Skidmore College - Campus and Facilities

Campus and Facilities

Most of the buildings on Skidmore's 850-acre (3.4 km2) campus were constructed after 1960. Consequently, the grounds have a contemporary ambience that is enhanced by the numerous sculptures and murals that decorate the quads and other common areas.

The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery is the college's most prominent arts facility. In addition to the Tang, Skidmore has substantial undergraduate studio space as well as several smaller galleries. The Saisselin Art Building houses studios for animation, ceramics, communication design, drawing, fibers, metals, painting, photography, printmaking, and sculpture. Skidmore has a well-known music program housed in the new Arthur Zankel Music Center, which contains a large concert hall with state-of-the-art facilities.

Most humanities classes are held in one of four academic buildings: Palamountain, Tisch, Bolton, and Ladd. Harder Hall houses math and computer science; geology, chemistry, physics, and biology operate out of Dana Science Center. Almost every classroom at Skidmore is equipped with a computer and a projector, and many contain other audiovisual equipment such DVD players and slide projectors. The average class size is 16 (generally smaller in lab courses) and the typical student-to-teacher ratio is 11:1.

The Lucy Scribner Library, which houses approximately half a million volumes, is notable for both its function and beauty. Its five floors contain a large computer lab, approximately sixty open computers on the main floor, classrooms, private offices for seniors who are working on theses, and many areas for individual and group study. A substantial collection of rare books is kept in the third floor Pohndorff Room. The third floor is home to a children's library which is used by Saratoga residents. Also present is the Help Desk where students can get help with their computers. A helpful service offered by the library is the inter-library loan; students can put in a request for a book found at another college and have it sent to Skidmore free of charge.

Skidmore maintains nine on-campus residence halls (Howe Hall, Jonsson Tower, Kimball Hall, McClellan Hall, Penfield Hall, Rounds Hall, Wait Hall, Wiecking Hall and Wilmarth Hall) and three on-campus apartment complexes (North Woods Village, Scribner Village (currently under construction), and the Hillside Houses).

Residence Hall rooms at Skidmore are quite large and the college usually appears on the Princeton Review's "Dorms Like Palaces" list. Most residence halls are arranged in suite style with 3 or 4 bedrooms sharing one common bathroom. The exception to this is Wiecking Hall which is Skidmore's only corridor-style building. Most suites are single sex. Gender-neutral housing is available in Wiecking Hall, the Scribner Village, HIllside, and North Woods apartments, and select suites during room selection.

The North Woods Apartments are available to juniors and seniors and can hold 380 people in 3- and 4-person apartments. The Scribner Village apartments are available to most students except incoming freshmen. They house from 4 to 7 people.

Built in 1986 as a student pub, Falstaff's is now a venue for student sponsored musical performances. Bands such as Fa Fa Fine, Los Elk, and many others have performed there.

Much of Skidmore's property is taken up by North Woods, a 530-acre (2.1 km2) forest that adjoins the academic campus and reaches up to the bottom of the Adirondack mountains. The woods contain extensive hiking trails that are open to the general public.