Why Oxford - Academic Excellence

Students come to Oxford to receive a rigorous Emory education in a close knit community. Teaching is the major focus at Oxford, and our students rave about the connections they form with their professors. What sets Oxford apart from many other schools is the fact that we are  focused exclusively on the first two years and can concentrate on the transformative potential of this phase of baccalaureate education.

The hub for most of these activities is the new Center for Academic Excellence (CAE), which is housed in Oxford's library. The CAE enriches the work of the Oxford faculty and supports a wide range of teaching initiatives that improve student learning. The CAE also works closely with the Pierce Institute for Leadership and Community Engagement to enhance Oxford's distinctive and transformative educational program.

At Oxford, our professors realize the most profound learning often takes place outside the classroom. They want to expose students to real world experiences on campus, in our community and around the world.

• In Dr. Eloise Carter's Field Botany class, students explore plants native to our area by walking around campus and our community. 

• Dr. Frank Maddox has his students spend time on the quadrangle drawing economic models with sidewalk chalk. 

• In Dr. Maria Archetto's music class, students work with a local youth strings orchestra, rehearsing with the students each week and helping to conduct the ensemble.

• Dr. Mike McQuaide takes his sociology class, Social Change in Developing Countries, to Ecuador where they study the sociological factors affecting social change in developing societies, including a focus on globalization, modernization and aspects of non-Western health care. 

Read more about our Theory Practice Service Learning Courses. 

You don't have to take our word for it that the education students get here is outstanding. See how Oxford stacks up to other colleges on the National Survey of Student Engagement. In 2004 and 2007, Oxford ranked in the top 10% of all colleges and universities throughout the country surveyed in five categories, including: 

• Level of Academic Challenge
• Active and Collaborative Learning
• Student-faculty Interaction
• Enriching Cultural Experience
• Supportive Campus Environment

Read more about how Oxford ranks on the NSSE Survey . Oxford has also been chosen by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the American Association for Higher Education as one of twelve colleges in the country to lead a group of institutions studying the scholarship of teaching learning. Read more in the Journal of Cognitive and Affective Learning  

Students at Oxford also have the opportunity to conduct research with a professor or on their own. The Oxford Research Scholars Program offers selected students the opportunity to assist faculty members in carrying out their research projects. Students have the opportunity to conduct their own research through the SURE-Oxford summer research program . 

Some facts about Oxford College:

• Average Class Size - 17
• Maximum Class Size of 100 level classes - 33
• Maximum Class Size of 200-300 level classes is even smaller
• Oxford College Faculty - 53
• Percentage of tenure-tract faculty with PhDs - 100%
• Average faculty member works with 51 students per semester in class
• Average number of advisees per faculty member - 18
• Over 90% of Oxford students take at least 1 TPSL course before they graduate 

Check out what Oxford faculty and students say .