Wellesley College was founded in 1870 by Henry Fowle Durant and Pauline Cazenove Durant. An impassioned believer in educational opportunity for women, Mr. Durant wanted to prepare women for "...great conflicts, for vast reforms in social life." When he founded the College, Mr. Durant proclaimed, "women can do the work. I give them the chance." He was referring not only to the 314 students comprising the first class, but also to its initial staff of seven appointed professors and 14 teachers, all, but one, women. Above all, he referred to Ada Howard whom he appointed president of his daring venture -- a college designed to offer supposedly delicate 19th-century ladies education as rigorous and demanding as that available to the most able male scholars of their day.
Alice Freeman Palmer succeeded President Howard six years after the College opened, furthering the high academic standards for which it has since been known. A succession of remarkable women followed her. These have included Ellen Fitz Pendleton, who during her 25 years in office directed the rebuilding of the campus after the catastrophic College Hall fire of 1914; Mildred McAfee Horton, Director of WAVES during World War II; Margaret Clapp, historian and Pulitzer Prize winning biographer; Ruth M. Adams, president during the period that introduced exchange programs and continuing education; and Barbara W. Newell, during whose tenure the College celebrated its Centennial and launched the Center for Research on Women and the Stone Center for Developmental Services and Studies.
Nannerl Overholser Keohane provided inspired leadership through the eighties and into the last decade of the 20th century. The College's academic reputation was further enhanced during her tenure, and its financial underpinnings were greatly strengthened. The Committee for Wellesley in the '90s reaffirmed Wellesley's essential purpose: providing an excellent liberal arts education for women who will make a difference in the world. Diana Chapman Walsh, the 12th president and fourth alumna to guide the College, follows in the tradition of powerful women leaders, at the helm of an institution solidly positioned to continue as a voice for educational excellence, social justice, and women's concerns.
Reaching back through more than a century, the College has sustained its essential character and mission while adapting to a changing environment. Wellesley attracts a talented and diverse student body: 2,300 women from 68 countries, 55 states and outlying areas, and virtually every ethnic, racial, religious, and cultural background. Nontraditional age students enroll through the Elisabeth Kaiser Davis Degree Program. Wellesley has a distinguished faculty; 56% of full-time faculty are women, as are 53% in the tenured ranks.
Wellesley's liberal arts curriculum is dynamic and responsive to change. Innovative interdisciplinary projects such as the INCIPIT (Introduction to Collaboration: Interdisciplinary Problems and Intellectual Tools) Program and the Learning and Teaching Center have been launched, and a first-year writing course is now a degree requirement. Wellesley has maintained a strong affiliation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for more than two decades, and has exchanges with other colleges and universities here and abroad.
Inspired by the compelling motto selected by Mr. Durant, "not to be ministered unto, but to minister," alumnae, faculty, and staff of Wellesley have indeed made a difference in the world. The College is dedicated to resilient values that have endured through great conflicts and vast social reforms.
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