Ithaca was founded in 1892 as a music conservatory and today continues that commitment to performance and excellence. Its modern, residential 750-acre campus, equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, is home to the Schools of Business, Communications, Health Sciences and Human Performance, Humanities and Sciences, and Music, and a Division of Interdisciplinary and International Studies. The College offers over 100 degree programs with teacher certification options in over a dozen fields, and a student-teacher ratio of 12:1 ensures plenty of personal attention from our award-winning faculty.

An Ithaca education emphasizes active learning in the classroom and beyond. Students may participate in dozens of co-curricular and extracurricular activities - the College has 25 highly competitive varsity teams, more than 150 campus clubs, campus magazines, a student newspaper, two radio stations, and a television station, and showcases hundreds of concerts, recitals, lectures, and theater performances annually. Satellite campuses in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and London and study-abroad programs in some 50 countries provide additional educational and professional opportunities.

The College's vibrant campus overlooks Cayuga Lake in one of the nation's top college towns, which is further enriched by neighboring Cornell University and an international population from dozens of countries. This diversity is reflected in the local cable channel's international programming, and in the places of worship, grocery stores, and ethnic restaurants throughout the Ithaca area.