Macalester College

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Since its founding in 1874, Macalester has provided students the inspiration, insight, and experience to become successful and ethical leaders. Classes are taught by faculty whose passion is teaching and whose scholarship gains national recognition.
Macalester is committed to being a preeminent liberal arts college with an educational program known for its high standards for scholarship and its particular emphasis on internationalism, multiculturalism, and service to society.
At Macalester College, we believe that education is a fundamentally transforming experience. As a community of learners, the possibilities for this personal, social, and intellectual transformation extend to us all. We affirm the importance of the students, staff, and faculty's intellectual growth through the individual and collaborative endeavor. We believe that this can best be achieved through an environment that values our world's diverse cultures and recognizes our responsibility to provide a supportive and respectful environment for students, staff, and faculty of all cultures and backgrounds.
We expect students to develop a broad understanding of the liberal arts while they are at Macalester. Students should follow a preparatory course of study to acquire an understanding of disciplinary theory and methodology. They should be able to apply their understanding of theories to address problems in the broader community. Students should develop the ability to effectively use information and communication resources, be adept at critical, analytical, and logical thinking, and express themselves well in both oral and written forms. Finally, students should be prepared to take responsibility for their personal, social, and intellectual choices.
We believe that the benefit of the educational experience at Macalester is the development of individuals who make informed judgments and interpretations of the broader world around them and choose actions or beliefs for which they are willing to be held accountable. We expect them to develop the ability to seek and use knowledge and experience in contexts that challenge and inform their suppositions about the world. We are committed to helping students grow intellectually and personally within an environment that models and promotes academic excellence and ethical behavior.
The education a student begins at Macalester provides the basis for continuous transformation through learning and service.
Macalester's rich and diverse curriculum includes over 800 courses each year, taught by faculty recognized nationally for their scholarship and discoveries. Macalester is one of the few liberal arts colleges located in a metropolitan area, giving students easy access to internships, research, community engagement, and more. Our students come from all over the world, across the U.S., and down the street. They thrive in a robust academic program and learn from faculty who have a passion for teaching.
Since the 1940s, Macalester has had a strong commitment to providing an international community and curriculum. We believe that this can best be achieved through an environment that values our world's diverse cultures and recognizes our responsibility to provide a supportive and respectful environment for students, staff, and faculty of all cultures and backgrounds. As a symbol of commitment to international harmony Macalester College has flown the United Nations flag on campus since 1950.
ISP serves the educational and personal development needs of Macalester's international students through helping them integrate, participate and contribute to their liberal arts education, and assisting them to apply their learning to their own lives and cultural contexts.
Macalester College was founded in 1874 with a commitment to making it one of the country's finest colleges. Its founder, the Rev. Edward Duffield Neill, served as a chaplain in the Civil War and held positions in three U.S. presidential administrations. Journeying to the Minnesota Territory in 1849 to do missionary work, he founded two churches. He served as the state's first superintendent of public education and the University of Minnesota's first chancellor.
Having shaped the education of the Northwest's citizens, Neill turned to the education of its leaders. He believed that only a private college could offer the academic quality and the values needed to prepare for leadership. He planned a college that would be equal in academic strength to the best colleges in the East. It would be Presbyterian-affiliated but nonsectarian, making it inclusive by the standards of his day.
Charles Macalester, a prominent Philadelphia businessman, and philanthropist made the establishing gift by donating the Winslow House, a noted summer hotel in Minneapolis. With additional funding from the Presbyterian Church and the new College's trustees, Macalester opened in 1885 with five professors, six newcomers, and 52 preparatory students.
In 1887, a young classical scholar named James Wallace joined the faculty—and forever changed the future—of Macalester College. Over the next 50 years, as a faculty member, president, fund-raiser, donor, and role model, James Wallace helped the College define its unique values and excellence standards.
With the help of financial support from its alumni and friends, Macalester continues the traditions begun by its founders and carried forward throughout its history: providing an education of uncompromising academic quality to talented students from a wide range of social and cultural backgrounds and preparing them to make a significant and positive difference in the world.

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