College of the Atlantic
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College of the Atlantic (COA) is a private, liberal-arts college in Bar Harbor on Mount Desert Island, Maine, United States. Founded in 1969, it awards bachelors and masters (M.Phil.) degrees solely in the field of human ecology, an interdisciplinary approach to learning. Focus areas include arts and design, environmental sciences, humanities, international studies, sustainable food systems, and socially responsible business. The College of the Atlantic is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.[1]
The college is small, with about 365 students, a full-time faculty of 35, and 15 part-time faculty. Tenets of the pedagogy include field-based or applied learning; small, seminar-style classes; student-directed projects; community involvement; and interdisciplinary learning. It was the first college to be carbon neutral and one of the first to divest fossil fuel holdings from its endowment. The college appears on most of the top "green school" lists.
The campus consists of 37 acres on Frenchman Bay, two organic farms, two off-shore island research stations, and a 100-acre protected area. The farms, Beech Hill Farm and Peggy Rockefeller Farms, are living laboratories for classes and student research. Peggy Rockefeller Farms includes livestock, crops, orchards. Beech Hill Farm provides produce. Both supply the dining hall with organic produce, eggs, and meat. The off-shore island properties include the Alice Eno Field Research Station on Great Duck Island where students conduct studies on Leach's storm petrels, guillemots, gulls, sparrows and other fields of natural history. The Edward McCormick Blair Research station on Mount Desert Rock is a center for the study of marine mammals and oceanographic issues. Source
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| Scope | Student/Alumni |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Country | United States of America |
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Recent Articles
Search Articles24 hours of giving to support COA students and experiential learning
The annual College of the Atlantic 24-Hour Challenge supports the COA Annual Fund. The annual 24-Hour Challenge celebrates a shared moment of generosity in support of COA students and their education. The college intends to raise $125,000 from at least 600 donors Feb. 10 to unlock a $125,000 matching gift during the event.
“Even down here, there are stars:” Thoughts on a prize-winning essay
Pressure, shadow, decaying matter: 2024 Norton Writer's Prize awardee Eun-Jae Norris ’26 nothing that naturally attracts the soft, respirating, light-seeking human body. For Eun-Jae Norris ’26, though, this is a perfectly fertile ground for their mind and the endless unfoldings of their curiosity.
New scholarship offers full tuition to Maine students at College of the Atlantic
Six Maine students entering College of the Atlantic in fall 2026 will receive full-tuition scholarships through the college’s new Pine Tree Scholars program. In addition to tuition, any demonstrated financial need, including costs such as room and board, will be met in full based on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), without loans.
Learning to lead from the ground up: COA launches Farm & Garden Fellows Program
On a misty morning at College of the Atlantic Beech Hill Farm, students move between rows of late-season greens, trading ideas about soil health, food access, and the future of farming. It’s not just a work shift—it’s the classroom in motion. At COA, where human ecology is both a philosophy and a practice, the new Thoreau Farm & Garden Fellows Program brings together coursework, fieldwork, and community engagement to cultivate the next generation of food system innovators.
Making meaning: Writing is relevant
Understanding writing in context and what we do with it led Matthews beyond the classroom and toward students facing food insecurity. Beet the System, the cooking program she created, brought together its own community in the winter of 2024. The initiative, she says, was a tribute to the moment when writing meets passion in its tangible form. Raised off the coast of Virginia on Chincoteague Island, Matthews learned the importance of community and how it is linked to the food we share.
From campus to community: How COA powers local life and economy
In the new College of the Atlantic Economic Impact Analysis prepared by RKG Associates, Inc., in collaboration with The Musson Group, COA’s far-reaching contributions to the region are highlighted. The report shows that the college’s people, programs, and operations do more than support the local economy—they strengthen the social and environmental fabric of the community.
10 years at #1: COA named nation’s greenest college
“This recognition is a tribute to the whole COA community—our students, faculty, staff, alumni, friends, and partners—who turn ecological values into everyday practice,” says COA President Sylvia Torti. “It reflects decades of hands-on learning and institutional decisions that put stewardship first: COA became carbon-neutral in 2007 and we remain steadfast in our commitment to eliminate fossil fuel use by 2030.
A road trip through Maine in search of America’s rarest apples [Wall Street Journal]
Walking past the Galas and Fujis at McDougal Orchards in Springvale, Maine, I slipped past a fence to find the apples I’d come for: Black Oxfords glossy as new shoes, yellow-fleshed Esopus Spitzenburgs and Blue Pearmains stippled with green dots. The orchard’s 16 heirloom varieties, older cultivars passed down by generations of farmers, are fenced to keep out the crowd. Sold only in the farm store, they star at annual tastings that draw aficionados.
Rozalia project launches marine debris cleanup mission
The Rozalia Project, a leading nonprofit dedicated to protecting and restoring the ocean through cleanup, research, and education, is proud to announce the results of their cleanup expedition on Great Duck Island, a critical seabird habitat off the coast of Maine. For a year, the Rozalia Project, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy and College of the Atlantic, planned and coordinated this cleanup with consideration of the island’s unique habitat.
A whale of a legacy: Maine Beer Company and COA Allied Whale
On Thanksgiving 2023, a young female fin whale named Finny came ashore in Steuben. She was emaciated and barely half the size of a full-grown adult at just 49.6-feet long. After her death, College of the Atlantic Allied Whale staff, students, and volunteers recovered her skeleton many months later with support from Maine Beer Company.