Paul Smith s, named after legendary Adirondack pioneer, guide and hotelier Appolos Paul Smith, offers 12 associate s degree programs, including ecology and environmental technology, environmental studies, forest technology and recreation, surveying, hospitality, culinary arts and liberal arts. In all academic programs, hands-on practice is united with theory learned in the classroom. In its forestry and environmental studies related programs, the Adirondacks itself serves as a lab for students, with students involved in actual research on lakes or managing their own forestry plots. Students also may find themselves operating a sawmill, sugar bush or constructing buildings in its recreational management program. Hospitality students apply their skills in the college-owned Hotel Saranac in nearby Saranac Lake, or operate food concessions at major special events such as the Kentucky Derby or the U.S. Open tennis tournament.
Many programs also involve students in off-campus internships.
More than 80 percent of the 700-plus students receive financial aid. Nearly every one of the college s graduates either finds a job upon graduation or transfers to a four-year program. The combination of classroom and hands-on learning has earned the college a solid reputation in the business community, with many major companies hiring students because of the college s emphasis on practical education. Paul Smith s is in the process of developing a limited number of bachelor s degree programs as part of its changeover to a four-year program. A few footnotes, the spelling of the college is Paul Smith s, while the town s name has no apostrophe.