Cottey College

Creators of incredible futures

We’re a private, four-year liberal arts and sciences institution in Nevada, Missouri, dedicated to creating incredible futures for our students. We infuse leadership qualities into our students throughout their entire educational experience—these lessons are the foundation and inspiration for everything we do. Our small, tight-knit campus community shares a collective enthusiasm and builds each other up as individuals, forming an unbreakable bond that connects them with generations of Cottey alumni.

Why Cottey?

More confident
At Cottey, we place a high value on leadership opportunities, encouragement, and mentorship. Our overall academic curriculum emphasizes hands-on learning. Students are often able to choose the direction of their projects. All of our majors have a senior capstone project, and many majors let the students design, create, and execute the projects themselves. For example, the organizational leadership degree offers students a blend of academic and experiential learning. It is designed with an interdisciplinary approach to teach women to be leaders in any sector or setting. Most importantly, the curriculum follows a Leadership Development Plan (LDP) that individualizes leadership growth for each student. Cottey is also owned by the P.E.O. Sisterhood, an organization of over 200,000 women, who support students as they grow into the leaders they want to be!

Part of a close community
Two foundations of the Cottey experience are traditions and suite living, and both build a strong sense of community in our students.

Suite Life
Instead of dorms, Cottey’s on-campus living features 10-12 person suites. Each suite has a kitchen, single and double bedrooms, and a living area. Suites provide a family-like atmosphere for students, making it easy to adjust to campus life. You’ll have people to eat meals with, study with, play games with, and most importantly, suite life ensures that you’ll always have someone to talk to.

Traditions
While suite life is a comfortable way to adjust to college life, the traditions are what really get students involved. Hiding Hermatrude, a large paper mache duck, from your fellow classmates, raiding other suites for ‘pass-down’ keepsakes, and keeping Hermatrude safe from alumnae theft during events are some of the wonderful, playful, and engaging traditions you’ll experience at Cottey.

Become inspired
Inspiration is valuable in education; it drives students to new heights of creativity and determination. Two of the most prominent ways Cottey inspires its students are the international trip and the environment the campus creates.

International experience
Cottey provides students with an overseas trip. The College pays for airfare, lodging costs, and a fancy dinner at the end of the experience! Past trips include:
• London, England
• Paris, France
• Australia
• New Zealand
• Japan
• Guatemala
• Barcelona and Madrid, Spain

Inspirational environment
The campus provides a comfortable environment to learn in, with many lounges and spaces to relax, including a free coffee and tea lounge in the library and a newly renovated Center for Campus Life. Cottey’s campus does more to inspire students than provide them with comfortable surroundings; we also offer spaces to learn and apply skills, like our cadaver lab and stock trading lab.