Many observers argue that diversity in Economics and STEM fields is critical, not simply because of egalitarian goals, but because who is in a field may shape what is studied by it. If increasing the rate of majoring in mathematically-intensive fields among women is a worthy goal, then understanding whether women's colleges causally affect that…

Small, private, women's colleges served an important role historically and continue to do so today. The number remaining after the advent of general coeducation at private colleges and universities provide a niche in the diversity of higher education institutions. Many of the women's colleges that remain today undertook significant changes in…

In 2020, Carol Leary will be retiring as president of Bay Path University after twenty-five years. Her career in education, however, has spanned more than four decades. As she prepares to move on to the next chapter of her life, she reflects on her Bay Path journey and shares her optimism about the challenges higher education faces today. She…

For 50 years, Smith College's Summer Research Fellowship (SURF) has provided undergraduate women scientists the opportunity for an immersive experience to conduct independent research under the mentorship of science faculty and staff. This article highlights summative assessment data on SURF program outcomes as well as the institutional planning…

This research study solicited the competencies that leaders self-identify as critical to their success within their current college and to the survival of two historically female-centric colleges. These two colleges made decisions that allowed them to continue to exist as colleges: albeit one female and one co-ed. There is relatively limited…

The 21st century has been a time of major change for women's colleges (Calefati, 2009; Harwarth, et al, 1997; Powers, 2007). From an all time high of close to 300 in operation, now less than 100 exist (Calefati, 2009). The decade of the 1980s saw a convergence of a perfect storm of challenges: declining birth rates that produced fewer…

Since their creation in the latter part of the nineteenth century, women's colleges in America have undergone many significant changes. In 1960, over 230 women's colleges were in operation; over the next forty years more than 75 percent chose to admit men or shut their doors entirely (Miller-Bernal, 2006a). This chapter will shed light on the…

Historically, Massachusetts has been home to some of the most vibrant, viable and prestigious educational institutions for women in the country. That number has decreased over time as schools such as Lesley University, Regis College and Wheaton College, among others, have gone coed. In 1999, Radcliffe College officially merged with Harvard…

Dispelling historical narratives in composition and rhetoric that largely depict nineteenth-century student compositions as "vacuous" themes, this archival study examines women's compositions at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary as complex generic hybrids, in which the composition is fused with common social and dialogic forms. By focusing…

In this article, the author profiles Dr. Tony Martin, a historian who has spent 34 years teaching at Wellesley College, a small all-female school in Wellesley, Massachusetts. While he wishes to be remembered in his role as a prolific scholar of Marcus Garvey, the public knows him mostly as a controversial figure--his much smaller body of work on…

Many undergraduate liberal arts institutions offer computer science majors. This article illustrates how quality computer science programs can be realized in a wide variety of liberal arts settings by describing and contrasting the actual programs at five liberal arts colleges: Williams College, Kalamazoo College, the State University of New York…

Examination of foundings of four-year women's colleges in three states, 1855-1968, reveals that institutional forces (presence of elite women's colleges, development of Catholic women's colleges, and enactment of the suffrage amendment) increased the founding rate, but rising organizational density later decreased the rate. Argues that…

This book traces the development of competitive admission and financial aid policies at a selected group of 16 liberal arts colleges in Ohio and Massachusetts over the period 1955 to 1994. Exploring the way institutional decisions reflect and respond to broad demographic, economic, political, and social forces, the book considers the challenges…

The modern college for women, evolving by rapid growth from recent simple beginnings to its present highly complex state, is unquestionably still in the process of development. A glance over the changes already accomplished brings conviction that the present situation is but a stage in the life history of a virile institution. That present…

The Commissioner of Education reports on the work of the office and its publications over the year. Statistical summaries and discussion are presented on enrollment; attendance; teacher workforce and pay; school finance; state and territorial education; kindergarten; city education; education of the colored race; institutions for the superior…