Location
About the Region
Mount Holyoke is located in South Hadley, Massachusetts, in the Pioneer Valley--one of the most beautiful areas in New England and one of the most intellectually and culturally vibrant regions in the United States.
The Pioneer Valley, in western Massachusetts, is home to the Five Colleges--Mount Holyoke, Amherst, Hampshire, and Smith Colleges, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. This community of more than 30,000 students offers an extraordinary range of activities, including concerts, films, theater and dance productions, athletic activities, and museum exhibitions.
Across the street from the main campus, the Village Commons, designed by award-winning architect Graham Gund, is home to shops, restaurants, a coffeehouse, movie theater, and the renowned Odyssey Bookshop.
The nearby towns of Amherst and Northampton--both reachable by a free bus--offer a combination of cosmopolitan and small-town charm. You'll find great coffeehouses, bookstores, clubs, movie theaters, galleries, restaurants, and specialty shops. The area also offers malls, flea markets, and farm stands.
Nearby Skinner Park on Route 47 offers spectacular views of the valley and the Connecticut River's famous oxbow from atop Mount Holyoke, the mountain for which the College was named. For hikers, there are miles and miles of nearby trails. Water lovers will find opportunities to boat, swim, kayak, tube, and canoe. In the winter, you can downhill and cross-country ski. And for the truly adventurous, the region offers diversions like hang gliding, skydiving, and rock climbing.
New York City is just three hours away by car; Boston is 90 minutes.
Campus Facilities & Equipment
Outstanding Resources
The College's abundant academic resources comprise more than 25 academic buildings, including a 700,000-volume library, with dedicated science and music libraries, and computerized access to five million volumes through the Five College Consortium; state-of-the-art science facilities; computer and language centers; outstanding dance facilities; botanical center; and proscenium and black box theaters.
Mount Holyoke is fully committed to using emerging technology tools that enhance the teaching and learning experience. Tools currently used include wireless networking, video conferencing, and interactive, multimedia-based, curriculum-enhancing Web software. There are ongoing training opportunities for students to learn emerging technologies.
The College recently invested $12.3 million in the expansion and renovation of its music and art facilities, which include the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, one of the nation's leading collegiate art museums with an active teaching collection.
The newly renovated and expanded Blanchard Campus Center is a meeting place for the entire Mount Holyoke community. Home to the campus store, student art gallery, campus information desk, mailroom, ticket box office, and student organization office, Blanchard offers food and drinks at the Uncommon Grounds coffee bar and at a fully equipped caf . Dances, intimate concerts, lectures, and shows are held in the main caf area, and larger events take place in the adjoining 5,000-square-foot Great Room, which offers a two-story glass wall with views of Lower Lake.
Other facilities include five cultural houses; kosher/halal dining hall; Japanese teahouse and meditation garden; health clinic and counseling center; Eliot House, a center for the spiritual life and community service; and the Career Development Center, with extensive career counseling services.
Kendade Hall, a multistory "green" building connecting several laboratory facilities, features a three-story atrium where community members can gather.
Superb New Science Facilities
The College's new $34.5-million unified science complex includes Kendade Hall, a multistory, 40,000-square-foot, certified "green" building according to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards. Kendade connects four science-related buildings and serves as the nexus for the science center. It features a three-story, 3,000-square-foot atrium that provides a gathering place for all members of the community, benefiting the entire campus.
The science center houses the departments of astronomy, biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, earth and environment, mathematics and statistics, and physics, as well as the College's programs in biochemistry and in neuroscience and behavior. This state-of-the-art science center is outfitted with exactly the kind of advanced scientific equipment found in professional research laboratories.
The science center is also specifically designed to complement MHC's interdisciplinary approach to science and math. Within the center's interconnected spaces students are exposed not only to the full range of their field but to related subjects as well. They gain research and laboratory experience and are provided with the foundations essential for success in careers ranging from teaching and research to environmental protection and public policy.
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