Allegheny College Special Interest Communities are unique living environments for students interested in being members of communities with common values and purposes. These environments will allow you to interact with other students of similar values. The College understands that your living environment needs to be conducive to helping you to succeed academically, socially and emotionally. Your role in where you live is determined by the level of involvement that you feel is appropriate to balance your schedule during the academic year.
These communities include:
Special Interest Communities at Allegheny College are elements of the student residential experience that support the Residential College Mission and the Academic Mission of Allegheny College. As an Office we hope to create an environment which supplements the in-class experience.
Allegheny is a residential college. More than 75% of our students live on campus, and more than 95% live either on campus or in the immediate area. The College provides a distinct kind of education, emphasizing out-of-class experiences that complement the formal curriculum and taking advantage of the close relationships that students develop with faculty, staff and each other in a residential setting. This characteristic of the College creates a wide variety of opportunities for personal and intellectual development, all within a close and caring community.
Just as the liberal arts curriculum is designed to foster both breadth and depth of study, Allegheny's residential nature offers students the opportunity to develop the general knowledge and life skills that contribute to their growth as balanced, responsible, well-rounded people. This environment enables students to focus their energy on specific out-of-class activities that meet their interests, stimulate their curiosity, and prepare them for a life of productive citizenship. All students benefit from the "breadth" component of our residential setting, particularly features such as enjoying easy access to faculty and classmates, living and working side-by-side with diverse groups of people, and participating in a wide variety of cultural, intellectual, artistic, athletic, spiritual, service and social activities.
Individual students may also become deeply involved in one or more of these activities, where they develop leadership skills, learn to balance time demands and discover connections between the material they learn in class and the experiences they have outside of class. As members of a residential college, our students can explore diverse activities and pursue personal interests with passion, gaining the knowledge and skills that contribute to academic success, the fulfillment of life goals, and to society at large.
This is a description of things that we can do at Allegheny largely because we are residential. Not all of these activities occur exclusively in a residential setting, but these programs and services can be delivered especially well due to our residential nature, enabling us to take better advantage of one of Allegheny's most important resources.
