November 1, 2006
Shimer Named One of 50 All-American Colleges 

Shimer College has been named as one of the top 50 colleges in All-American Colleges: Top Schools for Conservatives, Old-Fashioned Liberals and People of Faith.

The new book is published by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, which also publishes the nationally acclaimed college guide, Choosing the Right College. All-American Colleges is intended to “accentuate the positive” in contemporary academia.

The All-American Colleges guide cites Shimer for its Great Books curriculum, its Socratic method of teaching, the closeness of faculty and students, its recent move to the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology, and its low tuition cost.

“With a student body of only 110, a student-faculty ratio of 8 to 1, and one of the country’s few discussion-based Great Books curricula, Shimer’s interdisciplinary core and intimate commentary are certainly…rare and distinctive,” states the guide, which is available in stores throughout the country.

Shimer College President, William Craig Rice, says that the guide “affirms Shimer’s commitment to political and intellectual diversity, which is arguably the most important kind in an academic setting.” The guide notes that both students and faculty believe that “all students are encouraged to express their viewpoints and that all reasonable opinions are respected on campus.”

The guide notes that Shimer offers a variety of scholarships to attract home-schooled students, early entrants, charter school, and other nontraditional students.

Other Great Books colleges made the the top 50 list, including St. John’s College (Annapolis and Santa Fe), Thomas Aquinas College, and Thomas More College of the Liberal Arts. Other institutions featured are Brooklyn College, the University of Dallas, Deep Springs College, Pepperdine University, Princeton University, Rhodes College, and Whitman College.

Shimer joins three other Illinois institutions cited in the top 50: University of Chicago, Eureka College, and Wheaton College. 

For more information, call Public Relations at 312-235-3540, or send an email.