Castleton State College - History and Governance

History and Governance

Castleton State College traces its history to the Rutland County Grammar School, chartered by the Vermont General Assembly on October 15, 1787. The Grammar School taught Greek and Latin and helped to fulfill the Vermont Constitution's requirement of universal free education for Vermont's citizens. The school began its transition to a college in 1867, when the State Normal School was founded in Castleton. The Normal School, a term based on the French école normale supérieure, educated students for teaching careers. For 30 years the Normal School was privately owned by Abel Leavenworth and his son Philip. In 1912, the State of Vermont purchased the property.

The College saw dramatic growth in students and its stature in the 1920s and 1930s under the direction of Caroline Woodruff. Woodruff modernized the school's curriculum, incorporating the theories of Vermont educator-philosopher John Dewey, especially his precepts of "learning by doing" and "learning by teaching." Caroline Woodruff hired staff with advanced degrees and broadened her students' exposure to the world by bringing people such as Helen Keller, Robert Frost, and Norman Rockwell to Castleton. Woodruff was the first woman and first Vermonter to become president of the National Education Association.

In 1947, the Normal School became Castleton Teachers College. With increased enrollment from men, intercollegiate athletics began in the 1950s.

In 1962 Castleton joined other state-supported colleges in becoming a part of the Vermont State Colleges, a consortium of colleges governed by a common board of trustees, chancellor and Council of Presidents, each college with its own president and deans.