In 2003, Sweet Briar College was identified by The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) as one of 20 national colleges and universities with higher-than-predicted scores and higher-than-expected graduation rates on five "benchmarks" of effective educational practices.

The College was subsequently invited to participate in Project DEEP - Documenting Effective Educational Practices - which explores how highly successful colleges engage students in their own education. Sweet Briar is the sole women's college and one of just a few liberal arts colleges in the study.

During visits in the spring and fall of 2003, the Project DEEP research team was enormously impressed with Sweet Briar's faculty and students. The investigators found faculty members unusually invested in the College and their students as well as "genuinely enthusiastic about learning from other faculty outside their disciplines."

Click here to read more on the Project DEEP report.