Simmons University
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| File:Simmons College Seal.svg | |
| Type | Private women's undergraduate college, graduate programs for men and women |
|---|---|
| Established | 1899 |
| President | Helen Drinan |
Academic staff | 251 full-time/327 part-time |
| Undergraduates | 2,060 women |
| Postgraduates | 2,873 men and women |
| Location | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Affiliations | Colleges of the Fenway |
| Mascot | Shark |
| Website | www.simmons.edu |
 | |
Simmons College is a women's college in Boston, Massachusetts. Simmons is noted for its emphasis on pre-professional undergraduate education.
History
Simmons was founded in 1899 with a bequest by John Simmons to educate women in useful professions, so they could have an independent livelihood. Simmons is a member of the Colleges of the Fenway consortium which also includes Emmanuel College, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Wheelock College, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Simmons absorbed Garland Junior College in 1976.[1]
The undergraduate program is single-sex, with 2,060 students enrolled in the 2008-2009 academic year. The graduate schools (Library and Information Science, Social Work, Health Sciences, Management, and an Arts and Sciences program which provide degrees in Education, Communications Management, Gender and Cultural Studies and Liberal Arts) are mostly coed. The exception to the coed graduate programs is the School of Management, which provides the world's first MBA designed for women.
Simmons alumnae include Nnenna Freelon, Gwen Ifill, Denise DiNovi, Elinor Lipman, Ann Fudge, Rebecca Miller Sykes, Lonnie Barbach, Sage Vivant, Audra Mika, Bertha Reynolds, Suzyn Waldman and Srinagarindra, the late Princess Mother of Thailand .
Simmons faculty include Gregory Maguire, the author of the popular novels Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Son of a Witch and many others. Maguire was a professor and co-director at the Simmons College Center for the Study of Children's Literature from 1979-1985. Also, Nancy Bond, winner of a Newbery Honor, who taught at the Simmons College Center for the Study of Children's Literature from 1979 to 2001.
The president, Helen Drinan, is an alumna of the School of Management and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science.
Overview of the campus
Simmons College currently consists of two separate campuses located near the Back Bay Fens in Boston:
Academic Campus
The Academic Campus is located at 300 The Fenway in the Longwood Medical Area. It is immediately adjacent to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Boston Latin School. This campus currently consists of five buildings:
- One Palace Road
- Main College Building
- Beatley Library/Lefavour Hall
- Park Science Center
- School of Management and Academic Building
In 2006, an overhaul of Beatley Library was completed and a large project to replace a surface parking lot with a large underground garage was begun. Above the new garage the college constructed a new building to house the School of Management, which was formerly located on Commonwealth Avenue. In 2009, the new School of Management and Academic Building and the remodeling of the Fens Cafeteria was completed. [2] In April 2009, the College received Gold LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for its School of Management and Academic Building. [3]
Residence Campus
The Residence Campus is located several blocks from the main campus. It is near the Landmark Center and the Fenway and Longwood MBTA stations. The residence campus consists of 13 buildings centered on a grassy quad:
- Simmons Hall
- Dix Hall
- Smith Hall (Quadside Cafe)
- Arnold Hall
- North Hall
- Health Center and Residence Life Offices
- Holmes Sports Center
- South Hall
- Alumnae Hall
- Bartol Dining Hall
- Evans Hall
- Mesick Hall
- Morse Hall
Most of the buildings on the residence campus serve as dormitories, but the campus also includes a large dining hall, a health center, a large fitness center, a public safety office, an auditorium, and several other facilities.
The residence campus is separated from the main campus by Emmanuel College and Merck Research Laboratories Boston.
Academic structure
The principal academic units of Simmons College are:
- Undergraduate College
- College of Arts and Sciences Graduate Studies
- Graduate School of Library and Information Science
- School of Health Sciences
- School of Management
- School of Social Work
The college also has a library with more than 250,000 volumes.