Hamilton College is a private liberal arts college founded in 1793 in Clinton, New York state. The college was originally set up as a boy＊s school, called the Hamilton-Oneida Academy, by the missionary Samuel Kirkland to educate the children of the Oneida Indians and settlers in the area. The school became a college in 1812 and it began teaching four-year courses. The college became co-educational in 1978 after incorporating the women-only Kirkland College. Hamilton has earned a positive reputation among liberal arts colleges in the United States.
Today the college has students studying a range of undergraduate programs with over 50 areas of focus to choose from, as well as dual-degree engineering courses in partnership with Columbia University and Dartmouth College. Hamilton College employs an open curriculum where students are allowed to choose which courses they study as part of their degree.
The campus consists of both Hamilton and the former Kirkland campuses which are separated by a road. The campus has many sports and leisure facilities including an indoor ice rink, climbing wall, swimming pool and golf course. There is also the 700 seat Carol Woodhouse Wellin Performance Hall which hosts concerts as well as the college＊s own public art museum. The Litchfield Observatory lies a quarter of a mile from campus. There is also a college chapel and three wooded areas for students to walk and relax in.
Notable alumni include the modernist poet Ezra Pound, Elihu Root, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and Nobel Prize Winner Paul Greengard.
