Wellesley College, United States

United States

Wellesley College was founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant, who were passionate about the higher education of women.
Wellesley’s first president, Ada Howard, and nearly all of the College’s early educators and administrators were women. The first students, numbering 314, moved into College Hall and began classes in 1875. From that first class, 18 were graduated in 1879.

Wellesley's Earliest Years
Over the next 25 years, Wellesley College developed from a nascent institution into a vibrant academic community built upon a strong liberal arts foundation. A major revision of the curriculum in the 1890s resulted in the development of courses of study in all the major sciences and the addition of many renowned members of the faculty, including Mary Whitin Calkins, who established one of the first psychology laboratories in the country in 1891; Emily Greene Balch, recipient of the 1946 Nobel Peace Prize, who taught economics and sociology; Katharine Lee Bates ’80, who taught English and authored many works, including “America the Beautiful.”

A number of student organizations and campus traditions that continue to contribute to Wellesley’s identity today were established during this early period, including Tree Day, hoop rolling, Flower Sunday, and step singing. Student Government was established in 1901.

The Twentieth Century
On March 17, 1914, College Hall was destroyed by fire. Though no lives were lost, Wellesley College suffered greatly from the loss of the oldest and most central building on campus. As the College rebuilt following the tragedy, nine major buildings were constructed in the next 17 years, and the academic center of the campus was relocated atop Norumbega Hill.

World War II brought additional changes, and attention, to Wellesley College. Wellesley’s seventh president, Mildred McAfee, took a leave of absence from 1942 to 1946 to lead the WAVES (Women’s Reserve of the U.S. Navy) and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal in 1945. The campus also hosted men for the Navy Officer's Training Corps during the war. The College abandoned a number of post-baccalaureate programs soon after the war. Though vestiges of the original academic program remained, the modern Wellesley education was emerging.

Two of Wellesley's most famous alumnae—Madeleine Korbel Albright '59 and Hillary Rodham Clinton '69—were graduated in the following years. During the late 1960s another large curriculum revision occurred, polishing the modern course of study grounded in the liberal arts with significant and renowned science departments. Since 1968, exchange programs with other colleges such as MIT have further enhanced educational opportunities available to Wellesley students.

Wellesley College, outside of Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the most beautiful campuses in North America.
Wellesley's 500 acres include a private lake, a golf club, groves of conifers and hardwoods, and winding paths through open meadows. Stunning brick and stone buildings rise from wooded hills. From almost every window on campus, the view opens out to an inviting vista—through pine trees to the shores of Lake Waban, down sweeping lawns to century-old oaks with magnificent gnarled branches.

The landscape has always been central to the identity of Wellesley College and to the experience of its students. Henry Fowle Durant, who founded the college in 1870 (it opened in 1875), believed that young women should be educated in the midst of beauty. Landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. described Wellesley's landscape in 1902 as "not merely beautiful, but with a marked individual character not represented so far as I know on the ground of any other college in the country." Glacial topography, he believed, gave the campus "its peculiar kind of intricate beauty."

Located at Wellesley, Massachusetts (12 miles west of Boston).

The majority of Wellesley College students live in college residence halls, making them a vital part of Wellesley's learning environment.

The residence hall system fosters a sense of community through student self-government and program planning. All residence halls have both cooking and laundry facilities. For the health and comfort of our students, employees, and guests, smoking is not permitted in the residence halls. Please note that all beds are extra long twin.

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