FIAT LUX

FIATLUX!

Rollins College, with the most gorgeous campus in the country, retains top rankings, and embarks on a huge building campaign.

BY RANDY NOLES

Few colleges and college towns are as intertwined,

geographically and historically, as Rollins College and Winter Park. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine one without the other.

So locals were understandably proud when U.S. News & World Report ranked Rollins No. 1 among Regional Universities in the South in its 2021 annual rankings of “Best Colleges.” It marked the 26th year the college has been ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 on the prestigious list.

Rollins topped the list of 165 colleges and universities that provide a full range of undergraduate and master’slevel programs.

Rollins College's first formal entrance, the McKean Gateway, was a gift of the Elizabeth Morse Genius Foundation in memory of Hugh F. McKean, the institution's 10th president, and his wife, Jeannette Genius McKean. Dedicated in October 2002, the twin structures, made of Mexican marble, also symbolize the college's strong partnership with the City of Winter Park.

With its lakeside setting, lush grounds and Spanish Mediterranean architecture, Rollins College is widely considered the most beautiful campuses in the U.S. Shown is the open-air corridor connecting the Annie Russell Theatre and Knowles Memorial Chapel.

“Rollins is proud once again to be recognized so prominently among the nation’s best colleges,” says Rollins President Grant Cornwell. “Our longstanding placement at the top of this ranking affirms that our intimate, innovative, interdisciplinary learning environment is the best preparation for the next generation of leaders as they tackle the challenges of the 21st century.”

The U.S. News & World Report rankings evaluate colleges and universities on 16 measures of academic quality, including such widely accepted indicators of excellence as student retention, graduation rates and qualifications of faculty members.

Rollins’ ranking can also be attributed to the college’s commitment to small classes and engaged, personalized learning between students and faculty, which has been the hallmark of a Rollins education since the college’s founding in 1885.

In addition, U.S. News & World Report ranked Rollins No. 1 in Best Undergraduate Teaching and No. 14 among Best Value Schools. But those are only some of the accolades that have recently come the college’s way.

For the fourth consecutive year, Rollins has been listed by the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society among the nation’s top schools for transfer students, becoming one of just 150 other institutions recognized for creating dynamic pathways to support transfer students.

Phi Theta Kappa is the premier honor society recognizing the academic achievement of students at associate-degree-granting colleges and helping them grow as scholars and leaders. The honor society’s rating is based upon a college’s recruitment practices, admissions processes, cost of attendance, campus life and peer reviews.

For the ninth consecutive year, Rollins has been named a top producer of Fulbright Students by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Top-producing institutions are revealed annually in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Fulbright Program, which was created under the Truman administration and has become the U.S. government’s flagship educational exchange program, with more than 400,000 participants who have served in 160 countries around the world.

Rollins boasted its first Fulbright Student in 1951 — just five years after the program’s inception. Since then, the campus has produced 81 additional Fullbrighters, 56 of whom have been selected since 2006.

Furthering its goal of encouraging global citizenship, the Institute of International Education has once again ranked Rollins among the top 10 master’s-granting institutions in the U.S. for the percentage of students who study abroad. This is the college’s fourth consecutive year in the top 10 and its eighth consecutive year in the top 12.

Around three-quarters of all Rollins students study abroad at least once during their college careers. Many, in fact, take multiple opportunities to study in other countries.

Surprisingly, the ranking was for 2020, a year during which nearly all international travel was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But that didn’t stop the college’s Office of International Programs from offering opportunities for virtual globetrotting.

More than two-dozen students participated in remote internships during the fall semester, working with companies all over the world to gain valuable work experience without ever leaving home.

For example, a handful of students who had planned to travel to East Africa via the Global Livingston Institute instead took part in a five-week virtual fellowship where they tackled development strategies in Uganda. The program featured group video discussions and remote problem-solving sessions — a valuable skill in a turbulent world.

In its own backyard, Rollins has embarked on numerous capital projects during 2020 and 2021, with more yet to come. Kathleen W. Rollins Hall, named for the trustee who contributed $10 million toward its completion, was formerly Mills Memorial Hall. Now the renovated three-story campus landmark is a hub of student engagement and activity, coupling the college’s liberal arts ethos with programs designed to help students put their education to work in the world.

To that end, 10 initiatives central to the college’s mission are housed in the state-of-the-art, 37,160-square-foot facility — among them the Center for Career & Life Planning, the Center for Leadership & Community Engagement and the Department of Social Entrepreneurship. The facility also houses advising programs as well as classrooms and meeting spaces.

At about the time Rollins Hall was preparing to open its doors, work was beginning on the $71 million, 250,000-square-foot housing project featuring shared living space for 496 students.

The dorms are part of the Lakeside Neighborhood, which includes a fitness center, office space, a zero-entry pool, and an expanded convenience store offering hot, freshly prepared items.

The three wings of Lakeside Neighborhood are named in honor of past college presidents Hugh McKean, Thaddeus Seymour and Rita Bornstein.

“The recent addition of Kathleen W. Rollins Hall and the Lakeside Neighborhood demonstrate our continued commitment to innovation and adapting to our students’ needs while maximizing space on our beautiful campus,” says Cornwell.

In addition, a state-of-the-art black box theater is on the way to replace the charming but creaky Fred Stone Theatre, which was demolished in 2018. And longer-range plans call for the Crummer Graduate School of Business and the Rollins Museum of Art (formerly the Cornell Fine Arts Museum) to get new homes just blocks from campus, in the heart of historic downtown Winter Park.

But what’s likely to garner the most national attention for Rollins is the unveiling of a bronze statue dedicated to arguably its most famous alumnus, Fred McFeely Rogers (Class of 1951) — known to generations of youngsters as Mister Rogers.

The 3,000-pound monument, which shows the children’s programming icon surrounded by young admirers, will debut in October 2020 between the Annie Russell Theatre and Knowles Memorial Chapel. Private donations funded the project.

Yet, despite so many significant changes at Rollins, one thing has remained the same: the college’s legendary beauty. With its lakeside setting, lush landscaping and plethora of historic Spanish Mediterranean buildings, its campus routinely appears on lists of the most gorgeous in the U.S.

With a motto of Fiat Lux — let there be light — and a seal depicting the sun rising over the lake, Rollins College is taking seriously the business of educating tomorrow’s leaders, close to home and around the world.

For more information call 407-646-2000 or visit rollins.edu. n

As part of a huge building program, Rollins has completed the $71 million, 250,000-square-foot Lakeside Neighborhood (above) featuring shared living space for 496 students. Within the complex, in addition to dorms, are a fitness center, office space, a zero-entry pool, and an expanded convenience store offering hot, freshly prepared items. Kathleen W. Rollins Hall (below), named for the trustee who contributed $10 million toward its completion, was formerly Mills Memorial Hall. Now the renovated three-story campus landmark is a hub of student engagement and activity, coupling the college’s liberal arts ethos with programs designed to help students put their education to work in the world.