Chatham University in Pittsburgh Considering Admitting Men to Undergraduate Programs

Chatham University in Pittsburgh is following in the footsteps of several other women’s colleges by exploring the possibility of admitting men to its undergraduate programs.

Chatham College for Women was founded in 1869 as Pennsylvania Female College and is one of the oldest women’s colleges in the United States. It enrolls 588 undergraduate students, all of whom are women. Undergraduate enrollments are down nearly 13 percent from 2008.

The College for Graduate Studies offers 21 master’s and doctoral degree programs which are open to both women and men. The College for Continuing and Professional Studies offer eight degree programs as well as non-degree and certificate programs. These offerings are also coeducational.

In a meeting with students, faculty, and staff, Chatham University President Esther Barazzone said that declining enrollments and economic pressures compelled the university’s board of trustees to initiate a study of whether co-education was a good option for the undergraduate college. A decision may be made as early as June. The earliest men would be enrolled as undergraduates would be the fall of 2015.

Dr. Barazzone has been president at Chatham University since 1992. Two years before her arrival, trustees rejected a plan to become coeducational. Dr. Barazzone is a member of the inaugural graduating class of New College in Sarasota, Florida. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in European intellectual history from Columbia University.