COLLEGE OF SANTA FE

The 'College of Santa Fe' is a small liberal arts college based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. At its Santa Fe campus, the college offers a traditional full-time undergraduate program, as well as an evening and weekend program for local working adults. The evening and weekend program has another branch in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The college has about 800 traditional students and over 1,000 students in its evening and weekend program.

History

The oldest chartered college in the State of New Mexico, the College of Santa Fe was founded in the Lasallian tradition of education, a Roman Catholic teaching order in which the schools are run by laymen. The institution's first incarnation opened in 1859, as 'St. Michael's College'. It was run by four Christian Brothers as a preparatory school for boys, and it operated out of an adobe hut. It was granted a charter for higher education in 1874, as the 'College of the Christian Brothers of New Mexico'. The college was heavily represented at the first constitutional convention of New Mexico, in 1910. However, after World War I, the higher education program was dropped, and it was a dedicated preparatory school until after World War II.
The school reintroduced the college program, and assumed its modern form, in 1947. The first class had 148 students, with 15 faculty members, all Christian Brothers (by contrast, the current faculty are mostly secular). The president at that time was Brother Benildus of Mary, for whom the largest academic building is named. In 1966, Saint Michael's College changed its name to the College of Santa Fe, and enrolled its first female students in that year.
The college has continued expanding since it became co-educational. In 1980 it opened the evening-weekend program, with the intent of offering degree programs to adults who work every weekday. In 1985 it was accredited to award the Master of Business Administration. In 1986, after the closing of the University of Albuquerque, it opened its Albuquerque branch.
In the late 1980s College of Santa Fe expanded enormously, with the Greer Garson Theatre, Communications Center and Studios, the Driscoll Fitness Center, the Visual Arts Center, and on-campus student apartments. It also began offering many new degrees, including a masters in education, and bachelor of arts in environmental science and conservation. It also opened the Contemporary Music Program.

Contemporary Music Program

College of Santa Fe's Contemporary Music Program is unique. The required curriculum includes traditional training in music history, music theory, singing, keyboard, and the student's individual instrument, but also involves training in music technology and recording, world music, and auditory theory. The world music opportunities at the college are excellent for its size, having instruction in the African drum the djembe, the Javanese Gamelan, and Balkan and Middle Eastern music. There are also ensembles in many styles of western music, including jazz, funk and R&B, rock, electro-acoustic music and free-form improvisation. The department has a strong guitarist presence, in the students and faculty, and offers instruction in guitar styles such as flamenco, jazz, rock, blues, and classical. Benildus Hall, where the Contemporary Music Program is located, has modern facilities for recording, composition, and computer music, as well as practice and performance. The current director of the program is Steven Paxton.