Anniversary Events: Green Mountain College

175th Anniversary Events

Seminar on the Methodist Heritage
December 1, 2008, 7 p.m.

Listen to the keynote speech from Jim Winkler, general secretary of the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society (GBCS).

Seminar on the Women's School Era
January 29, 2009, 2 p.m.

Keynote: “Creativity and a Sense of Place” by Sandra Brunonia Barry ‘70.

Green Mountain College is a place that has inspired generations of artists, thinkers and writers. One of the latest College alumna rising to national attention is Brunonia Barry ‘70, whose first novel The Lace Reader became a New York Times Best Seller this summer. The Lace Reader is currently being translated into twenty-five languages and was recently chosen by Borders as one of six nominees in the fiction category for its 2008 Original Voices Award.

Read a press release on the event.

Earth Week Celebration
April 22-24, 2009

April 23
“From the Forest” Exhibit by Pat Musick, Opening Reception
3:30-6 p.m. at the Feick Center

Read a press release on the exhibit.

April 23
Thomas L. Benson Lecture
2:30 p.m. in Ackley Hall
Keynote Speaker: Carlos Sanchez
Associate Veterinarian, Smithsonian National Zoological Park, Washington, D.C.

April 23
Dedication of the Clara Hitchcock Fitzpatrick Jones '09 Concert Hall
8 p.m. in Ackley Hall
Followed by the College Inaugural Choral Concert

April 24
Inauguration of President Paul J. Fonteyn
2 p.m. in Waldron Athletic Center
Immediately followed by the Inaugural Reception in Withey Lobby

Read a press release on the event.

Did You Know?
Brunonia Barry is not the only bestselling mystery writer in GMC’s history. In the late 1800s, Anna Katherine Green of Brooklyn, N.Y., published over thirty mystery books. She wove her knowledge of forensics and law, gained from her father, a prominent New York criminal lawyer, into her prose to pioneer a brand of mystery writing emulated by none other than Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle. While at Ripley Female College, Green served as president of a literary club called the Irving Association (named for Washington Irving) and arranged Ralph Waldo Emerson’s visit to Poultney in 1865.

A First for Vermont Women

Ripley Female College, a precursor to Green Mountain College, was the first college in Vermont to award baccalaureate degrees to women. Sarah Cutler Mason, who received her diploma in 1867, has the distinction of being the first woman to be granted a B.A. degree from a Vermont College.