All Entries in the "Women’s Colleges" Category
Andrea Lee Announces She Will Step Down as President of St. Catherine University
Andrea Lee, president of St. Catherine University in Saint Paul, Minnesota, announced that she will end her 18-year tenure as president on July 1, 2016. She became president of the Catholic university for women in 1998.
Bryn Mawr College Honors Its First Black Alumna
Bryn Mawr College in suburban Philadelphia has named its new residence hall to honor Enid Cook. Cook was not permitted to live on campus but graduated in 1931 with degrees in chemistry and biology.
Elizabeth Fleming Announces Her Plan to Retire as President of Converse College
Elizabeth A. Fleming, the ninth president of Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, has announced that she will step down at the end of the current academic year. Dr. Fleming will have led the women’s college for 11 years.
The Only On-Campus MBA Program for Women Is Closing
Simmons College in Boston has seen declining enrollments in its on-campus MBA program for women. So it is now moving its MBA programs exclusively online and the new programs will be available for both men and women. Students in the new online MBA will have the option of an elective gender component.
A New Digital Archive Showing Life at Mount Holyoke College in the Early Twentieth Century
Mount Holyoke College, the highly rated liberal arts educational institution for women in South Hadley, Massachusetts, has debuted a new online digital archive of about 2,000 rare photographs documenting life at the college from 1899 to 1939.
Meredith College Reports Increases in Enrollments and Retention
While many women’s colleges have been struggling to attract students, Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina, reports encouraging news. Enrollments are up for the second consecutive year and the college’s retention rate is the highest in more than a decade.
Who Needs Women’s Colleges? We All Do!
A new analysis post on LinkedIn.com finds that 20 percent of women members of Congress and 33 percent of the women who sit on the boards of directors of Fortune 1000 companies are graduates of women’s colleges.
The Two Mount Saint Mary’s Universities Facing Off in Legal Battle
This past January Mount Saint Mary’s College, an educational institution for women in Los Angeles, changed its named to Mount Saint Mary’s University. Mount Saint Mary’s University, a coeducational institution in Maryland, has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit.
Spelman College “Discontinues” the Cosby Endowed Professorship
In the 1980s, the highly rated women’s college in Atlanta received a $20 million gift from Bill and Camille Cosby. Now the college has ended a professor named for the Cosbys and returned “related funds” to a foundation created by Camille Cosby.
How Women’s Colleges Have Changed Over the Past 40 Years
A new study by Linda Sax, a professor of education at the University of California, Los Angeles, offers an analysis of students who have attended women’s colleges over the past 40 years. One of the major changes is a huge increase in student diversity.
Seven Sister Colleges Launch an Online Historical Archive of Women in Higher Education
The archive includes a wide variety of materials including photographs, correspondence, scrapbooks, and diaries documenting the history of women in higher education.
A New Center for Women in Business to Be Established at Texas Woman’s University
The new center will be the first of its kind in the region and will provide leadership opportunities to encourage and support women’s business ownership and success.
Mary Baldwin College to Transition to University Status
Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia, operates an undergraduate women’s residential college and already offers co-educational master’ degree programs in several fields. The name change will become official on August 31, 2016.
Barnard College Announces Major New Changes to Its Curriculum
Linda A. Bell, provost at Barnard, said reports that the new curriculum will include a first-year writing seminar, a robust set of new general education requirements with broad distributional requirements, and a capstone senior experience.
Carol Ann Mooney to Step Down From Presidency of Saint Mary’s College
Carol Ann Mooney, the 11th president of Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana, announced that she will step down on May 31, 2016. President Mooney will have led the college for 12 years.
Sweet Briar College to Remain Open
Sweet Briar College shocked the academic community in March by announcing it would close in August. Now a new agreement announced by the attorney general of Virginia, will keep the college open for the time being. But significant problems remain.
Barnard College’s Campaign to Boost Women Entrepreneurs
Venture capital firms that take the Athena Pledge agree that one third of the start-up firms that receive support have at least one women founder as an equity owner and have women in their top management teams.
Another Women’s College Decides to Become Fully Co-Educational
The board of trustees of the College of Saint Elizabeth in Morristown, New Jersey, has decided to transition the college to a fully coeducational institution. Men will be admitted to the residential undergraduate college beginning in the fall of 2016.
Brenau University to Open a New Campus in Jacksonville, Florida
The main campus of the university is in Gainesville, Georgia, about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta. The residential undergraduate college in Gainesville, Georgia, is open only to women.
Barnard College Will Consider Transgender Students for Admission
According to a statement from the board chair and president, “Barnard College will consider for admission those applicants who consistently live and identify as women, regardless of the gender assigned to them at birth.”
Another Women’s College Chooses to Go Co-Ed
Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana has announced that it will accept men to all of its undergraduate programs beginning this fall. The plan is to permit men to reside on campus beginning in the fall of 2016.
Mary Baldwin College to Transition to University Status
Under the reorganization plan the undergraduate Residential College for Women will be called the Mary Baldwin College for Women.
Smith College Says It Will Consider “Self-Identified Transgender Women” for Admission
Smith College, the highly rated liberal arts college for women in Northampton, Massachusetts, has followed the lead of many other top-ranked women’s colleges and has clarified who is eligible for admission to its undergraduate programs.
Maya Lin Chosen to Redesign the Neilson Library at Smith College
Maya Lin designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. She will work with the Shepley Bulfinch firm that has designed libraries at Johns Hopkins University, Duke University, and the University of Notre Dame.
Harvard Business School Looks to Recruit Graduates of Women’s Colleges
Participants in the PEEK program will spend evenings analyzing real-business cases, and use morning study groups and classes to examine and debate their ideas through interaction with peers and faculty. Only students or graduates of women’s colleges are eligible to participate.
Another Women’s College Considering Co-Education
The College of Saint Elizabeth in Morristown, New Jersey, is the only degree-granting women’s college remaining in the state of New Jersey. The college enrolls about 1,000 women undergraduates.
The Next President of Spelman College in Atlanta
Mary Schmidt Campbell is dean emerita of the Tisch School of the Arts and University Professor of art and public policy at New York University. She will become president of Spelman College on August 1.
Yeshiva University Will Merge the Faculties of Yeshiva College and the Stern College for Women
The two undergraduate campuses of Yeshiva, in different neighborhoods of Manhattan, will remain separate. But the faculties of the two campuses will merge into unified departments. Karen Bacon will be the inaugural dean of the combined undergraduate faculty.
Rhona Free Named President of the University of Saint Joseph in Connecticut
The University of Saint Joseph enrolls about 1,000 women in undergraduate programs. There are approximately 1,600 students enrolled in the university’s co-educational graduate programs. Dr. Free will take office on July 1.
New Book Award Honors Hollins University Alumna Margaret Wise Brown
Hollins University, the women’s college in Roanoke, Virginia, has announced the establishment of the Margaret Wise Brown Prize in Children’s Literature. The award will be presented for the first time in 2016.
Website Offers Its Choices for the Best Women’s Colleges in the United States
The website College Choice ranked the women’s colleges based on academic reputation, financial aid offerings, overall cost, and success of graduates in the job market. Wellesley College is on top of the rankings.
Barnard College Considering Curriculum Requirement Changes
Under the proposed plan, Barnard would reduce the foreign language requirement to two semesters and the laboratory science requirement to one semester. A technology course and a course on diversity would be required.
Three Women’s Colleges Among the Top Producers of Peace Corps Volunteers
The College of Saint Benedict in St. Joseph, Minnesota, Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts and Barnard College in New York City all tied for 20th place for small colleges with the most graduates serving in the Peace Corps.
Sweet Briar College Announces It Will Close After This Academic Year
Sweet Briar College, a liberal arts institution for women in Sweet Briar, Virginia, that was founded in 1901 on the grounds of a former plantation, has announced that is closing at the end of the academic year.
Scholarships for Graduates of Five Leading Women’s Colleges at Indiana University’s Mauer School of Law
The Mauer School of Law at Indiana University in Bloomington has established a scholarship and mentoring program for graduates of five of the nation’s leading women’s colleges: Bryn Mawr, Mills, Mount Holyoke, Smith, and Wellesley.
