In Greece, my first stop of four visits was to The American College of Greece in Athens. Founded in 1875, ACG is the oldest American-accredited college in Europe and the largest private college in Greece. It has been accredited by NECHE since 1981 and is an independent, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, co-educational academic institution. (Whew– that’s a lot of adjectives!). This year, the college is proudly celebrating 150 years since its founding (which in the home of the Acropolis makes it barely a toddler) but to me, that’s still quite impressive!
Dr. Daniel Smith, the current Chair of the Board of ACG, served as the US Ambassador to Greece from 2010 to 2013 and notes that Greece has recently come through one of the country’s most turbulent economic and political periods in modern times. Yet ACG, with the help of the U.S. government, managed to thrive and expand during this period. Since 2008, ACG undergraduate enrollment has grown from 2,300 to 4,500 and graduate enrollment from 100 to over 1,000.
Quite recently, however, more than $2 million of committed support from USAID for UCG’s STEM programs was abruptly cancelled — even though the institution had already spent a substantial amount of those promised funds — an all-too-common and unconscionable experience in this fraught political era. Ironically, on the day of our visit, summer session had just begun and hundreds of American students were arriving on campus, hoping to begin building lifelong friendships with their fellow Greek students.
Another poignant reminder of happier times shared by our two countries: in 2004, the US Olympic team trained on ACG’s campus for that year’s Olympics, and American swimming phenom Michael Phelps called the UCG pool’s Lane 6 his own (and went on to win 6 gold medals in Athens).
ACG provides students an exceptional education on its impressive 64-acre campus high above Athens, and has created a vibrant student community buzzing with academic societies, student clubs, sports teams, and art festivals.
We were shown around campus by Pavlos Wagner, a winsome student ambassador who exemplifies the ACG spirit. With a Greek mother and German father, Pavlos was born in Indonesia, raised in Kuwait, China, and Greece, and hopes to work in international business in England after graduation. (If he doesn’t have to complete his mandatory one-year Greek military service first.) Fluent in three languages, he is pretty much the dream candidate for a global business hire — and quite typical of the kind of student ACG attracts.
The American College of Greece offers its students generous financial assistance, international study options and internship opportunities, as well as 38 majors, several cooperative programs including one in engineering with Clarkson University, 61 minors, and 21 graduate programs. Its faculty is composed of Ph.D international scholars and savvy adjunct instructors whose research and executive credentials are focused on creating an invigorating, student-centered classroom and experiential experience. Plus, the establishment of the ACG Research Center has enabled the faculty to expand their scholarly activities, including work on numerous EU-sponsored grants.
While I have come to know ACG quite well on paper over the last five years, my personal visit here was full of surprises from start to finish. The campus itself is modern, beautiful, welcoming, and obviously delightful to its students. The incorporation (common in Greece) of a vibrant K-12 school adjacent to campus added another unexpected but propitious layer of educational perspective to the mix.
This July, the long-serving and very successful UCG President David Horner will be passing the torch of leadership to newly elected President Ed Wingenbach, another excellent NECHE citizen. We wish David all the best in his retirement, and we congratulate Ed as he concludes his service to Hampshire College in Massachusetts and takes on this new role (still in NECHE!) in Greece.
