History

Residential Education at Stanford has taken the idea of educating the student as a whole and developed it into an entire program that extends into each of the dorms. Students come into contact with Residential Education in many different ways, whether it is interaction with a faculty guest of the Resident Fellow or simply attending a dorm trip to see Shakespeare in Golden Gate Park. The idea is to educate the students in ways they will never be educated in the classroom.

A large component of Residential Education is the development of the ability for students to live in a diverse community with other students of diverse backgrounds in a peaceful manner. But that is just the minimum goal. Ideally, these diverse dorm populations will be able to live in a manner that encourages the interaction of these students, therefore garnering a deeper understanding of other perspectives and cultures.

Residential Education at Stanford has not always been this way. The mere term "Residential Education" was not even coined until 1970, yet the seeds of this idea of educating the whole student were in place far earlier. This history of Residential Education outlines some of the significant dates in three time periods: Before 1970, 1970 to 1985, and After 1985. [not implemented yet ... stay tuned: these sections coming soon!]