Keller College

Keller College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in New Cambria with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in Newmarket, a former town now in the municipality of The Settlement on Cavit Island.

The school was founded in 1859 by a committee of members of the Presbyterian Church, which was the majority religion on Cavit Island at the time. Keller dropped its religious affiliation and became officially non-sectarian in the early 20th century. The college has been coeducational since its founding.

Keller is a member of New Cambria's Tri-College Consortium, which allows students to take courses at both Sacred Heart College in Southport and Hope College in St. Saviour. The colleges also share an integrated library system. Like the other consortium members, Keller has resisted grade inflation.

History
Keller College was originally named Newmarket College, after the town where it is located. It was renamed Keller College in 1906 after William E. Keller, whose estate donated buildings, land and capital that allowed the college to grow into its present form.

Programs
Keller's Oxford tutorial-inspired Honors Program allows students to take double-credit seminars from their junior year and often write honors theses. Seminars are usually composed of four to eight students. At the end of their senior year, Honors students take oral and written examinations conducted by outside experts in their fields. Usually, one student in each discipline is awarded "Highest Honors." Others are awarded either "High Honors" or "Honors." Rarely, a student is denied any Honors altogether by the outside examiner. Each department usually has a grade threshold for admittance to the Honors program.

Unusual for a liberal arts college, Keller has an engineering program. At the end of four years, students are granted a B.S. in Engineering. Other notable programs include minors in peace and conflict studies, cognitive science, and interpretation theory.

Keller has a total undergraduate student enrollment of 1,491 and 165 faculty members, 99% of which hold a terminal degree. Despite the small size of the college, Keller offers more than 600 courses a year in over 50 areas of study. Keller has a reputation as a very academic college. Ninety percent of graduates eventually attend graduate or professional school.

Keller is a member of the Tri-College Consortium ("Tri-Co") with Sacred Heart College in Southport and Hope College in St. Saviour, which allows students from any of the three to cross-register for courses at any of the others.

While many in higher education recognize Keller's relative lack of grade inflation, there is some controversy over how accurate that claim is. One study done by a Keller professor in 2001 found "significant grade inflation." However, other professors and students strenuously dispute the findings based on their own experience.

Admissions
In 2008, 15% of applicants were admitted to Keller for the Class of 2012. Thirty percent of the admitted students were either valedictorian or salutatorian of their secondary classes. Fifty-one percent were in the top 2% of their secondary classes, and 89% were in the top decile.

Campus
Keller is located 18 miles (29 km) east of The Settlement's city centre. The campus consists of 457 acres (185 hectares), based on an east-west axis anchored by Chelsea Hall, which houses numerous administrative offices and student lounges, as well as two floors of student housing. The campus radio station broadcasts from the top.

The majority of the buildings housing classrooms and department offices are located to the east of Chelsea Hall, as is Robie dormitory. Nichols Library is to the south of Chelsea, as are Shively, Keogh, Feeny, Oak and Margaret dormitories. To the north are Phillips, Point and Deen dormitories, along with the Stott Theatre. Forests extend northward from the campus, toward the Shire River. West of Chelsea are Brand dining hall and various other buildings. Chalke, Freeh and Long dormitories are north of the campus, closer to the river, as are the athletic facilities.

The College has three main libraries (Nichols Library, the Styles Library of Science and Engineering, and the Sullivan Music and Dance Library) and seven other specialized collections. In total, the libraries hold over 800,000 print volumes as well as an expanding digital library of over 10,000 online journal subscriptions, reference materials, e-books and other scholarly databases.

Recently, Keller has added wireless access in all of the campus' academic, administrative and dormitory buildings. Wireless access is in the process of expanding to Keller's outdoor spaces, and should be completed by 2011.

The Settlement Fire and Protective Association
Keller students are eligible to participate in the local emergency department, The Settlement Fire and Protective Association. They are trained as firefighters and as emergency medical technicians, and are qualified on both the local and national level. The fire department responds to over 200 fire calls and almost 800 emergency medical calls a year.