Life mimics art, as prof tries to start his own college

About
Contact:

Sphere College
P.O. Box 1024
Phoenixville, PA 19460

Phone: 484-302-1600

Email: info AT spherecollege DOT org

Mission Statement

Sphere College provides an environment for each student to discover and pursue their passion and vocation for enrichment of the human experience.

Overview

Sphere College is an institution of higher education for adults of all ages who are not a good fit for the traditional model of higher education. The College is financially accessible to all. Yes, all.

The essential idea behind the college is to help students identify what they wish to accomplish with their lives. Each student will then work closely with faculty mentors to build an individualized, interdisciplinary curriculum around their goals. Finally, each student will develop and realize a project that puts their passions into action using the skills they have acquired. This project may be small and local or large and global in scope.

More: http://spherecollege.wordpress.com/about/

The Chronicle of Higher Education has this to say about it:

May 22, 2011
It's His Very Own College, and Welcome to It
Kevin Cook for The Chronicle
Richard Liston, founder of Sphere College, has put about $100,000 into his effort, including his retirement savings and a loan from his father.

By Joel Berg
Phoenixville, Pa.

Virginia Stewart had lost her apartment but not her sense of adventure, which is why she stopped Richard Liston one Sunday afternoon in a suburban Philadelphia coffee shop. She had heard he was starting a college, and she wanted to hear more.

Mr. Liston, a tall man with a shaved head and an inviting gaze, made his pitch: He was calling his project Sphere College. The curriculum would be individualized.

More: http://chronicle.com/article/Its-His-Very-Own-College-and/127588/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

So life mimics art... remember this 2006 movie:

Accepted
Accepted is a 2006 comedy film centered around high school seniors, who after being rejected from all the colleges and universities to which they had applied, proceed to "create" their own "college". Though presented as a light comedy, the film's dramatic undertone throughout is highly critical of the U.S. college system (and the college ranking system). [http://www.ranker.com/review/accepted/394644]