Portfolio
The Portfolio System is meant to encourage the student to develop and put into practice those skills and capacities that a liberal arts education provides.
The proven benefits of the Portfolio System include: gaining confidence through self-reflection; a growing independence about courses of study and planning personal and professional goals; an increased ability to articulate individual thoughts; planning and assessing career options; building a strong and broad liberal arts background coupled with specialized knowledge in the major field of study; understanding and appreciation of the student’s responsibility to the larger global community.
Working closely with a faculty advisor, each student engages in an ongoing and structured dialogue about educational and post-baccalaureate goals and the curricular path that would best meet those goals. A set of requirements supports this dialogue, each tied to a specific learning outcome. The entire exercise of developing and presenting the Portfolio, sustained during all four undergraduate years, aims to prepare students for the wide array of challenges that lie beyond graduation.
Ultimately, the portfolio reflects a student’s entire college career; it is both a system of planning and assessment and a repository for the student’s best work.
In its totality, the Portfolio System encourages students to be active participants in their academic and extracurricular pursuits and to gain an expanded perspective through the examination of the relationships between their choices, the College mission and the world around them.