About Chester College ONLINE
Chester College of New England is the only small, private, liberal arts college in New Hampshire that is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). Along with offering small class sizes and a low student-to-faculty ratio, all of Chester College's full-time faculty members have terminal degrees in their areas of expertise. Chester College Online seeks to attract students who value the academic breadth and challenge of the liberal arts while immersing themselves in the creative and professional arts. Chester College continually strives to maintain an academic environment that supports the intellectual, pragmatic and creative endeavors of students and faculty. Not only does Chester College accommodate a wide variety of learning styles, it also aims to always foster students' interest in intellectual growth and lifelong learning.
Why Choose Chester College ONLINE?
Commitment to Excellence: Chester College Online strives to provide an intellectual, theoretical and practical foundation in the liberal arts upon which it can build and refine programs in the professional and creative arts to meet the needs of students.
Dedication to the Community: Chester College is dedicated to making its classes available to full-time residents and commuting students, as well as to students who desire to continue their education.
Educational Excellence: Chester College Online fully supports students in their pursuit of employment after earning their degree or professional certification.
Knowledgeable Faculty: At Chester College, every full-time faculty member, along with a significant percentage of part-time faculty members, has completed a terminal degree.
Personal Attention: Chester College Online ensures that students receive personal attention by maintaining a low faculty-to-student ratio and employing professionally accomplished and experienced teaching faculty to provide each student with personalized instruction and guidance.
Adult-Friendly Campus: By offering summer programs and continuing education courses, Chester College enables adult students to accelerate progress toward their degree and to enhance and supplement their career.
Knowledge Excellence: Chester College's full-time and adjunct faculty credentials combine exceptional academic and professional experience in a creative and collective learning environment. This synthesis of the faculty's artistic and real world experience and expertise offers students the opportunity to grow in an environment that promotes creative problem solving.
The Chester College Experience
At Chester College of New England, we offer you a sense of place: a place to learn, create, grow, think, discover and be yourself. We offer you the opportunity to explore and expand your world through online learning. Perhaps the most important resource that we provide is a creative, stimulating environment that nurtures you as an artist, a thinker and a communicator. We provide a solid artistic foundation, a liberal arts core curriculum, and the skills and experience to ensure that your success is defined along more than one axis. Building from a rigorous foundation in the liberal arts and the fine arts, we extend to you an invitation to open your eyes and mind. We offer you the opportunity to pursue your passions and your professional interests among a like-minded community of scholars, readers, writers, thinkers and artists.
Mission
Chester College of New England embraces the idea that the liberal arts are essential to lifelong education, while providing the foundation of all creative and professional endeavors. All degree candidates must satisfactorily complete the general education core curriculum, which includes courses from the liberal and creative arts.
History
Chester College of New England was founded as White Pines College in 1965 by the late Dr. Faith Preston. The college concentrated on liberal arts with majors in Secretarial Science, Business Management, and General Studies. In 1975, the college was admitted to full membership to the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
In 1998, the college's mission was revised to offer professional arts programs informed by a strong commitment to the liberal arts and the fine arts. Four Bachelor of Arts degree programs were developed. In 2001, the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges granted the college accreditation for awarding the bachelor's degree in these four new programs.
To acknowledge the significant change in the college's mission and in recognition of the conversion to a four-year, baccalaureate degree-granting institution, the Board of Trustees voted unanimously to change the name of the college to Chester College of New England in October 2002.
