The Professor’s Road Trip – Roanoke College

The Professor got very lost at Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia.

This school dates back to 1847 when it was transported from Staunton, Virginia by a single wagon to its “new” location of Salem, Virginia. Since then, it has grown in size with a student population of about 2,100 and offers 37 different majors. Roanoke is listed on several “best colleges” lists including The Princeton Review, US News & World Report and Forbes magazine. It is also one of only 280 nationwide colleges to boast a chapter of the most prestigious and oldest honor society – Phi Beta Kappa.

Roanoke has two sets of school colors: blue and gold for academic use and maroon and gray for athletic use. This dates to 1907 when the baseball team needed new uniforms, but could not obtain any in blue and gold. Maroon and gray uniforms were purchased as a substitute. Within a few years, maroon and gray were adopted as Roanoke’s official athletic colors.

This liberal arts school is putting a new spin on core curriculum.  How many times have you found yourself in a class wondering what is the point and how does it apply to you? Roanoke’s new core curriculum is designed to combat this argument. They want students to take classes that are of interest to them rather than just a core requirement. Roanoke believes a student can still learn the fundamental concepts taught in a general introduction course, but if it is presented in an interesting manner, students can actually connect to the material. For example, why not take a class entitled, “Does Gun Control Save Lives?” instead of “Intro to Statistics.” Or, instead of an “Intro to Literature” course, students can take “The Search for Good/God in Fantasy Literature.”

Roanoke has many great traditions that add to the flavor of the campus, including The Rock, and The Kicking Post.

Over the years, Roanoke has even developed its own lingo. Would you know what the professor is talking about if he said: “I was heading to The Cave when I heard Dene Gene on The Wreck say that the Campo was needed at The Bank. I altered course and headed to LJS but I took a wrong turn at B Dubs and finally decided to just stop at Cha Cha’s before going back to the Noke.”? It’s no wonder the Professor got lost.

For more information on Roanoke’s application deadlines visit their website at www.roanoke.edu.