Green Mountain College

Green Mountain College prepares students for fulfilling lives by taking the goal of creating just and sustainable societies as the unifying theme for its interdisciplinary graduate and undergraduate liberal arts education. The College fosters the ideals of environmental and personal responsibility, civic engagement, entrepreneurial spirit, and global understanding.

At Green Mountain College, we blend the best of classroom theory with practical, hands-on experience. The result is a deeper kind of learning that gives you a leg up in the working world. Students and faculty work together on research projects that have real outcomes, like our design/build class, which built a solar garage that charges an electric tractor for use on the farm. Every student gets to vote on the next sustainability ideas to be implemented at the college. And, you’ll have opportunities for fieldwork at our student-run farm, an great internship sites like Greenpeace, Killington Ski Resort or the Office of Senator Bernie Sanders. It’s your world—and it’s “the real world,” long before you graduate.

With curriculum that is built on a framework of social, economic, and environmental sustainability, you will learn not only the practical skills you need for the workplace, but also how to live a purposeful life. 95 percent of graduates say they are doing work that they find meaningful. They are prepared for careers in today’s fastest-growing fields, including the green jobs sector. Our graduates do what they love, and the rewards follow.

Here, the classroom is more than a place to sit and take notes. It’s where you connect, engage, and collaborate with the world’s foremost sustainability experts—your professors. Beyond the classroom, you can expect to work and learn one on one with faculty. They get to know you here, and many become mentors for life. As you hone into your major and prepare for your future career, our Career, Advising and Teaching (CAT) Center will support you with internships, resume building support and practice with interviews.

To understand who we are — a community working to bring positive change to the world — it helps to know who we once were, how we began, where this tree grew roots.And that place is Vermont – home to a fierce streak of independence, respect for difference, and connection to the natural, intellectual, and spiritual world. Dig under the soil, and you discover our roots intertwined with the stories of those who made their mark on history. Like Horace Greeley, who founded the New York Herald Tribune, and who learned the printing trade at a newspaper in East Poultney. The tavern where he lived, the school where he gave his first speech — they still stand here today. As a national reformer, freethinker, and activist, his legacy dovetails with the can-do spirit of our school, and of Vermont.

Or John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, whose forward-thinking belief in accessible education and women’s empowerment echoes our mission of global responsibility and public service. With historical ties to the United Methodist Church, Green Mountain College continues to promote respect for lifelong learning, human spirituality, gender equality, and our planet.

We teach students that history is made by those who lead, like the settlers of Poultney who built one of Vermont’s first libraries. So we transform this inspiration into action, to become the first EPA Energy Star campus in the nation, and first to reach climate neutrality through clean energy, efficiency, and carbon offsets. Because this is our history, our roots, your future.

Green Mountain College is a place where every academic field is integrated with a focus on sustainability.Here, students lead, teachers guide, and hands-on learning comes to life. Regardless of major, you and your peers complete our Environmental Liberal Arts sequence, a cross-disciplinary program that prepares you for a career in today’s fastest growing fields, including the green jobs sector. You can select from 23 academic majors and 36 minors, or craft your own self-designed major through our Progressive Program.

Green Mountain College is a small environmental liberal arts college located in Vermont’s beautiful Lakes Region and less than 40 minutes from Vermont’s premier ski resort, Killington Mountain. The campus sits at the intersection of College Street and Main Street in Poultney.

A diverse and committed board of trustees with national and regional perspectives sets the overall strategic direction and ensures the financial and organizational success of the College in achieving its mission.Faculty, staff, and students share in the day-to-day governance of the college. Openness and transparency are important factors in the goal of creating an atmosphere of respect and equality. The Student Senate, which meets weekly in an open-forum setting, has substantial authority to oversee its internal operations and regularly collaborates with the administration, Staff Assembly, and Faculty Council. Students are often involved in search and other committees.

The Faculty Council meets monthly in advance of campus faculty meetings, and faculty forums on research in progress and issues related to teaching are held regularly. The Staff Assembly likewise holds monthly meetings and collaborates with sister organizations. The tradition of holding open meetings for all GMC community members, called “community conversations,” happens at least once a semester.