Saint Michael's College

What Others Are Saying...

Listed below are some of Saint Michael’s many recognitions of the past five years by unbiased, outside sources, through rankings, grants or awards. 



Saint Michael's appears in the 2009 edition of The Princeton Review's Best 368 Colleges guidebook.

Saint Michael’s, after a three-year review, joined the elite group of 270 colleges nationwide with Phi Beta Kappa chapters, making Saint Michael’s one of 20 national Catholic colleges with a chapter and one of four in New England (Saint Michael’s, Holy Cross, Boston College and Fairfield).

U.S. News & World Report, August 2008, “America’s Best Colleges:  2009 Annual Guide,” lists Saint Michael’s in the "Best National Liberal Arts Colleges" category, with a ranking of #104, sharing that position with six other institutions including Hampshire College, Bennington College and Washington & Jefferson.

Saint Michael’s was selected to appear in the Colleges of Distinction admissions guidebook, published in 2008, which profiles 150 colleges throughout the United States that “excel in engaging students, offering great teaching, providing a vibrant campus community and resulting in successful outcomes for their students.”


Dr. David Mindich, professor of journalism and mass communications, was named the 2006 Vermont Professor of the Year by the Washington, DC, based Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Higher Education. This marks the fourth Saint Michael’s professor in seven years to be so honored: Frank Nicosia (history) in 2000; Adrie Kusserow (anthropology) in 2002; Patricia Siplon (political science) in 2003.


In October 2006, Saint Michael’s Web site earned an “A” rating from the National Research Center for College University Admissions (NRCCUA). Of over 3,000 surveyed, only 157 college and university Web sites earned an “A” grade, Saint Michael’s among them. That puts Saint Michael's in the top 5% of all college Web sites.

Saint Michael’s senior political science major and global studies minor, Jamila Headley of Barbados, was named one of 32 scholars nationwide to earn a coveted 2006 Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford. She is pursuing two master’s programs there now, in 2008, in Global Health Policy and International Development, and has been accepted into their doctoral program, which is not automatic.

Michele Kayser '08 of Essex Junction, Vt., was named one of only 19 Pickering Undergraduate Fellows nationwide for 2006. She received the Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation propelling her to a career in the U.S. diplomatic service. She is studying for an advanced degree in 2008 at Princeton University as part of the fellowship.

The National Science Foundation awarded the college a grant of $578,500 in May 2008 to provide 20 scholarships in math and computer science, based on the college’s track record of success in teaching those subjects. Directed by Professors Greta Pangborn, Joanna Ellis-Monahan, and Michael Battig, the project is titled, “Enhancing Mathematics and Computer Science Opportunities in a Supportive Liberal Arts Environment.”

Poet/Professor Greg Delanty received a Guggenheim Fellowship in March of 2007, shortly after the publication of his seventh book of poetry, The Ship of Birth (Louisiana State University Press, 2007). He published his Collected Poems 1986-2006.

The U.S. Department of Education, Office of English Acquisition awarded the Saint Michael's College Applied Linguistics Department a $713,000 grant to be used over five years to train public school teachers of children throughout Vermont needing English language education. 

Student journalists earned six awards from the Society of Professional Journalists in the Region 1 mark of Excellence Awards in April 2007. The online magazine The Echo won third place overall in the Best All-Around Independent Online Student Publication category. SMC students Amanda Gallagher and Kate Power won first and second place in the Online Opinion and Commentary category. Bill O’Connor won second place in the Online Feature Reporting category. Mike Morris won third prize in the Online In-depth Reporting category.

Dr. Malcom Lippert, associate professor of biology was awarded a $197,456 grant from the National Institutes of Health in July 2008 to advance his project, “Transcription-associated mutations,” working with two students. Professor Lippert’s success in helping his students become serious scientists was a key factor in his selection for the grant. Recently he has had students go to graduate school at Dartmouth, UMass, Worcester, the University of Washington, and dental school at the University of Buffalo.

The American College Theatre Festival Region I invited the cast and crew of the student-written theatrical production The Summoning of the Flamingo to perform that show at the January 2008 festival.

The National Science Foundation awarded biology Professor Mark Lubkowitz a grant of $170,700, starting in 2007, to spread over three years, to study the role of amino acids in germinating rice seed, with undergraduate student researchers.

Erik Wells, senior journalism major was named one of four national finalists in the 2008 Reporter-of-the-Year Competition of the Associated Collegiate Press organization. His selection was based on three extensive news articles he wrote for The Defender, the weekly Saint Michael’s student newspaper. The other three finalists were from large university daily newspapers.

Summer 2008 research for three students was funded through Professor Ari Kirshenbaum’s $70,000 Vermont Genetics Network (VGN) grant, titled “Psychomotor-Stimulant Induced Behavioral Sensitization.”

The Books for a Better Life competition of the NY National Multiple Sclerosis Society awarded its top prize to psychology Professor Sharon Lamb for her co-authorship of the book Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers’ Schemes in February of 2007.

Alain Brizard, associate professor of physics received a $50,000 research grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, under the program Theoretical Research in Magnetic Fusion Energy Science, to support his research activities during his sabbatical in 2008-2009.

The ad, “Take a Leap,” created by Anne Conaway Peters, Director of Marketing, for use in the January 2007 issue of US Airways Magazine, won the Gold Prize in the 22nd Annual Admissions Advertising Awards for schools under 2,000.

President Emeritus Marc vanderHeyden was honored with the creation of a service award in his name, the Marc vanderHeyden President’s Service to Vermont Award, established by the student service organization, Vermont Campus Compact, in March 2007. The same organization awarded sociology Professor Vince Bolduc the top Award for Excellence in Community-based Teaching.

Vermont EPSCoR awarded five biology majors $4,000 grants each for summer research on the Streams Project focusing on Lake Champlain during 2007. Professor Declan McCabe directed their studies.

Vermont Women in Higher Education named Saint Michael’s director of community relations Marilyn Cormier 2006 winner of the Sister Elizabeth Candon Distinguished Service Award. Saint Michael's College Women’s Center Director Kim Swartz won the Peggy R. Williams Emerging Professional Award from the same organization in 2005 and Saint Michael's College Director of Marketing Anne Conaway-Peters won the Emerging Professional award in 2004.

The Pew Charitable Trust and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, in November 2000, named Saint Michael’s College one of 34 exemplary institutions in the NSSE, National Survey of Student Engagement: The College Student Report.