creating independent thinkers and change agents necessarily pulls against the needs of community, and our great diversity of backgrounds sometimes works against our professed acceptance of and equal respect for all individuals. We are as a community at best in a perpetual state of becoming.

 

Nevertheless, in writing about Guilford in Colleges that Change Lives, Loren Pope describes how there is "a special sense of family here." He notes of the college that "it truly is a friendly place," while also being "a stimulating place where the teachers care, where they expect a lot, and where they provide the encouragement as well as the challenge to get young people to do things they had no idea they could do." Guilford, he concludes, is "a fine example of a college family that is doubling talents."

 

We intend to continue to work toward being that community: a learning community defined somewhat paradoxically by both challenge and nurture, a community which produces compassionate graduates who are independent thinkers, risk-takers, and change agents possessing a strong moral compass.

Core Values

The college's seven core values are based on, and consistent with, the five Quaker testimonies. Indeed, three testimonies-community, equality, and integrity-are also core values. Core values are the essential and enduring tenets of the organization.

 

• Community. We are committed to the cultivation of positive relationships between, and common experiences among students, faculty and staff.

• Diversity. We are committed to creating an academic institution where a variety of persons and perspectives are welcome. We are committed to providing an environment where students from non-white cultures and backgrounds may succeed.

• Equality. We are committed to creating an institution and a society where everyone is appreciated and judged based on their contributions and performance rather than gender, race, religion, sexual identity or socio-economic condition. Through the work of this institution, we will both create awareness of and work especially to eliminate individual and institutional racism.

• Excellence. We are committed to setting high standards of academic rigor in courses, and creating high expectations for achievement by everyone in our community. We seek the personal and intellectual transformation of our students.

• Integrity. We are committed to creating a community that acts with honesty and forthrightness, holding ourselves to high academic and ethical standards and dealing with everyone with respect.

• Justice. We are committed to the peaceful resolution of conflict, sharing of economic and natural resources and parity in educational opportunity.

• Stewardship. We are committed to making decisions that will ensure the long-term survival of this institution. We must maximize the value of our human, financial, and physical resources in ways consistent with our Quaker heritage.

Principled Problem Solving

Principled Problem Solving is a central, unifying theme of the transformative education of the Guilford curriculum. It uses the knowledge, skills, and life experience of faculty, students, staff and community members to address a broad range of "real world" and other important problems (especially when motivated by student curiosity). This "principled" approach emerges from Guilford's core values and Quaker testimonies.

The purpose of PPS is to focus Guilford's mission in both the curricular and extracurricular life of its students towards the practical liberal arts. This commitment requires Guilford students to learn to address problems critically, creatively, constructively, with courage and conscience.

PPS may be approached in one or a combination of the following with these layers building on each other:

• Foundations: critical thinking analysis, skills, and values. Guilford students are able to generate valuable questions and approach problems and issues by writing well, making use of quantitative data, understanding historical context, possessing ethical sensitivity, learning from cross-cultural experiences, and combining creativity, imagination and discipline.
• Practice: case studies in the classroom. Problem-solving skills are honed and defined through the use of real and hypothetical examples.
• Application: real people addressing real world problems.

Campus

Guilford students live and attend classes on a wooded, 340 acre campus in northwest Greensboro, North Carolina. Most college buildings show a Georgian influence. The campus includes a forest, exercise and nature trails, and a small lake. These contribute to the college's quiet, serene, and friendly atmosphere.

The Student Body

Guilford students come from all across the United States and 15 other nations.

 

About 1,400 students are traditional-age undergraduates, with another 1,150 enrolled in degree programs part time or full time through the Center for Continuing Education and an additional 95 enrolled in The Early College at Guilford.

 

About 52 percent of the residential student body is female; 48 percent, male. In general, residential students are between 18 and 22 years old, attend college full time, and live in college residence halls. About one-third come from independent secondary schools and the rest from public high schools. All major religious denominations are represented.

 

Students enrolled through the Center for Continuing Education are 23 years of age or older. Many enter after having been out of school for several years and carry full-time employment responsibilities. About half of these students study part time to complete their degrees or to increase their professional competence. Some already have bachelor's degrees and are broadening their skills or working in areas of special interest for certificates of study. Most continuing education students commute to campus and may attend classes during day or evening hours (see Chapter VIII).

 

Guilford recognizes the special abilities of college students with physical impairments and learning differences. Through the Academic Dean's Office, the college endeavors to serve the individual learning needs of any such student upon request. The request should be supported by appropriate medical documentation. The plan for these students may adjust the normal instructional process with untimed exams or innovative approaches to assignments. The Learning Commons coordinates and refers resources for these students. Guilford's normal nondiscriminatory admission policy governs the admission of these students. The standard policies on academic standing and the prescribed graduation requirements also apply.

The Faculty

Guilford attracts teachers of outstanding ability, creativity, and enthusiasm. The faculty consists of 134 full-time members supplemented by a number of qualified part-time instructors.

 

The Guilford faculty has excellent professional credentials. Approximately 79 percent have received doctoral or equivalent terminal degrees from leading universities in the United States and several other countries.

 

With an average student-faculty ratio of 16:1, students can consult with their teachers about their studies and careers. Students and faculty interact on a first-name basis and friendships between them are common. They often share professional and avocational interests inside and outside the classroom and join together in campus and community activities.

 

The faculty's primary commitment is to undergraduate teaching. They see learning as a common venture with students into life's key questions.

Quaker Heritage

In 1837, Guilford opened its doors as New Garden Boarding School founded by the Religious Society of Friends, known as Quakers.

 

In 1888 the academic program was greatly expanded and the school renamed Guilford College. Today, Quakers make up about nine percent of Guilford's traditional-age student body and approximately eight percent of the faculty and administrative staff. The college continues to appreciate and honor its Quaker heritage as the foundation for its character, distinctiveness, and quality.

 

Quakerism has traditionally represented a mode of life rooted in simplicity, one that highly regards the individual, peace, and social concern. It also has been a mode of inquiry, a search for truth by the individual sustained by the whole community of seekers.

 

These characteristics have nourished the college from its beginnings. Guilford's original purpose was to train responsible and enlightened leaders, both women and men. Its method was the liberal arts, viewed not as a static body of knowledge but as a stimulus to intellectual and spiritual growth

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The Friends tradition harmonizes well with the college's atmosphere of free inquiry. Liberal education requires an atmosphere of academic and personal freedom, founded on intellectual and moral responsibility, and an atmosphere of commitment to ethical values and human beings. The combination of these qualities contributes to Guilford's character.

 

Through the years Guilford has remained true to the vision of its Quaker founders. It has continually sought new methods of challenging students, bringing them into contact with vital ideas and experiences, and helping them to arrive at their fullest potential as individuals and as members of society.

 

Friends Center at Guilford College
The Friends Center at Guilford College was established by the Board of Trustees in 1982 to strengthen the bonds of the college with the Religious Society of Friends. The center provides opportunities for education and information about Quakerism, in addition to serving as a Quaker resource center for the southeastern United States. Friends Center sponsors the Guilford campus ministry program, the annual campus Quaker Festival Week, and the Quaker Renewal Program in the wider Friends community.

 

An advisory committee composed of representatives from the college and two North Carolina Yearly Meetings works with the center's staff to develop Quaker studies programs on and off campus. The center also brings nationally and internationally known Friends to campus through Distinguished Quaker Visitor programs. Friends Center programs are supported by the generous contributions of members of the two North Carolina Yearly Meetings of Friends, by those of other concerned Quakers, and by the college.

 

Campus Ministry
Consistent with the college's Quaker heritage, the Campus Ministry Office works to facilitate campus religious organizations of all faiths, provide assistance for emerging groups, encourage dialogue among different religious groups, and aid community members in the process of spiritual discernment. Ongoing programs include small group "seekers sessions," daily and weekly worship opportunities, fall and spring break work trips, teas, forums, and the annual Religious Emphasis Week.

 

The Quaker Leadership Scholars Program
The Quaker Leadership Scholars Program (QLSP) enables members of the Religious Society of Friends to combine their academic pursuits at Guilford with community activities in a way that strengthens their involvement with Friends. Participants commit to a four-year program involving mentoring, small-group discussions, spiritual direction, leadership development, Quaker studies, and internships. Financial assistance for college costs and participation in a wide variety of Quaker activities is provided. QLSP is a cooperative program of the Guilford Initiative on Faith and Practice, the Student Financial Assistance and Planning Office, and the Admission Office, with assistance from Friends Center.

 

** More Information **

 

THE GUILFORD COLLEGE COMMUNITY

History

The land, described as "this majestic wilderness," was settled in the 1750s by Quakers who named it New Garden. John Woolman, the Quaker missionary who visited the settlers shortly thereafter, called them "planters of truth in the province."

 

During the American Revolution this peaceful scene was disturbed by the decisive Battle of Guilford Courthouse, four miles to the north. Quakers cared for the wounded of both sides and buried the dead in New Garden Meeting's cemetery. Today one can see a marker to the unknown British soldiers interred there as well as visit the battlefield, now a national military park.

 

By the 1830s the majority of Quakers in North Carolina lived in and around Guilford County. They decided to establish a school on a coeducational basis that was chartered in 1834 and opened in 1837 as New Garden Boarding School. The campus was later in the vicinity of the Underground Railroad as well as a center of resistance to Confederate conscription and requisitioning efforts. The school never closed during the Civil War, and during Reconstruction, with support from Friends in the North and Great Britain, soon recouped its strength.

 

This led to the development of Guilford College, the fourth oldest degree-granting institution in North Carolina. The college remained largely isolated until the 1920s, when the old trail to Greensboro became The Friendly Road. The street name still symbolizes the longstanding friendship between town and gown. Today the campus is an area of greenery, quiet, and scholarship within Greensboro's city limits. It is one of the very few college campuses in the nation listed by the United States Department of the Interior as a National Historic District.

Greensboro and Its Educational Environment

Guilford is located in northwest Greensboro, third largest city in North Carolina.  The city’s population is approximately 232,000, with approximately 1.3 million people living in the metropolitan area.

Within a 25-mile radius are located seven other colleges and universities at which Guilford students may take courses: Bennett College, Elon University, Greensboro College, Guilford Technical Community College, High Point University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Lectures, concerts, symposia, and films offered by these institutions are usually open to Guilford students.

The Eastern Music Festival and School, in residence on the Guilford College campus, provides an exceptional summer concert series with presentations on campus by professional as well as student musicians.

Close to Guilford are New Garden Friends Meeting, Friendship Friends Meeting, and Friends Homes (a retirement community that provides highly skilled volunteers in several areas of college life as well as internships and employment for Guilford students). North Carolina Yearly Meeting offices are nearby and serve the college community in various capacities.

Also in close proximity to the college is New Garden Friends School, which rounds out the multigenerational community surrounding Guilford and provides additional internship and research possibilities.

The Climate

The local climate is mild and generally pleasant, making it possible to engage in outdoor sports during every month of the year. Winters are sunny, and although there may be some snowfall, extremely cold weather is rare. Spring comes early, with flowering trees and shrubs from early March through June. Autumn is especially congenial.

Accessibility

Guilford is easily reached from the Piedmont Triad International Airport, five miles west; from Interstate 40, two miles south; or from Interstate 85, eight miles southeast. A nearby Amtrak station affords daily access to major cities throughout the Southeast.

The college is within a half-day’s drive of both the seacoast and the Great Smoky mountains.