Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, USA, was founded on November 14, 1866, by the Minnesota Conference of Congregational Churches as Northfield College. In 1871, the name was changed in honor of benefactor William Carleton of Charlestown, Massachusetts.

The school is an independent, non-sectarian, coeducational, liberal arts college with about 1,900 students. The College respects its historical ties and gives continuing recognition to them through membership in the Council for Higher Education of the United Church of Christ.

Several of Carleton's properties deserve some historical recognition. Carleton's Goodsell Observatory, built in 1887, is on the national registry of historic places. Its arboretum, created from lands purchased in the 1920s during difficult financial times by then president Donald J. Cowling, was first called "Cowling's Folly" and later called his legacy. It consists of approximately 880 acres (3.6 km²) of forest, floodplain, and many miles of trail. Finally, an intricate series of heated underground tunnels connect most campus buildings, though they have not been in general use since 1988 due to concerns related to environmental conditions within the tunnels, safety (OSHA has rules about confined spaces, such as tunnels), and security.

Carleton is nationally recognized as a substantial academic force. It is consistently ranked in the U.S. News and World Report's college rankings within the top five U.S. liberal arts schools. Carleton competes in quizbowl and won the 1999 National Academic Quiz Tournaments undergraduate championship. In 2002, the team from Carleton received Best Delegation at the Harvard World Model United Nations competition.

Carleton's varsity sports teams are competitive, but none has won such national acclaim as the student-run frisbee clubs; most notably, the Carleton Ultimate Team (CUT) and Syzygy are national forces. CUT has qualified yearly for nationals since 1990, and won the National Championship in 2001 after several years of being the "perennial bridesmaid". Syzygy qualified for nationals fourteen of fifteen years (1989-2002,2004), winning the National Championship in 2000.