Established in 1946, Paul Smith's College offers academic degrees of Associate, Bachelor of Arts, and Master of Arts.[2][3] Its 14,000-acre campus is one of the largest college campuses in the world.[4] As of 2023, approximately 600 students attend each year.
History
Paul Smith's College was founded through a bequest of Phelps Smith, son of Paul Smith's Hotel founder Apollos ("Paul") Smith (1825-1912). Along with the money to start the college, Phelps also left more than an additional bequest of 20,000 acres (8,100 ha) of land. Paul Smith's is located northwest of Saranac Lake, in the hamlet / village of Paul Smiths nearby the Town of Brighton, in Franklin County, New York. Although the donation of money and surrounding land for the college was made in 1937, the college would not officially open until nine years later in 1946, when the first class of 150 students entered to study forestry and resort management.[5]
In 2015, Joan H. Mosher Weill (born 1955}, wife of Sanford I. ("Sandy") Weill (born 1933), a banker / financier, philanthropist and chairman of Citicorp bank in New York City. Ms Weill was a former college trustee and interested in its mission and welfare, who offered an additional $20 million dollars donation on the condition that the institution change its name to Joan Weill-Paul Smith's College. This change however would have violated Phelps Smith's founding bequest, which required that the school be "forever known" as Paul Smith's College of Arts and Sciences. Justice John T. Ellis of the New York State Supreme Court later ruled that the college could not be renamed, and the proposed donation was withdrawn.[6]
In 2023, the college proposed a merger with the Fedcap Rehabilitation Services (Fedcap), a Manhattan-based non-profit in New York City that provides vocational education to those who have disabilities that affect their ability to find employment, but that proposal was later shelved.[7]
Classroom space is primarily located at Pickett Hall, Cantwell Hall, and Freer Science Hall. Auxiliary areas include The Joan Weill Adirondack Library, the campus' sawmill, the Saunders Sports Complex, the Joan Weill Student Center and the Paul Smith's College VIC.[8] Two on-campus restaurants, the Ganzi: Palm Training Restaurant and the A.P. Smith's Bakery, are staffed by students and open to the public.
Paul Smith's Fall 2021 acceptance rate was 75%. In the 2024 rankings for the Regional Colleges North category by U.S. News & World Report, the college was ranked 25 out of 52 schools.[4]
Most of the college population lives on campus. Residence halls are divided by class. Freshmen halls include Lydia Martin Smith Hall, Currier Hall, and Lakeside Hall. Incoming transfer students are housed in Franklin Hall. Upperclassmen share Essex, Clinton, Lambert, Blum House, Overlook, Saratoga, Alumni, Upper St. Regis, Lower St. Regis, and Hillside halls. Overlook Hall was opened in 2011 as a LEED-certified "green" dorm for upper-classmen.[9]
Paul Smith's rural location lends itself to many campus-based activities. Student-directed clubs administered under the Office of Student Activities include fishing and hunting, Adventure Sports Club, Society for Ecological Restoration, Society of American Foresters, the Wildlife Society, Student Government Association, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, PSC Snowcats, Anime and Gaming club, Fish and Game Club, and Adirondack Mycology club, among others.[10]
The campus is located on Lower St. Regis Lake. Students have a beach, as well as docks and storage for canoes and kayaks.
The Lakeside Dining Hall is operated by Sodexo.[11] Both the A.P. Smith's Bakery and The Ganzi: Palm Training Restaurant in Cantwell Hall opens a few days a week each semester to sell student-produced products.
Paul Smith's competes in 14 different sports: Men's sports include basketball, cross country, ice hockey, rugby and soccer;[12] while women's sports include basketball, cross country, ice hockey, rugby, soccer and volleyball; and co-ed sports include alpine skiing, biathlon, bass fishing, Esports, golf, marathon canoe, Nordic skiing, snowshoeing, trap shooting and woodsmen.[13]
The Saunders Sports Complex houses the Bobcat Fitness Center, a gymnasium, and dance studio, which is open to the general public for a nominal fee.[14] A 32-foot (9.8 m)-tall climbing wall was opened in the adjacent Buxton Annex gymnasium in 2010.[15]
Timbersports take place in both Fall and Spring semesters, with teams practicing every month of the school year. Events include pole climbing, log birling, chopping, splitting, sawing, pulp toss, ax-throw, and pack-board relay.
The Paul Smith's woodsmen team's nine-year winning streak (from 1957–1966) in the sport's biggest event, the Spring Meet, is the longest in the history of intercollegiate lumberjack/lumberjill competition.[16] The school's highly regarded squad travels to meets throughout the Northeast and Ontario, Canada.
Both the men and women's soccer teams at Paul Smith's compete in an annual rivalry game with the teams from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. The winner receives the Barkeater Cup. The PSC men's soccer team won the Cup in 2014. Men's and women's team participate in the Yankee Small College Conference regionally, and the USCAA on a national level.
In 2022, the Paul Smith's College Men's Nordic Ski team won the USCSA National Championships located in Lake Placid, NY. The men's team won three out of the four events at the competition.
Paul Smith's College won the 2024 U.S. Biathlon Collegiate National Championships.[17]
The Paul Smith’s College women’s hockey team won the inaugural AAU College Hockey Women’s National Championship on March 10, 2024 when they defeated the University of Tampa 4-2 in West Chester, PA. Leah Coulombe was named Tournament MVP.[18]
