The Institute encourages interdisciplinary thought and experimentation by focusing each semester on a particular issue, idea or theme drawn from the Humanities. This theme serves as the main topic of discussion and area of research for residents at the Institute.

Visiting students enroll in four courses taught at Castle Rock by Institute Senior Fellows. Each course meets regularly throughout the semester and awards four hours of college credit. Students also spend several full and half days per week participating in small group activities like rock climbing, backpacking, and paddling. The Institute strives to balance and integrate scholarship and adventure, and believes that doing so can realize significant benefits for both.

Different from the historical approach of most college Humanities programs, the curriculum at the Castle Rock Institute is organized thematically. Instead of sweeping through a series of "great books," all of the courses offered during each semester at the Institute address a single issue, idea or theme drawn from the Humanities. Accordingly, each class explicitly considers how insights offered by the other disciplines can contribute to an overall understanding of the theme at hand. For example, a semester devoted to the notion of "identity" may consider how the use of masks in African religious rituals or how French Existentialist conceptions of self can inform a Jane Austen novel, or can affect the composition of a painting or pencil sketch.

Castle Rock Environmental Studies for College Students

As a complement to its academic mission, the Castle Rock Institute organizes for its residents a variety of environmental adventure activities. The Institute takes seriously the idea that there is a fundamental connection between body and mind, between the embodied practice of lived experience and the more abstract, theoretical concerns of the intellect. It sees, in other words, a mutually reinforcing relationship between direct and intense contact with the environmental world and the scholarly goals central to the Humanities . Focusing on meaningful expressions of this relationship, this environmental studies challenges students to find a balance between real life and their studies.

A typical day of environmental studies at the Castle Rock Institute combines individual study, classroom learning, and opportunities for experiencing the environmentals. Just imagine, one morning you will wake up, and after a hot breakfast, spend a few minutes preparing for the day's class. You might need to finish up some reading or polish a group presentation you're doing with a couple of other students. You'll spend a few hours in class discussing assigned readings, listening to a faculty lecture, or perhaps a guest speaker. After lunch, everyone will gather gear for a short mountain bike or rock climbing trip. Or, this may be a chance for you to work out on the climbing wall, or just to take a quiet walk in the forest. Back in time for a late dinner, you'll have free time afterwards to work on your class readings or studio art assignments, head into town for a movie, or just relax with a friend Again, this is different from most other environmental studies programs.