College Profile:
Drew University

Looking for that perfect college? One small enough so that each student feels important. Where outstanding teachers also serve as mentors. Where excellence and innovation are the hallmarks of teaching and learning. Where unique off-campus programs allow students to learn about other cultures or develop their workplace skills. Where the park-like, wooded campus is just an hour from New York City. Then Drew may be the right college for you.

Drew is a highly selective, yet close-knit and supportive university located on almost 200 wooded acres in the rolling foothills of Morris County, New Jersey, just 30 miles from Manhattan.

With a total enrollment of about 1,500 students, Drew’s College of Liberal Arts has a reputation for excellence and innovation and is recognized year after year as one of the top universities in the nation.

An independent college of distinction with an abiding belief in the importance of the liberal arts and the use of technology in support of teaching and learning, Drew gains its strength from an endowment of more than $225 million, a president who is committed to students and learning, and a faculty that is among the best in the nation.

Drew is led by Thomas H. Kean, former two-term Governor of New Jersey, who became the school’s tenth president in 1990. He is highly visible on campus and holds a weekly open hour for students who wish to see him about personal problems, an innovative idea, or one who just need some guidance. Kean also serves as a member of the Drew faculty and teaches a popular course on Governing a State.

Students at Drew attend small classes and learn from outstanding teachers. Almost all professors hold PhDs and many have earned national and international reputations for scholarship in their respective fields.

Thanks in large part to support and encouragement from faculty mentors, Drew students, in recent years, have won the prestigious Rhodes and Marhall scholarships as well as several Truman, Goldwater, and Fulbright scholarships. In February 2000, Drew’s Janet Wong won the Jeopardy National College Championship on ABC television. The men’s soccer team has been to the NCAA tournament the past three years in a row; and lacrosse, field hockey and women’s soccer teams are frequent participants in post season tournaments.

All students get personal computers with software and printers as part of tuition. Drew believes that, by using computers, students develop special skills which enhance their learning and professional development and help them to be more successful in graduate school or the workplace.

Most students living on campus receive the following services in their rooms:

• Telephone
• Voice Mail
• E-mail
• Cable TV
• Free Internet Access

Plus, each student can design, build, and post (their personal web site) on the university web site their personal web site.

Drew’s closeness to New York City allows students to benefit from academic programs that take full advantage of the opportunities found in the "Big Apple” such as Drew’s unique Wall Street and United Nations semesters and its Contemporary Arts semester. Students, of course, also travel into Manhattan just for fun. Drew also offers a semester in Washington, D.C. where students learn first-hand about the national government.

Surrounded by the largest number of corporate headquarters and research centers in the nation, Drew provides unmatched opportunities to its students for career discovery and development through job internships arranged by the university, most of them for academic credit.

Drew also offers a strong international program, including a unique program which aims to give as many students as possible an opportunity to study a different culture in an in-depth program that combines class work on campus with January or May travel to countries such as Eritrea, India, Spain, France, Iceland, Ecuador, Chile, Costa Rica, China, Egypt, Israel, and Greece. Drew pays all costs for travel, room, and board. Students pay tuition only. Drew also offers semesters in London and Brussels.

Through its "Great Speakers” program, Drew draws newsmakers to campus each year. Recent guests have included Doris Kearns Goodwin, Colin Powell, Christopher Reeve, James Earl Jones, Hillary Clinton, Presidents George H. and George W. Bush, and William Bennett.

In case you’re wondering, Drew is an inclusive community where diversity and the individual student are highly valued. About 15 percent of Drew students are minorities. Over half of all students come from New Jersey, and the remainder from 40 other states and 10 foreign countries (in 2000-2001).

Editorial provided by Tom Harris, Vice President for University Relations at Drew University.