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Goucher College
Goucher College is a small, private, residential liberal arts institution in Towson, Maryland, serving approximately 1,100 undergraduate and 900 graduate and post- baccalaureate students from across the United States and 28 countries. Goucher’s scenic 287-acre campus is conveniently situated in the Baltimore suburbs, approximately one hour by train from both Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, and two and a half hours from New York City. Goucher’s long-standing commitment to social justice, innovation, and global education is the foundation of its distinctive liberal arts education that prepares students within a broad, humane perspective for a life of inquiry, creativity, and critical and analytical thinking. Since its founding in 1885, Goucher has been firmly committed to providing access to and excellence in liberal arts and sciences education. Originally named the Woman’s College of Baltimore City, Goucher was founded by a group of influential Methodists led by the Rev. John Franklin Goucher, who, with his wife Mary Fisher Goucher, deeded the land for the College’s original campus in downtown Baltimore. The College, which offered women the then-rare opportunity to pursue a comprehensive and rigorous college degree, was renamed after Rev. Goucher in 1910 and relocated its campus to its current location in 1954. Goucher has been coeducational since 1986.
Academics
Relationships are at the heart of the Goucher experience. Over its long history, Goucher has built a strong, innovative tradition of liberal arts education that offers more than 40 undergraduate programs and five distinct advantages:
National reputation-One of the select Colleges That Change Lives, Goucher is also listed as a top institution by The Princeton Review and U.S. News & World Report.
Top-tier academics- Goucher offers more than 40 majors, minors and professional programs, a 10-to-1 student-faculty ratio, and opportunities for high-level undergraduate research.
Welcoming community-Goucher’s campus welcomes all.
Global perspective-100% of Goucher undergraduates travel internationally before graduating, acquiring employer-sought skills, such as adaptability and cross-cultural awareness.
Excellent outcomes-Goucher students master the skillset employers demand: 96% of recent graduates are employed or in graduate/professional school within one year.
Goucher offers all undergraduate students a distinctive academic experience called the Goucher Edge, which provides students with an Individualized Student Success Team that supports students and guides their self-discovery through the following:
The Commons: Innovative core curriculum focused on solving complex problems, including social and environmental injustices
Academic Major: 29 programs, each with a capstone experience or project
Global Experience: Universal study abroad at no additional cost, as part of a global education
Internship Accelerator: Four years of career relevant experiences
A striking highlight of Goucher’s unique liberal arts curriculum is the requirement that all undergraduates must study abroad at least once before graduation, making the College one of the first in the nation to make such a bold move in global education. Goucher’s coursework reflects the core values of a liberal arts education: proficiency in English composition and another language, and solid foundations in history, abstract reasoning, scientific discovery and experimentation, problem solving, social structures, and environmental sustainability.
Goucher also offers students a rigorous liberal arts education on an accelerated degree timeline for students motivated to pursue an accelerated undergraduate degree or accelerated graduate pathways. Goucher offers three-year tracks in five of its current majors: Business management, computer science, data science, economics, and psychology. Four of these five majors offer accelerated graduate degree programs. Goucher has also partnered with several other notable institutions to provide students with accelerated graduated pathways; depending upon the student’s undergraduate major, accelerated graduate programs are available from Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, Loyola University, Middlebury College, and the University of Maryland Baltimore.
Finally, since 1990, the College has added several graduate programs and now offers master’s degrees in education, teaching, historic preservation, arts administration, cultural sustainability, digital communication, applied policy analysis, environmental sustainability and management, and nonfiction, plus a post-baccalaureate premedical program. Designed to align with life experiences, values and passion, Goucher graduate programs add another lens to how students view their life, career, and community, and will facilitate deep connections with those around them. Through Goucher’s hybrid and online learning options, students have the opportunity to earn a graduate or professional degree in a format that fits a student’s learning style, life, and goals.
Student Life
Goucher offers more than 30 student-run clubs, well-established opportunities for community based learning and leadership, and a wide-ranging internship program. More than twenty percent of Goucher’s students compete in the Landmark Conference in 20 NCAA Division III sports, national equestrian events, and intramural sports. Goucher strives to educate the whole student and promotes a broad education over narrow career training. This gives graduates a wide range of personal and professional options and increased ability to take advantage of new opportunities in developing fields-and even the capability to change careers. Goucher students master a breadth of knowledge, including the communication, critical thinking, and quantitative reasoning skills that U.S. - and global - employers overwhelmingly say they want job candidates to have.
Mission
Goucher College provides an innovative liberal arts education that prepares students with a broad, humane perspective for a life of inquiry, creativity, and critical and analytical thinking.
Vision
A top-100 national liberal arts college known for offering a transformational education that delivers graduates who can solve complex problems within a diverse, global community.
Community Principles
While working, studying, and traveling on behalf of Goucher, we recognize that we represent the Goucher community, and we will conduct ourselves in a manner that reflects the following community principles.
Respect: We will treat everyone within our community with respect and learn from our differences. When conflicts arise, we will work together to come up with mutually beneficial resolutions. We also commit to respect and protect the environment on our campus and in the world.
Inclusion: We will acknowledge and embrace the unique gifts and differences of our community members. Furthermore, we seek to include those who may feel excluded.
Communication: We will communicate with the intent to listen and learn from others while placing a premium on maintaining a safe space for those involved. We will create opportunities for dialogue so that a variety of voices can be heard.
Service and Social Justice: We value active participation in bettering the Goucher community as well as those communities beyond the College where we live, work, and serve. In addition, we seek to understand the issues of privilege and oppression that exist in these communities.
Responsibility: We understand that we are accountable for our own actions, opinions, and beliefs, and for ensuring that our actions are conducive to the safety and well-being of others.
Ideals
The College’s principal objectives are to help each student master significant areas of knowledge and skills while developing an appreciation for individual and cultural diversity, a sense of social responsibility, and a system of personal and professional ethics.
Goucher believes these goals are best achieved in an environment that responds to students both as individuals and as members of multiple groups. Accordingly, education at Goucher is based on an expanding sense of community-a community where discourse is valued and practiced, students attend small classes and interact closely with faculty and one another, and students can participate in and lead extracurricular programs. In undertaking this mission, Goucher recognizes the centrality of four curricular and extracurricular themes:
1. Scholarship and academic excellence in traditional disciplines in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences/mathematics, and the arts.
2. An interdisciplinary approach to important areas that cross or transcend the boundaries of traditional disciplines, including world peace, the environment, and the nature of knowledge.
3. An international outlook extending liberal arts education beyond Western cultures to encompass the perspectives and achievements of other members of the world community.
4. Commitment to experiential learning on- and off-campus as well as abroad, requiring students to apply and extend what has been learned in the classroom.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice
Goucher College has intentionally prioritized a focus on diversity and inclusion in its recently completed strategic plan. It is imperative as an institution to embrace inclusion, social and racial equity, a culture of respect, and accessibility, in who the community includes, how it acts, in what they teach, and in how they prepare our students for life.
Goucher College Diversity Statement
We at Goucher College are dedicated to social justice, diversity, and multiculturalism as fundamental components of our mission and ethos. We champion an inclusive community, embrace and respect different perspectives, and value diversity in all its forms and intersections, including ability, age, culture, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, nationality, race, religious and spiritual belief, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. Understanding that power, privilege, and other forces of inequality play a role in shaping our individual and collective experiences and identities, we are committed to productive dialogue and meaningful action in addressing our differences. We approach this ongoing work with courage, integrity, care, and respect.
Location
Baltimore County is a great place to live, work, and play. With nationally recognized public schools, 20 colleges in the region to provide a skilled workforce, abundant recreational opportunities, and tight-knit communities, Baltimore County has something for everyone. Located in Maryland’s geographic center, Baltimore County surrounds the city of Baltimore, which was split off as an independent city in 1851. The county is the largest jurisdiction in the metropolitan area, with a population of more than 800,000. Baltimore County and its county seat, Towson, form a diverse business community located centrally along I-95 and the East Coast market. With 612 square miles of land and a deep-water port, Baltimore County has the third-largest land area, the third-largest population, and the second-highestnumber of jobs in Maryland. The county consistently receives AAA bond ratings from Moody’s Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s. Less than 1% of all jurisdictions in the nation receive the highest rating from all agencies. Baltimore County is just a short drive from Baltimore City’s famed Inner Harbor as well as Washington, D.C.
Our Future
Planning for the future is essential. In thoughtful yet decisive ways, the Goucher College Strategic Plan 2021-2025 acknowledges, anticipates, and integrates the needs and aspirations of the entire community. The plan is a bold step into the next historical chapter of this storied institution’s legacy. Concentrating on Goucher’s programs, people, and resources, the strategic plan articulates what the institution will be working toward throughout the next five years. Key elements of the plan include enhancing student success, expanding global education, emphasizing inclusivity, and ensuring a solid financial position. The strategic plan is guided by the College’s community principles of respect, inclusion, communication, service and social justice, and responsibility. Using the lens of Goucher’s mission and vision, the strategic plan sets forth an ambitious and aligned agenda for students, community, and the institution to continue to thrive for future generations.
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