About Paul Smith's College Graduate School

Our History

As the only College inside the boundaries of the “forever wild” Adirondacks that offers associate, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees — and with one of the largest college campuses in the world — Paul Smith’s College is anything but a cookie-cutter institution.

While many students come for our hands-on educational experience, Paul Smith’s College Graduate Program has the additional benefit of combining the immersive Adirondack field experience that Paul Smith’s is known for with the convenience of online learning.

As a Paul Smith’s graduate student, you’ll experience an education that puts proven career training together with a meaningful exploration of self, society, and the earth. Our students value the abundance of our natural mountain landscape and embrace a spirit of creative self-reliance.

Paul Smith’s College was established in 1946, through a bequest of Phelps Smith, who named the college for his father, Paul Smith. Our breathtaking campus was originally home to Paul Smith’s Hotel (formally known as the St. Regis House), one of the first wilderness resorts located in the Adirondacks. Located northwest of Saranac Lake, in the hamlet of Paul Smiths in the Town of Brighton, our community is known for its tight-knit, supportive, and conscientiously “green” community that embraces the outdoors.