The Potsdam Graduate

The Potsdam faculty believes that the Potsdam Graduate must be an educated person who can thrive in, find success with and provide leadership in our complex, ambiguous, and mutable world.

Skills of a Potsdam Graduate:

  • The ability to judge, appraise and evaluate, in matters ethical, aesthetic, empirical and logical, 
  • The ability to reason analytically, formally, symbolically and quantitatively, 
  • The ability to solve problems by creative synthesis of knowledge, 
  • The ability to organize thought and communicate in written and oral form, 
  • The ability to communicate in a second language.

Knowledge of a Potsdam Graduate:

  • A knowledge of the heritage of Western civilization, including major artistic, scientific, technological, philosophical and social developments,
  • A knowledge of a non-Western culture and an understanding of the interaction of cultures, 
  • A knowledge of the natural and physical world, 
  • A knowledge of the forms and currents in twentieth century arts and philosophy, 
  • A knowledge of twentieth century social institutions, 
  • A knowledge of how language permits communication, shapes thought and changes through time.

Experiences of a Potsdam Graduate:

  •   An experience of creativity or performance in the arts, 
  •   An experience of the way science generates, organizes and verifies knowledge, 
  •   An experience using a computer in an academic setting to facilitate learning.

How will your academic career prepare you to be a Potsdam Graduate:


Within the moral, intellectual, and social atmosphere of the College, the curriculum is central. Your curriculum is ideally an integrated whole consisting of three components: 

  • the general education program, which provides a foundation of skills, knowledge, and experiences for learning;
  • a major* that permits disciplined study of a particular body of knowledge;
  • and electives that shape learning to individual ambitions, needs and future visions.

  *Note: When you declare your major, you will receive an academic supplement from that department that describes in detail the requirements for that major.