Ripon College

09/11/2026

This summer, we asked our SOAR students to describe their research in three words.

09/10/2026

Join us at Rodman tomorrow night.

09/10/2026

Take part in our 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐃𝐚𝐲 and you will:
• 𝘿𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 Ripon’s beautiful campus and community.
• 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙩 with our welcoming faculty & current students.
• 𝙀𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙚 our challenging, forward-thinking academic programs .
• 𝙂𝙖𝙞𝙣 valuable scholarship and financial aid information.
• 𝙀𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 the excitement of Homecoming with a festive tailgate and Red Hawks football game.

𝙑𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙤.

09/09/2026

We love our hometown. ❤️🤍❤️

Welcome back, Ripon College students!

We hope your first week of classes is off to a great start! Whether you’re returning to Ripon or experiencing our community for the first time, we’re so glad to have you here.

When you’re ready for a study break, come explore downtown, grab a bite, shop local, and make Ripon feel a little more like home.

Here’s to a great semester!

09/09/2026

Associate Professor of English Megan Gannon has been named poet laureate for the city of Appleton, Wisconsin. The City of Appleton Poet Laureate program, established in 2024, elevates and celebrates the art of poetry in Appleton, fostering literacy, creativity and community connection. Gannon says she hopes to connect with the city's neurodiverse population to "explore the ways in which poetry is uniquely suited for giving language to that which is hard to articulate."

"Poetry makes space for the full range of human experience, and I look forward to exploring the livable cities we can build together with language," she says.

09/09/2026

Shortly after graduating from Ripon College in 1910, Ray Wegel worked as a physicist in Thomas Edison's laboratory. In 1914, he joined the engineering department at Western Electric Company in New York and worked mainly in the areas of telephone transmitters and receivers as well as hearing and speech. Together, he and Harvey Fletcher, of the research wing at Bell Telephone Laboratories, designed and developed the first commercial audiometer in the United States.

09/07/2026

Andrew Chalfoun has joined the Ripon College faculty this fall as a visiting assistant professor of sociology. He received his Ph.D. in sociology from UCLA in the spring and holds a bachelor's degree in sociology from Haverford College. This semester he is teaching the following courses: "Intro to Sociological Imagination," "Sociology of Religion: Why We Believe and Why We Stop" and "Power and Privilege in the Workplace." Welcome, Dr. Chalfoun.

09/03/2026

Thanks in no small part to the innovative research of Gina Fernandez ’81, the blackberry has grown into a $20-million high-value crop for North Carolina. Her custom-bred varieties — high-yielding, flavor-packed, and thornless — thrive in the humid summer climate of the Southeast.

Fernandez has led NC State University's caneberry breeding program for 23 years. She is the John D. and Nell R. Leazar Distinguished Professor and Director of Graduate Programs in NC State's Department of Horticultural Science.

She has helped develop two patented blackberry varieties. The latest, Ervin, emerged from more than four years of intensive trials. It's named for Ervin Lineberger, a visionary grower and longtime cooperating farmer with NC State. Fernandez calls Ervin "a premium label blackberry" — and thanks to a licensing agreement with Global Plant Genetics, it will soon be grown around the world.

Von, another Fernandez-bred variety released in 2013, is already producing well in both the Netherlands and Chile.

Photo courtesy of Marc Hall/NC State

09/02/2026

Opportunities remain for students to spend next semester in Barcelona, Spain. The Ripon College Spain Program in Barcelona allows students to immerse themselves in the Catalonia capital through a faculty-led, semester-long, study-abroad curriculum. Interested students should contact Professor of Communication Steve Martin.