As part of its ongoing national outreach, officials from America’s Environmental College will visit alumni and prospective students in Boston, to present a multimedia overview of the growing college and its popular sustainability science curriculum.
The program begins for alumni and friends at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017, at the Boston Marriott Newton. “Unity Vision” will be presented 7 to 8 p.m.
The event is the latest in a multi-city outreach effort giving Unity College alumni and prospective students and their parents the latest information on the changing face of America’s Environmental College. The school also presented Unity Vision in Boulder, Colo., in November.
Unity College President Dr. Melik Peter Khoury said the college — which has set on-campus enrollment records each of the past three academic years — is taking an active approach to continue to grow recruitment with Unity Vision.
“Maine is truly our classroom,” Khoury said. “But we won’t rely on people finding us. We will take Unity College to them. When people find out more about our unique Maine-based residential academic experience and the value proposition that comes with immersive training in environmental sciences, they want to know more.
“Unity College is for people on all sides of the sustainability challenge, to get the tools they need for leadership in the environmental century,” he said. “So we are happy to bring one of the nation’s most innovative curricula in sustainability science to wherever they live.”
Khoury will greet prospective students, alumni and their guests, followed by a presentation on the student experience with Joshua Pittendreigh ’17. Director of Admissions Joe Saltalamachia will be present to answer any admissions questions at the event.
Prospective students and alums who attend will be entered into a drawing to win two free nights at a local hotel while visiting Unity College. Up to three winners will be selected.
The evening begins at 6 p.m. with a reception for alumni and friends of the college. At 7 p.m., Unity Vision will be presented to students, parents, teachers, alumni, and friends of the college. At a time when small, private colleges are under-enrolled, Unity College welcomed 705 students this 2016-17 academic year, shattering its previous enrollment record of 638 students from Fall 2015 — a 10.5 percent year-over-year increase.
Among other superlatives, Unity College is known internationally for being the first U.S. college to divest from fossil fuels, in 2012; the first with a residence hall built to Passive House standards, known as TerraHaus; and the first with a president’s home, known as Unity House, to be certified LEED Platinum by the U.S. Green Building Council.
Unity College also earned high rankings this year from the well-regarded U.S. News & World Report, Sierra Magazine, and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, which ranked Unity College No. 1 in the nation for sustainability for its finance and investment practices.
Capping his first year as president, Khoury has led a multi-year campus buildout that included three fossil-fuel-free residence halls, opened in 2013, 2014, and 2016; a $1.1 million cafeteria expansion; and construction of a new academic building and student success center. Taken together, and with other improvements, more than $20 million has been invested in student-facing campus upgrades since 2012.
Khoury, who was named to the MaineBiz NEXT List as one of the 10 most influential people in the Maine economy for 2017, said the Unity Vision events in Boston, Boulder, and elsewhere, will help Unity College expand its geographic footprint nationally. Another such event is planned for the Seattle-Tacoma area in April.
“The world needs more Unity graduates,” Khoury said, “not fewer.”
