Unity College will welcome more than 140 prospective students and their families who are finalizing plans to apply to or attend Unity College.

Prospective students have the opportunity to meet current students and faculty this weekend, and to learn the range of in-demand environmental career paths available to them, during Unity College’s daylong Spring Open House on campus, Saturday, March 12.

As the green economy continues to expand globally, Unity College is offering a slate of environmental majors that prepare students for the 21st-century marketplace. Known as America’s Environmental College, Unity College is providing leadership for higher education with its sustainability science focus for teaching and learning.

Registration begins at 8 a.m. in the Tozier Gymnasium. Unity College President Melik Peter Khoury will address guests, and visitors will have the opportunity to participate in a community fair, take campus tours, participate in academic demonstrations for all 16 environmentally focused majors, and learn about student life from undergraduates.

Optional information sessions on financial aid, career resources, the Summer Bridge program, and admissions, will take place from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Campus tours will take place beginning at 9:30 a.m.

A brunch will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in Wyman Commons. Demonstrations and exhibits from campus clubs will take place from 10 to 11 a.m. in the first floor of the Dorothy Webb Quimby Library and adjacent green space.

Academic demonstrations will take place at various locations across campus from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., showcasing each of the 16 environmentally focused majors offered at Unity College. Faculty and staff from each program will be meet students and their families, and answer questions.

“Prospective students and their families who attend open house will learn firsthand what this community has to offer,” Director of Admissions Joe Saltalamachia said. “Our admissions process empowers prospective students to know whether Unity College is truly a best fit for them.”

Nestled in the verdant farm country of mid-coast Maine, only a short drive from the coast, Unity College is ideally located for its environmental mission. Students utilize the area’s natural resources on a daily basis during classes, research, and recreational activities. The quality of the educational experience offered is embodied by the host of accolades the college has received.

“With three straight years of enrollment growth, dozens of new campus infrastructure improvements, and heightened interest in our unique curriculum from prospective students and the academic community, there’s never been a brighter point in our history,” Khoury said.

Unity College was nominated as the Green University of the Year for the 2013 Climate Change Award by Responding to Climate Change, an international award nomination recognizing Unity College for its green leadership. Unity was the only institution of higher learning from the United States to be nominated.

Other recognition in the past year includes:

• US News & World Report ranked Unity College No. 9 on its national “Best Value Colleges” among regional schools, No. 22 for veterans among regional colleges, and No. 28 on its national “Best Regional Colleges” list, up from No. 31 last year.

• Unity College earned a national Colleges of Distinction designation in 2014–15 by “expanding innovative opportunities to earn college credit by participating in service learning, learning communities, internships, and other new educational paradigms,” according to the group Colleges of Distinction.

• Using data from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, Unity College was lauded as one of the 32 “greenest universities” in the U.S. for achieving “the greatest level of success with green initiatives on-campus and within in its surrounding community.”

• Washington Monthly ranked Unity College in the Top 20 U.S. baccalaureate colleges, recognizing schools based on their contribution to the public good in three broad categories: Social Mobility (recruiting and graduating low-income students), Research (producing cutting-edge scholarship and PhDs), and Service (encouraging students to give something back to their country).

• Sierra, the magazine of national environmental organization Sierra Club, named Unity one of its Top 100 “Cool Schools.”

Recent milestones for Unity College include:

• The 244 members of the Unity College Class of 2019 made it the largest incoming class in the history of Unity College.

• Average high school GPA for the Class of 2019 is 3.33 — up from 3.21 in the prior freshman class — and the average SAT composite is 1520 — up from 1503.

• Unity College recorded its largest incoming enrollment ever in 2015-16: 658 students.

• Applications for admission to Unity College have increased 138% since 2012. There were 545 applications in 2012, 612 in 2013, 937 in 2014, and 1,134 in 2015.Applications continue to increase for 2016.

Spring 2015 Open House Schedule of Events

8:00 am – 9:00 am : Registration / Check in / Early Tours
~ Student Activities Center, Tozier Gymnasium ~

8:00 am – 10:30 am : Community Fair
~ Tozier Gymnasium ~

9:00 am – 9:30 am : Welcome
~ Tozier Gymnasium ~

9:30 am – 11:00 am : Campus Tours
~ Leaving from the Student Center ~

10:00 am – 11:30 am : Information Sessions – Admissions, Financial Aid, Career Services
25 minutes each (10:00-10:25, 10:30-10:55, and 11:00-11:25)
Admissions: Parsons Wing 205
Financial Aid: Parsons Wing 204
Career Services: Higgins Wing 210

10:00 am – 11:00 am : Student Club Demonstrations / Exhibits
~ Library 1st Floor and Outdoor Green Space ~

10:30 am – 11:30 am : Student Panel
25 minutes each (10:30-10:55 and 11:00-11:25)
~ Student Center: Higgins Wing 211 ~

10:30 am – 11:30 am : Summer Bridge Info Sessions
25 minutes each (10:30-10:55 and 11:00-11:25)
~ Student Center, Parsons 206 ~

10:30 am – 1:30 pm : Brunch
~ Wyman Commons~

11:30 am – 2:30 pm : Academic Demonstrations
Three 1-hour sessions (11:30-12:30, 12:30-1:30, and 1:30-2:30)
~ Campus Wide ~
Center for Environmental Arts and Humanities
Center for Biodiversity
Center for Experiential and Environmental Education
Center for Natural Resource Management and Protection
Center for Sustainability and Global Change

Campus store open from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.