Message from the President
Dear Student:
I invite you to join me in exploring a unique higher education institution that has faithfully served thousands of students since 1837. Guilford College is distinguished from hundreds of other small liberal arts colleges by its longstanding commitments to undergraduate teaching, social justice and a mission and set of core values rooted in our Quaker heritage.
As part of its strategic plan in 2005, the College restated its mission:
“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.”
Our core values of community, diversity, equality, excellence, integrity, justice and stewardship are enduring tenets that guide student recruitment, academic programs and business practices as well as the manner in which we interact with one another day to day. I encourage you to incorporate these values into your college experience.
At Guilford, teaching matters most. Being called a “great teacher” is about the highest accolade that a faculty member on this campus can receive, and many do. I teach a class each spring semester because it’s one way this president can stay connected with the academic program and with students and their concerns. Students and alumni speak of the student-teacher relationship as a major reason they chose Guilford, succeeded in their pursuit of a degree and remain loyal to the college.
Another one of Guilford’s distinctions is that the college prepares students to engage in principled problem-solving as a means to achieve an excellent and practical liberal arts education and as a way to contribute creative solutions to existing and emerging problems in the community, state, nation and world.
In many ways, Guilford has been teaching principled problem-solving for years, but now it is being incorporated throughout our curriculum. The college has a wide range of academic programs that include novel offerings such as forensic biology, peace and conflict studies and environmental studies.
Guilford has transformed many lives since its founding as the New Garden Boarding School 175 years ago. By choosing this college, I am confident the same can happen to you. I invite you to explore the college further by visiting our website, www.guilford.edu or speaking with a representative of our Office of Admission or Center for Continuing Education.
Good luck and God speed in all your academic pursuits,
Kent John Chabotar
President and Professor of Political Science
