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Former name | King William's School (1696–1784) |
|---|---|
| Motto | Facio liberos ex liberis libris libraque |
Motto in English | I make free adults from children by means of books and a balance |
| Type | Privateliberal arts college |
| Established | 1696; 329 years ago (1696) (as King William's School) 1784; 241 years ago (1784) (St. John's charter) |
| Accreditation | MSCHE (Annapolis)[1] HLA (Santa Fe)[2][3] |
Religious affiliation | Secular |
| Endowment | $244.5 million (2023)[4] |
| Budget | $47.7 million (2022)[5] |
| President | Susan Paalman (Annapolis) J. Walter Sterling (Santa Fe) |
Academic staff | ~164 total (both campuses) |
| Undergraduates | 775 (both campuses)[6] |
| Postgraduates | ~160 |
| Location | , United States 38°58′57″N76°29′33″W / 38.98250°N 76.49250°W /38.98250; -76.49250 35°40′3″N105°54′44″W / 35.66750°N 105.91222°W /35.66750; -105.91222 |
| Campus | Annapolis:Urban Santa Fe:Urban / Semi-rural |
| Colors | Orange |
| Mascot | Platypus/Axolotl[a] |
| Website | sjc.edu |
St. John's College is aprivateliberal arts college with campuses inAnnapolis, Maryland andSanta Fe, New Mexico. As the successor institution ofKing William's School, apreparatory school founded in 1696, St. John's is one of theoldest institutions of higher learning in the United States;[6][7] the current institution received a collegiate charter in 1784.[8] In 1937, St. John's adopted aGreat Books curriculum based on discussion of works from theWestern canon of philosophical, religious, historical, mathematical, scientific, and literary works.
The college grants a single bachelor's degree inliberal arts. The awarded degree is equivalent to a double major inphilosophy and thehistory of mathematics andscience, and a double minor inclassical studies andcomparative literature.[9][10] Three master's degrees are available through the college's graduate institute: one in liberal arts, which is a modified version of the undergraduate curriculum; one in Eastern Classics, exclusive to the Santa Fe campus, which applies a Great Books curriculum to classic works from India, China, and Japan; and one in Middle Eastern Classics, also exclusive to Santa Fe, this program focuses on the Great Books from Jewish and Muslim authors written between thefall of Rome andEuropean Renaissance.[11]
St. John's College traces its origins to King William's School, founded in 1696. King William's School was founded with an affiliation to theChurch of England.[12] In 1784, Maryland chartered St. John's College, which absorbed King William's School when it opened in 1785.[13] The college took up residence in a building known as Bladen's Folly (the current McDowell Hall), which was originally built to be the Maryland governor's mansion but was not completed.[14] There was some association with theFreemasons early in the college's history, leading to speculation that it was named afterSaint John the Evangelist.[15] The college's original charter, reflecting the Masonic value of religious tolerance as well as the religious diversity of the founders (which includedPresbyterians,Episcopalians, and theRoman CatholicCharles Carroll of Carrollton) stated that "youth of all religious denominations shall be freely and liberally admitted". Later it was thought that the college was named afterSt John's College, Cambridge.[16] The college always maintained a small size, generally enrolling fewer than 500 men at a time.
In its early years, the college was at least nominallypublic—the college's founders had envisaged it as the Western Shore branch of a proposed "University of Maryland"—but a lack of enthusiasm from theMaryland General Assembly and itsEastern Shore counterpart,Washington College, made this largely a paper institution. After years of inconsistent funding and litigation, the college accepted a smaller annual grant in lieu of being funded through the state's annual appropriations process. The college closed during theCivil War, and its campus was used as a military hospital. In 1907, it became the undergraduate college of a loosely organized "University of Maryland" that included theprofessional schools located in Baltimore. By 1920, when Maryland State College (founded in 1857 as Maryland Agricultural College) became theUniversity of Maryland at College Park, St. John's was a free-standing private institution.[13]
The college curriculum has taken various forms throughout its history. It began with a general program of study in the liberal arts, but St. John's was amilitary school for much of the late 19th century and early 20th century. It endedcompulsory military training withMajor Enoch Garey's accession as president in 1923.[17]Garey and the Navy instituted aNaval Reserve unit in September 1924, creating the first-ever collegiate Department ofNaval Science in the United States. But despite St. John's successfully pioneering the entireNROTC movement, student interest waned, and the voluntaryROTC disappeared in 1926 with Garey's departure. The Naval Reserve unit followed by 1929.[18]
In 1936, the college lost itsaccreditation.[19] The Board of Visitors and Governors, faced with dire financial straits caused by theGreat Depression, invited educational innovatorsStringfellow Barr andScott Buchanan to make a completely fresh start. They introduced a new program of study, which remains in effect today. Buchanan became dean of the college, while Barr assumed its presidency. In his guideCool Colleges, Donald Asher writes that the New Program was implemented to save the college from closing: "Several benefactors convinced the college to reject a watered-down curriculum in favor of becoming a very distinctive academic community. Thus this great institution was reborn as a survival measure."[20]
In 1938,Walter Lippman wrote a column praising liberal arts education as a bulwark against fascism and said, "In the future, men will point to St. John's College and say that there was the seed-bed of the American renaissance."[21]
In 1940, national attention was attracted to St. John's by a story inLife entitled "The Classics: At St. John's They Come into Their Own Once More".[21] Classic works unavailable in English translation were translated by faculty members, typed, mimeographed, and bound. They were sold to the general public as well as to students, and by 1941, the St. John's College bookshop was famous as the only source for English translations of works such asCopernicus'sDe revolutionibus orbium coelestium,St. Augustine'sDe musica, andPtolemy'sAlmagest.
The wartime years were difficult for the all-male St. John's. Enlistment and the draft emptied the college; 15 seniors graduated in 1943, eight in 1945, and three in 1946.[21] From 1940 to 1946, St. John's was repeatedly confronted with threats of its land being seized by the Navy for expansion of the neighboringU.S. Naval Academy, andJames Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy, formally announced plans to do so in 1945. At the time,The New York Times, which had expected a legal battle royale comparable to the1819Dartmouth case, commented that "although a small college of fewer than 200 students, St. John's has, because of its experimental liberal arts program, received more publicity and been the center of a greater academic controversy than most other colleges in the land. Its best-books program has been attacked and praised by leading educators of the day."[22]
The constant threat of eviction discouraged Stringfellow Barr. In late 1946, Forrestal withdrew the plan to take over St. John's in the face of public opposition and the disapproval of theHouse Naval Affairs Committee. Still, Barr and Scott Buchanan were already committed to leaving St. John's and launchingLiberal Arts, Inc., a new, similar college inStockbridge, Massachusetts; that project eventually failed—but thinking about other sites for the college eventually led to the opening of St. John's second campus in Santa Fe in 1964.
St John's had been founded as an all-white institution and continued as such in the early years of the New Program, with Barr actively discouraging black students from applying.[23] However, by 1948, faculty and student sentiment had shifted, and students, with the support of the faculty and administration, persuaded a reluctant Board of Visitors and Governors to integrate the college and St. John's became one of the first previously all-white colleges south of theMason-Dixon line to admit black students voluntarily.[24]
In 1949, Richard D. Weigle became president of St. John's. Following the chaotic and difficult period from 1940 to 1949, Weigle's presidency continued for 31 years,[25] during which time the New Program and the college itself became well established.
In 1951, St. John's becamecoeducational, admitting women for the first time in its 254-year history. Some students objected because they had not been involved in—nor even aware of—the decision before it was announced to the media, and some believed that the college could not remain a serious institution if it admitted women. Martin Dyer reported that women who were admitted quickly proved they were the academic and intellectual equals of their male counterparts.[citation needed]
As enrollment grew during the 1950s, and facing the coming largerbaby-boom generation, thoughts turned again towards opening another campus—but this time in addition to, not instead of, the one in Annapolis. Serious talk of expansion began in 1959 when the father of a student fromMonterey, California, suggested to President Weigle that he establish a new campus there.Time ran an article on the college's possible expansion plans,[26] and 32 offers came into the college fromNew Hampshire,Oregon,Georgia,Alaska,Florida,Connecticut, and other states.[citation needed]
A group from theMonterey Peninsula told Weigle that they were interested, though funding was a problem, and suitable land was a big question. There was also an offer of land inClaremont, California, but competition with the other colleges there for students and financial contributions was a negative. The RiversideMission Inn (inRiverside, California) was another possibility, but with only 5 acres (2.0 hectares) of land and many renovations needed to the inn, funding was again a significant issue.
The three California locations were all still major contenders when Robert McKinney (publisher ofThe Santa Fe New Mexican and a former SJC board member) called and told Weigle that a group of city leaders had long been looking for another college for Santa Fe. During a lunch Weigle attended atJohn Gaw Meem's house on the outskirts of Santa Fe in late January 1961, Meem volunteered that he had a little piece of land (214 acres [87 hectares]) that he would gladly donate to the college. After lunch, Weigle looked at the land and instantly fell in love with it. A committee of four faculty members (Robert Bart, Barbara Leonard, Douglas Allanbrook, and William Darkey) later visited the four sites in contention and, after much deliberation, recommended Santa Fe.[27]
In 1961, the governing board of St. John's approved plans to establish a second college atSanta Fe. Groundbreaking occurred on April 22, 1963, and the first classes began in 1964. Immediately afterward, land on the Monterey Peninsula was also donated to the college on the condition that a campus be developed there by a certain date.
TheGreat Books program (often called simply "the Program" or "the New Program" at St. John's) was developed at theUniversity of Chicago byStringfellow Barr,Scott Buchanan,Robert Hutchins, andMortimer Adler in the mid-1930s as an alternative form of education to the then rapidly changing undergraduate curriculum. St. John's adopted the Great Books program in 1937 when the college faced financial and academic ruin. The Great Books program in use today was also heavily influenced byJacob Klein, who was dean of the college in the 1940s and 1950s.
The four-year program of study, nearly all mandatory, requires that students read and discuss the works of many of Western civilization's most prominent contributors to philosophy, theology, mathematics, science, music, poetry, and literature. Tutorials (mathematics, language, and music) and seminar and laboratory are discussion-based. In the mathematics tutorial, students often demonstrate propositions that mathematicians of various ages have laid out. In the language tutorial student translations are presented (ancient Greek is studied in the first two years and French for the last two). The tutorials, with seminars and laboratories, constitute the classes. All classes, particularly the seminar, are considered formal exercises; consequently, students address one another and their teachers by their honorific and last name during class.
St. John's avoids modern textbooks, lectures, and examinations in favor of a series of manuals. Whiletraditional (A to F) grades are given and provided on transcripts, the culture of the school de-emphasizes their importance, and grades are released only at the request of the student. Grading is based largely on class participation and papers. "Tutors", as faculty members are called at the college, play a non-directive role in the classroom, compared to mainstream colleges. However, this varies according to the course and instructor at St. John's. The class size is small on both campuses, with a student-to-tutor ratio of 7:1. The seminar is the largest class, with around 20 students, and is led by two tutors. Daytime tutorials are smaller, typically ranging between 12 and 16 students, and are led by one tutor. Preceptorials are the smallest class size, ranging between 3 and 9 students.[28]
The program involves:
The Great Books are not the only texts used at St. John's. Greek and French classes use supplemental materials that are more like traditional textbooks. Science laboratory and mathematics courses use manuals prepared by faculty members that combine source materials with workbook exercises. For example, the mathematics tutorial combines a 1905 paper byAlbert Einstein with exercises that require the student to work through the mathematics used in the paper.[29]
The Graduate Institute in Liberal Education was established at St. John's College in 1967 as a summer program on the Santa Fe campus. The size and scope of the Institute have expanded so that currently, both the Annapolis and Santa Fe campuses offer year-round graduate-level study based on the principles of St. John's undergraduate program. Students in the Liberal Arts program explore the persisting questions of human existence by studying classic works of the Western tradition. This program is organized into five semester-long thematic segments: Philosophy and Theology, Politics and Society, Literature, Mathematics and Natural Science, and History. Students earn a Master of Arts in Liberal Arts (MALA) by completing four of these five segments. A common curriculum provides the basis for a shared intellectual community; discussion with fellow students and faculty is the mode of learning inside and outside the classroom. Each semester, students attend a seminar, a tutorial, and a preceptorial, all carried out as small-group discussions under the guidance of St. John's faculty members. These three types of classes are the framework of the distinctive St. John's educational experience.
At the Santa Fe campus, there is a program offering aMaster of Arts in Eastern Classics (MAEC). This program is three semesters long and is designed to be completed in one 12-month period. The impetus for the program came with the recognition that the undergraduate program could not do justice to the Great Books of the three main Asian traditions (India,China andJapan) by trying to squeeze in a few works among so many European masterworks. The MAEC program, therefore, provides a full set of readings in the philosophical, religious, and literary traditions of the three cultures listed above. Thus, students learn Chinese culture by reading not onlyConfucius,Laozi andZhuangzi, but alsoMencius,Xun Zi,Han Feizi, andMozi, as well as historical narratives bySima Qian and theZuo Zhuan, the later movement ofNeo-Confucianism andZhu Xi, narrative works such asJourney to the West or theRomance of the Three Kingdoms and the great Chinese poets,Li Bai,Wang Wei andDu Fu. This list represents only one-third of the required corpus, which also covers the major teachings and branches ofHinduism and the development ofTheravada,Mahayana andZenBuddhism, as well as such literary masterpieces as theMahabharata,Shakuntala,The Tale of Genji,The Narrow Road to the Deep North, and others. Students also take a language, eitherSanskrit orClassical Chinese.
The Master of Arts in Middle Eastern Classics (MAMEC) was established in 2025. Like the MAEC, this program is only available through the Santa Fe campus, and is designed to be completed in three semesters. The MAMEC program invites students to engage with works that have influenced both Jewish and Muslim philosophy, science, and literature. Only the fourth degree offered by St. John's College, the aim of Middle Eastern Classics program is shed light onto texts and authors sometimes overlooked in Western curricula, as these important writings have shaped the course of philosophy, religion, and poetry across centuries. The program is an exploration of Middle Eastern texts as living works that are as relevant today as they were centuries ago. While not a complete list, students can expect to encounter the writings ofPlato,Aristotle,Plotinus,al-Fārābī,Maimonides,‘Ibn al-‘Arabī, andRūmī, while also reading theEpic of Gilgamesh,Tanakh, andQur’ān. Students also take a language, eitherclassical Arabic orclassical Hebrew.
In 1989, with a generous gift from Elizabeth Myers Mitchell and her husband Carlton Mitchell (a well-known sailor), the college built a campus gallery known as the Elizabeth Myers Mitchell Art Gallery to present museum-quality exhibitions to the greater Annapolis community. In 2014, the gallery achieved national accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums. In 2023, the name was changed to theElizabeth Myers Mitchell Art Museum to celebrate the accreditation.
In 2024, St. John's College accepted 44.3% (Annapolis) or 49.5% (Santa Fe) of undergraduate applicants, with both Annapolis and Santa Fe considered to have "Very High Admission Standards" with "Average Competition". Those enrolled had an average 3.81 (Annapolis) or 3.74 (Santa Fe) high schoolGPA. The university does not require submission of standardized test scores, but they will be considered when submitted. Those enrolled who submitted test scores had an average 1380 (Annapolis) or 1360 (Santa Fe)SAT score (47% for both locations submitting scores) or an average 30 (Annapolis) or 29 (Santa Fe)ACT score (18% for Annapolis, and 28% for Santa Fe, submitting scores).[30][31]
In 2024, out of 211 Best National Liberal Arts Colleges,[32]U.S. News & World Report ranked St. John’s No.75, No.35 in Best Value Schools, and No.25 in Best Undergraduate Teaching[33]
St. John's is located in the Historic Annapolis district, one block from the Maryland State Capitol building. Its proximity to theUnited States Naval Academy (across King George Street) has inspired many comparisons toAthens andSparta. The two schools carry on a spirited rivalry seen in their annualcroquet match on the front lawn of St. John's, which has been called byGQ"the purest intercollegiate athletic event in America." As of 2025[update] St. John's has won 32 of the 41 annual matches.[34] About the Johnnies' commitment to the event, one midshipman commented, "They're out practicing croquet every afternoon!Alabama should take football this seriously."[35]
Construction of McDowell Hall at the center of the campus began in 1742 by ProvincialGovernor of MarylandThomas Bladen. Still, it was not completed until after the end of the Colonial period.[36] The 23,000-square-foot historic building underwent improvements in 2017–18.[37] Its Great Hall has seen many college events, from balls feting GeneralsLafayette andWashington to the unique St. John's institutions called waltz parties.[38]
Mellon Hall, constructed in 1958, was designed by noted architectRichard Neutra.
The observatory facility, located at the top of the Foucault pendulum tower in Mellon Hall, contains two permanently mounted telescopes, a 12"Schmidt–Cassegrain telescope model LX200 and a 16"Newtonian telescope, both made byMeade Instruments. TheFoucault Pendulum is at the top of the four-story tower. The pendulum drive magnet is housed within a cast iron cone in the Observatory facility. The magnet is keyed to turn on and off as thependulum swings by using technology such as aphotoresistor that determines the center of the pendulum's swing.[39][40]
St. John's College – Santa Fe, New Mexico | |
 Weigle Hall, administrative building | |
   | |
| Location | 1160 Camino Cruz Blanca, Santa Fe, New Mexico |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 35°40′0″N105°54′45″W / 35.66667°N 105.91250°W /35.66667; -105.91250 |
| NRHP reference No. | 15000495[41] |
| NMSRCP No. | 2013 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | August 3, 2015 |
| Designated NMSRCP | April 10, 2015 |
St. John's Santa Fe campus is located on the eastern edge of Santa Fe, close toAtalaya Mountain. It was opened in 1964 in response to the increase in qualified applicants at the Annapolis campus. The college chose to open a second campus rather than increase the size of the Annapolis campus. The second campus was part of a larger project to construct six campuses nationwide. St. John's abandoned the concept when it sold a tract of land it owned inMonterey, California.
Within the Class of 2022, 36 U.S. states and 15 countries are represented. Approximately 99% of students receive financial aid.[42] First-year undergraduate students range in age from 15 to 65. The student body is relatively small compared to other liberal arts colleges, with a population historically below 500 students on each campus during a year. The average ratio is six students for each professor. The college offers many community seminars and lectures available to the public.[43]
St. John’s has been test-optional for 40 years. While the Admissions Committee will assess traditional factors such as academic record, grades, and any test scores provided, it evaluates applicants through admission essays and interviews.[44] In 2023, the college accepted 49.9% of applicants, with those admitted having an average of 3.81GPA and those submitting test scores having an average 1250–1460SAT, or average 30-33ACT, score.[45]
St. John's College in Annapolis is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools; St. John's in Santa Fe is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
St. John's College Annapolis today announced that the school has received $35.1 million from the Hodson Trust, bringing the college's total endowment to $244.5 million and providing its students with an additional $1.8 million in financial scholarship support annually.
$47.7 FY2022 Expenses (in millions)
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{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)| Public | |
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| Community colleges | |
| Defunct | |
