#96-09-01
For Release: 9/7/96
Contact: Peter Bailley

Knox College in Galesburg has been recognized by a leading education journalist in a new book, Colleges That Change Lives. The book by Loren Pope, director of the College Placement Bureau, is published by Penguin Books and available nationwide.

Pope, a former education editor of The New York Times, cites Knox as one of forty schools that "will do at least as much as, and usually far more than, an Ivy League school, an Ivy clone, or a major research university to give you a rich, full life, and to make you a winner."

According to Pope, the schools he profiles "do a better job because faculty and students work closely together." In addition, he writes, "learning is collaborative rather than competitive, students are involved in their own education, there is much discussion, and there is a sense of family."

The characteristics valued by Pope "describe exactly what's distinctive about Knox," says Knox College president Rick Nahm. "Loren Pope gives you more than the numbers that you'll find in most college guidebooks. He's a knowledgeable observer who's visited campuses and spoken with students and faculty."

Pope writes, "When I made my recent second visit (to Knox), it became clear that of the many powerful attractions of Knox, one is that there is no better college in the country for developing a young mind and character."

Pope, now an educational consultant, has written numerous articles in national magazines, newspapers and professional journals. His earlier book Looking Beyond the Ivy League praised Knox as "a Grade-A school by any measure... (and) held in high regard by the academic world, which knows quality when it sees it."

Founded in 1837, Knox is an independent, four-year, liberal arts college, located in Galesburg, Illinois, with 1,100 students from 42 states and 33 nations. Knox's "Old Main," a National Historic Landmark, is the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.