Eileen Moran Brown, the founder and first president of Cambridge College in Boston, Massachusetts, passed away on September 28. She was 87 years old.
Brown earned her bachelor’s degree in English language and literatures from what is now Immaculata University in Pennsylvania and her master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her career began as an English teacher at John Bartram High School in Philadelphia. She then became coordinator of a federally funded program at the West Philadelphia High School to prepare underserved students for college.
In 1971, Brown co-founded the Institute for Open Education, a program for working adults of all socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds who did not have access to higher education. The program was later acquired by the Antioch University Network. In 1981, it became an independent educational institution named Cambridge College. On July 1, 2024, the college was acquired by Bay Path University.
Brown chronicled her career and account of Cambridge’s founding in her memoir, It’s Not Where You Start… It’s Where You Finish: The Story of Cambridge College (Tide Pool Press, 2022).
It was a pleasure meeting you many years ago, and I was adjunct professor at Cambridge College. I just want to thank you. You open so many doors thank you. especially people of color the opportunity to receive a college degree thank you.