1. Our innovative leadership curriculum is coming to life.
This year, we finished rolling out our innovative women’s leadership core curriculum. The capstone course, The Consequential Citizen, is taught by a team of scholars, including President Meredith Woo, and has included exploratory visits to presidential homes and libraries around Virginia.
- President’s Blog: Sweet Briar “Ladies” at Mount Vernon
- Sweet Briar leadership core takes young Vixen home to Guatemala
- Student visions come to life in VCCA fellows’ CORE 150 art class
- Video: CORE 130: Women & Gender in the World
- CORE 110: Learning by design
- Read more about our women’s leadership core
2. We have an ABET accredited engineering program.
Our engineering program is hands-on, project-based and focused on solving complex problems. Graduates become engineers and succeed at top companies and grad schools where big-picture thinkers stand out in the crowd.
- Margaret Jones Wyllie ’45 Engineering Program
- From Sweet Briar College to Engineering Dream Job: Samantha Schwartz ’13, ’18
- Capstone project with UVa gives Sweet Briar engineering seniors field experience
3. We’re gaining national attention around sustainable agriculture.
Our 2,840 acres of farmlands, vineyards, forest, wetlands and meadows are an experiential learning lab where students can begin to form their future. Extending this focus beyond the campus, relationships with state and federal partners help create opportunities for students who want to be a leader in the future of agriculture and sustainability.
- Sweet Briar College and American Farmland Trust collaborate on programming
- Local, state and federal leaders celebrate Sweet Briar as ‘a new model for higher education’ at ceremonial ribbon-cutting
- Sweet Briar celebrates Earth Week with special guests
- Deep Roots: Farming at Sweet Briar
4. Our riding program is stronger than ever.
Sweet Briar’s nationally ranked equestrian program and facilities continue to stand out as some of the best in the country, and our ever-growing IHSA and NCEA teams compete – and win – against powerhouse Division I schools. Plus, this year, we are renovating the stables thanks to a generous donor. Our future as a destination for the nation’s top riders is bright.
- NCEA season recap
- IHSA season recap
- Vixens ranked ninth in fences top-10
- Vixens take points off pair of top-five teams
- Significant gift from Richard C. Colton Jr. advances the riding program
5. Visionary donors are coming forward.
In the last few months, Sweet Briar has received several visionary gifts, supporting everything from our leadership-focused curriculum to diverse agricultural initiatives. Our extended family, friends and community continue to support the College and are committed to its future.
- $5 million gift to Sweet Briar College will expand its Presidential Scholars program
- John Nau joins two alumnae in $3 million gift for Sweet Briar College’s leadership core curriculum
Hungry for more highlights?
- The Class of 2023 came to us from 25 states and three countries. First-generation students made up 18% of the class and the average high school GPA was 3.5. We gave out 35 Presidential Scholarships.
- Our Presidential Scholars continue to be among our best students ever, with an average high school GPA of 3.96 and an average combined SAT score of 1220,
- In 2019, US News & World Report named Sweet Briar as among the Most Innovative Schools in the nation.
- 8 of 10 students have a leadership role in a student organization, twice as many as at other colleges.
- 6 of 10 students work on research projects with faculty, three times the number of students at other colleges.
- 8 of 10 students have at least one internship experience while attending Sweet Briar, compared to 5 out of 10 at other colleges.