Since its founding in 1967, the Residential College has challenged conventional approaches to undergraduate education by placing students at the center of the learning experience.
Our mission is to cultivate intellectually curious, socially engaged, and culturally aware graduates through a liberal arts education that combines rigorous academics, intensive language learning, close faculty mentorship, and meaningful engagement with communities beyond the University.
Benefits for LSA Students
To help YOU achieve your goals, the RC offers:
- A Four-Year Living-Learning Community: Live with your peers in East Quad and enjoy easy access to our art studios, dining hall, theater, and study lounges! Join the RC community for field trips, guest speakers, study breaks, craft nights, and more.
- An Innovative Curriculum: Our curriculum is constantly evolving to stay fresh and relevant! It’s designed to connect you with diverse communities and experiences both inside and outside the classroom.
- Interdisciplinary Opportunities: Explore a wide range of interdisciplinary courses, concentrations, and programs. Plus, you’ll have access to all the courses and programs available at the larger University!
- Personalized Advising from Orientation to Graduation: Smaller, dedicated advising staff who work in the building where you live! Build a relationship with an advisor who can guide you through your academic career and beyond.
Our Educational Philosophy
We believe learning is most effective when students actively participate in the process of discovery.
Rather than emphasizing passive lectures alone, the Residential College encourages discussion, collaboration, creativity, reflection, and experiential learning. Students are challenged to connect ideas across disciplines, examine complex questions from multiple perspectives, and apply their knowledge in real-world settings.
Our Values
Curiosity
We encourage students to pursue questions that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries and to approach learning with openness, creativity, and intellectual humility.
Community
The Residential College is built upon relationships. Students, faculty, and staff form a learning community where collaboration, mutual respect, and shared responsibility contribute to both academic and personal growth.
Engagement
Education extends beyond campus. Through partnerships with schools, nonprofit organizations, cultural institutions, artists, and community organizations, students learn by contributing to communities while developing the skills needed to become thoughtful citizens and leaders.
Global Understanding
Language learning and intercultural experiences help students understand diverse perspectives and prepare them to engage in an increasingly interconnected world.
Creativity
Creative expression is central to the liberal arts. Whether through writing, theater, visual art, music, or interdisciplinary scholarship, students are encouraged to experiment, create, and communicate in new ways.
Lifelong Learning
The Residential College seeks to graduate students who remain intellectually curious, civically engaged, and committed to learning throughout their lives.
More than fifty years after its founding, the Residential College continues to build upon these values while preparing students to make meaningful contributions to their professions, their communities, and the broader world.
Last Updated: 07/17/2026
