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Care is our culture

Our small college fosters a community of belonging and connection. We promote strategies of care, concern and wellbeing in order to support people, families and communities as educators and social service professionals. Here, you’ll be equipped with techniques, resources, and a close-knit network that will help you thrive throughout your career. 

Centering inclusive excellence and justice

We recognize that systems and structures can and often do exclude underrepresented identities and populations. CESS is an intentionally inclusive learning community that stresses plurality of thought and human experiences to serve diverse and global societies. 

Exceptional experiential learning

Our learning environments embrace praxis, the idea that theory and practice are intertwined for rich and innovative learning. We prepare students to advocate for equitable and just educational and social systems through classroom, hands-on experiences, and research opportunities. All of our students engage with service-learning, practicums, field work and/or internships—fully supported by caring faculty and professional mentoring.

Engage and partner with Vermont

Vermont is an incubator for systemic change, and CESS students make a difference, from classrooms and communities to the highest levels of government and industry. Because of our reputation and longstanding partnerships, you’ll be able to meet directly with state leaders and lawmakers about policies and systems that directly impact your work and the lives of Vermonters.

Prepare to transform lives

Our graduate are ready to engage in meaningful careers that transform lives. Ninety-eight percent of CESS undergraduates have a job or are continuing their education six months after graduation, and just as many report that their employment is aligned with their career goals. Our graduate students and alumni become leaders in their respective fields.

CESS alumni make an profound impact on society in Vermont and throughout the United States and abroad as:

• Teachers, principals, superintendents, counselors, and educational leaders;
• Mental health counselors, social workers and human service professionals in education, family services, foundations, healthcare, hospice centers, immigration services, social and rehabilitation services, government agencies, and the private sector;
• Deans, faculty, researchers, student affairs professionals and administrators at colleges and universities;
• Innovative leaders in alternative educational settings, technology companies, art programs, museums, galleries, science centers, healthcare, social service agencies, youth programs, and the Peace Corps;
• Graduate students in master's and doctoral programs in education, social work, counseling, the arts, music, public health, health care, family therapy, family law, and other disciplines.

CESS Student and Alumni Success