Thanks to the Kliman family for providing this summary from their recent trip.
The campus is arid and large but includes a wonderful marina, beautiful beach and nice athletic grounds. The marine biology building is impressive, with outdoor tanks for marine life study and indoor labs and aquaria that look great. The dorm rooms are good sized. There are no flowers/gardens except for vegetable gardens with herbs that the chefs really use. There was an empty feel to the campus; no observable energy with people and activities quite spread out, no tangible sense of community. There are a couple dorms that take pets.
Our Guides: one freshman (learning to guide, well-intentioned, smart, majoring in marine biology, something and French); one junior, transferred in this year, junior college in Maryland, travel to Brazil, motivation for college and good connection to Eckerd, majoring in art. Both had “fallen in love with Eckerd from the first” – one because of the cute yellow bikes (that are around for anyone to use) and the other because her guide had been so good.
Academics: We heard a lot of emphasis on honors work in high school as typical for accepted students. The college is organized into colleges (rather than traditional departments). It reflects the idea of an interdisciplinary curriculum but it is based on the notion that you learn science differently from language and literature, different from behavioral science/psychology, which may not be true. The descriptions of majors and the breadth of them were impressive. One like marine science entails many requirements: calculus, chemistry, no mention of psychology. The lab we saw where blue crabs were being investigated looked energized, the kids were smiling! In general, there seemed to be an emphasis on “common ground” or fundamentals. Although there is no English 101, there is a Western Civilization course that all freshmen take where they read classics like the Odyssey “to insure all have the intellectual fundamentals under their belts”. The mentor program was excellent; one professor assigned for the four years plus an academic advisor/mentor in your major.
Students: we met one graduate, a fellow from Switzerland, and he loved Eckerd. He majored in international business and French and was staying on an extra year (manning the desk at the Sirata Beach Resort) just to have more time nearby and in the general area. He felt his mentor and faculty advisor were extremely helpful and always wanted to help him do his best and get the most from his education. The students we saw on the tour were individuals going somewhere, often by skateboard, also a group of RA’s eating pizza and planning activities for their dorms. Generally people looked wholesome and not too concerned about appearance. Postscript: friends invited two sophomore girls to have dinner with us. They were very enthusiastic and described flexibility in curriculum (one was in marine science at first and switched to psychology major and marine science minor because she wants to be involved in dolphin therapy rather than marine science per se; the other said physics was a killer course and generally the introductory courses for majors are tougher than later courses with the intent to weed out those who were not serious about the intended major. They were very happy with social life on campus, saying there is always something fun to do on weekends.)
Dining halls: catered by Bon Appetit; food was very good. Food bucks with various meal plans. The college has an interest in growing organic vegetables for use by the kitchen, in addition to the herbs already in use. Green lunch box program: a pilot being done on an Eckerd student idea that spares landfill and ocean from Styrofoam. Take out boxes are blue, washable clams that get returned and sterilized for continued use.
General area: A residential college. St. Pete’s Beach closest, resort and retirement community. Tampa about 40 minutes away: good shopping, culture, cinema, theater.
