Belmont Abbey College

At Belmont Abbey College, you will find a campus that is physically beautiful, an atmosphere that is welcoming, and classes that stimulate students' minds and cultivate their spirits. The College community is characterized by its academic strength, spiritual heritage, competitive athletics, and vibrant campus life. An Abbey education, grounded in the liberal arts, teaches a person how to seek the truth and to learn what is true, good and beautiful. This background, combined with the specialized work that each student does in his or her major and in a variety of co-curricular activities, equips Abbey graduates to lead lives of integrity, to succeed professionally, to become responsible citizens, and to be a blessing to themselves and others. The Catholic Benedictine traditions on which the College was founded over 130 years ago inform all aspects of campus life. Benedictine monks take three vows: stabilitas, conversatio morum, and obedienti. Translated simply, they mean stability of life, constantly turning towards and being improved by God's grace, and hearing and responding to the word of God. Belmont Abbey College provides a stable environment in which students, faculty, and staff listen, discuss, learn, and grow. At the Abbey, we like to think that John Henry Newman's motto, heart speaks to heart, describe faculty-student relationships. Beginning with the First-Year Symposium, a required course for all first year students, the College engages in a targeted approach to introducing students to the Benedictine mission and to collegiate academics. Common summer readings and whole-class activities enrich the student's experience in small-class settings. The course also helps students develop skills that are necessary to meet the academic demands of the College and helps them to adjust to their new learning community. The Abbey's Honors Institute offers another example of our commitment to academic strength. The Honors Institute of Belmont Abbey College is a four-year program that provides qualified students a wide range of unique curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular experiences. The Honors Institute curriculum features courses in which students read and discuss some of the greatest and most influential texts of ancient, Christian, and modern writers. Extensive cultural experiences, independent study research, and the Honors Institute Seminar all provide a unique opportunity that challenge students to pursue clarity of expression and depth of thought. Our commitment to excellence and virtue extends beyond academics to extra-curricular experiences as well. Established in 1883, the Abbey's theater is one of the oldest continuously operating theaters in the Southeast. The Abbey Players and Belmont Community Theatre present six productions a year, including dramas, stylish comedies, major musicals, and a Shakespearean production. The Abbey Chorus, Belmont Abbey Quintet, and Carolina Pro Musica (an instrumental group that plays pre-1800 music on historic instruments) are also active on campus. Students at Belmont Abbey College also demonstrate strength in the athletic arena with nine men's sports and eight women's sports teams competing successfully in Division II Conference Carolinas. The motto of Conference Carolinas is Academics and athletics working together, and that reflects Belmont Abbey College's view as well. In fact, the College demonstrates this commitment in the new movement, SPD (Sport Properly Directed), where the vision is to put sportsmanship back into athletics and to reclaim the game. At the Abbey, student athletes are challenged to perform to their full potential physically, mentally and spiritually.