Chatham College for Women in Pittsburgh was founded in 1869 as Pennsylvania Female College and was one of the oldest women’s colleges in the United States. In 2014, the board of trustees of what is now Chatham University voted to open up the college’s undergraduate programs to men, beginning in the fall of 2015. Declining enrollments and the resulting pressure on the college’s financial situation prompted the change to co-education. Since 2008, enrollments were down 13 percent.
This past fall, there were 211 students in the entering class. This was more than double the size of the entering class in the fall of 2014.
Now Chatham University has announced that its next president will be a man when Esther Barazzone steps down this summer. Dr. Barazzone has served as president of the educational institution since 1992. The new president is Dr. David L Finegold, the former dean of the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Jennifer Potter, chair of the board of trustees at Chatham University, stated that Dr. Finegold “has been involved with women’s issues his whole life. He’s really a feminist at heart.”