Education

You'll sense the energy of discovery in Rochester, and for good reason: more than 50,000 full-time students attend a dozen colleges and universities here.

Higher Education

The University of Rochester is a leading private university founded in 1850. Rochester ranks 9th out of 233 research and doctoral universities in the percentage of bachelor's degree recipients who go on to earn doctoral degrees. The River Campus College provides a small, collegial environment where students work closely with faculty. The university's Eastman School of Music, anchoring the cultural district in the city's East End, is one of the top music schools in the world, and the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration ranks among the top 30 in the nation. Margaret Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development is known for practical applications in education.

University of Rochester Medical Center faculty and students pursue research, learning and patient care in the School of Medicine and Dentistry, School of Nursing, Eastman Dental Center, Golisano Children's Hospital and Strong Memorial Hospital.

Rochester Institute of Technology has eight colleges offering career preparation. One college is National Technical Institute for the Deaf, the nation's first and largest technical college for deaf and hard of hearing students. RIT is recognized as one of the premier institutions for art, design, photography and crafts. It also is known for engineering, business and biomedical studies. The private university's co-op program, launched in 1912, is one of the oldest and largest in the country. Founded in 1829, RIT is located in Henrietta.

Nazareth College of Rochester is a private liberal arts and sciences college known for its physical, music and art therapy programs. Thousands of area teachers and administrators have earned master's degrees at Nazareth. The college also has a unique collaborative master's of social work program with SUNY College at Brockport. Nazareth College Arts Center performances draw 80,000 people each year to the wooded Pittsford campus. Like most colleges in the Rochester area, Nazareth is in the midst of growth, having recently purchased 73 acres of property and buildings adjacent to campus.

Founded in 1948, St. John Fisher College is an independent institution in the Catholic tradition. Some 3,000 full- and part-time students attend the liberal arts college. Along with a broad array of undergraduate programs, Fisher offers master's degree programs, among them education, nursing, human resources and business administration. The John Templeton Foundation named Fisher to the 1999-2000 Honor Roll for Character-Building Colleges, an honor that goes to fewer than 5 percent of all U.S. colleges. Responding to growing enrollment, the Pittsford campus is in the midst of an ambitious expansion. Fisher hosts the Buffalo Bills summer training camp.

Roberts Wesleyan College is an independent Christian liberal arts college founded in 1866 by the Free Methodist Church. Nearly 2,000 students attend Roberts, located in the suburb of North Chili. Roberts offers 40 bachelor programs, as well as master's programs in education, social work and management. The new Roberts Cultural Life Center, where performances and classes are held, includes an auditorium, intimate recital hall, studio theater, art gallery and classrooms.

Founded in 1961, Monroe Community College is one of 20 community colleges out of 1,200 in North America chosen to be a member of the League for Innovation in the Community College. MCC has more than 34,000 full- and part-time students in 70 career, transfer and certificate programs. In addition to its main campus in suburban Brighton, MCC has the Damon City Campus and offers online courses; the college has more online students than any other institution in the SUNY Learning Network.

SUNY College at Brockport has 19 distinguished faculty, the highest faculty ranking in the State University of New York system. The four-year residential university in the Erie Canal town of Brockport emphasizes liberal arts with professional studies, including education, communications, criminal justice and physical education. Brockport's international education program is the largest in SUNY and among the 10 largest in the U.S. Nearly 8,000 students attend the Brockport campus and the MetroCenter campus in downtown Rochester. SUNY Brockport is the birthplace of the internationally acclaimed Garth Fagan Dance Troupe.

Founded in 1867 as a teacher's college, SUNY College at Geneseo offers 54 degree programs in liberal arts and sciences. The most selective of the SUNY comprehensive colleges, it is considered the system's Honors College. The New York Times calls SUNY Geneseo "one of the nation's most selective, highly regarded public colleges." The college is located in the village of Geneseo in Livingston County, about 30 miles south of Rochester.



Elementary and secondary schools

In the Rochester spirit, where patents per capita lead the nation, younger scholars can learn in settings that foster innovation. We have charter and specialty schools, as well as numerous private settings. The following is a sample of Rochester city high schools. For more information on these and other city schools, visit the Rochester City School District web site, www.rcsdk12.org. For information on area private schools, go to www.rochesterprivateschools.org.

Wilson Magnet High School is recognized among the top 1.5 percent of U.S. public schools in terms of academic challenges. It offers two programs: the International Baccalaureate Programme, a curriculum based on international academic standards (one of only a handful of such programs in the state), and the Academy of Science and Technology, where students focus on math, science and computers.

School of the Arts, located next to the Memorial Art Gallery, demands achievement in three areas: academics, arts and humanistic concerns. Students take a fine arts sequence in addition to a full academic course load. More than 90 percent of SOTA graduates go on to college, including Harvard, Yale and NYU. Actor Taye Diggs is a graduate.

Edison Technical and Occupational Center is the oldest technical high school in New York. Students take a rigorous series of Regents classes as well as a four-year vocational sequence. Some career paths are communications, engineering (in conjunction with RIT) and manufacturing technology.



More schools

Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School offers a master of divinity, master of arts and doctor of ministry in transformative leadership. Personal enrichment and continuing education courses also are available. Graduates include Martin Luther King Jr. and Marjorie Matthews, the first woman bishop of the United Methodist Church.

With Ryerson University in Toronto, the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film will offer a master of arts in photographic preservation and collections management. The one-of-a kind program is slated to begin in fall 2003.

The Rochester area is home to a significant deaf population. Rochester School for the Deaf provides an education to children and young adults who are deaf. The National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology offers technical education to deaf college students.