Chestnut Hill College is a private

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

college in the Chestnut Hill section of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. The college was founded in 1924 as a

women's college Women's colleges in higher education are undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institutions, often liberal arts colleges, whose student populations are composed exclusively or almost exclusively of women. Some women's colleges admit male stud ...

by the

Sisters of St. Joseph The Sisters of St. Joseph, also known as the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, abbreviated CSJ or SSJ, is a Roman Catholic religious congregation of women founded in Le Puy-en-Velay, France, in 1650. This congregation, named for S ...

. It was originally named Mount Saint Joseph College. In 1980, the college established a coeducational graduate education program and started to admit male students to its undergraduate programs in 2003. As of 2012, a total of 2,318 students were enrolled in Chestnut Hill College's three constituent schools, with fewer than 900 as undergraduates.

History

Located at the northwestern edge of Philadelphia, on , overlooking the

Wissahickon Creek Wissahickon Creek is a tributary of the Schuylkill River in Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties, Pennsylvania. Wissahickon Creek rises in Montgomery County, runs approximately 23 miles (37 km) passing through and dividing Northwest ...

, Chestnut Hill College opened in 1924 as a Catholic, four-year,

liberal arts college A liberal arts college or liberal arts institution of higher education is a college with an emphasis on undergraduate study in liberal arts and sciences. Such colleges aim to impart a broad general knowledge and develop general intellectual capac ...

for women. Founded as Mount Saint Joseph College by the

, the college was renamed in 1938 as Chestnut Hill College. In the 1960s, the high school section moved to Flourtown, about away, and retains the original name Mount Saint Joseph. Throughout its history, the college has aimed to offer a liberal arts education that provides students with a broad background in the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences, to prepare students for life's challenges by helping them to grow intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, and socially. The

curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view ...

has been modified over time. The college originally awarded only the

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

and

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degrees to young women of traditional college age. In 1972, a

continuing education Continuing education (similar to further education in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland) is an all-encompassing term within a broad list of post-secondary learning activities and programs. The term is used mainly in the United ...

department, now called the School of Continuing Studies, was established to extend opportunities for undergraduate study to mature women and men. Many classes are conducted on evenings and weekends to accommodate the schedules of older students. The

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

School of Graduate Studies was established in 1980 to offer

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

s; in 1997, it added a doctoral program. Academic changes also included expanding beyond the physical limits of the campus. As a member of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Consortium for Higher Education (SEPCHE), Chestnut Hill pursues a collaborative approach to higher education with seven other local institutions. Through membership in the Association of Colleges of Sisters of St. Joseph (ACSSJ), Chestnut Hill offers its students opportunities to enrich their educational experiences by studying at seven other colleges in the United States. Study-abroad programs also are available. In November 2001, Chestnut Hill College announced plans to admit men to the traditional-age, full-time undergraduate program in fall 2003. With the enrollment of male students, the 78-year-old College for Women became the School of Undergraduate Studies. Enrollment increased dramatically after the undergraduate college became coeducational, increasing 80% by fall 2005, and total enrollment numbered well over 2,000 in the 2010s.

Campus

The Chestnut Hill

campus A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a college campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls, student centers or dining halls, and park-like se ...

is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. For many years the main buildings were St. Joseph Hall, with a six-story

Greco-Roman The Greco-Roman civilization (; also Greco-Roman culture; spelled Graeco-Roman in the Commonwealth), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and countries that culturally—and so historically—were di ...

rotunda and

French Gothic French Gothic architecture is an architectural style which emerged in France in 1140, and was dominant until the mid-16th century. The most notable examples are the great Gothic cathedrals of France, including Notre-Dame Cathedral, Reims Cathedra ...

exterior, Fournier Hall, a jewel of Italian

Romanesque architecture Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe characterized by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque style, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 11th century, this lat ...

, and Clement Hall, which houses classrooms and modest athletic facilities, including a swimming pool. The campus grounds include a grotto and fountain, the House of Loretto, and an elegant main chapel that was inspired by

Sainte-Chapelle The Sainte-Chapelle (; en, Holy Chapel) is a royal chapel in the Gothic style, within the medieval Palais de la Cité, the residence of the Kings of France until the 14th century, on the Île de la Cité in the River Seine in Paris, France. Co ...

in Paris. Logue Library, Fontbonne Hall, Barbara D'Iorio Martino Hall and, most recently, a new residence hall called Fitzsimmons Hall are relatively new additions to accommodate the college's growth. New structures were designed to preserve the architectural integrity of the campus while addressing specific educational or student life needs. In recent years, the science facilities and computer laboratories have been renovated to help create a 21st-century teaching and learning environment. Martino Hall includes "smart" classrooms and seminar rooms that are part of the campus-wide interactive network. In 2006, Chestnut Hill announced the acquisition (from the Albert M. Greenfield Foundation for $11 million) of the Sugarloaf Estate, a non-contiguous property across Germantown Avenue and Wissahickon Creek from the existing campus. It was previously used as The Albert M. Greenfield Conference Center of

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

as well as the headquarters of the Greenfield Foundation, and from 1952 to 1967, as the residence of the Foundation's namesake, local realty magnate Albert M. Greenfield. The additional property was used to accommodate additional campus expansion, including a residence hall. In addition, the 1929 Steel-Greenfield mansion was restored to its original appearance and renovated for classroom, conference and meeting use, and is now known as Commonwealth Chateau.

Alumni

More than 10,000 individuals have earned degrees from Chestnut Hill College since 1924. The list of accomplished graduates includes numerous representatives in medicine, law, research, education, business, and social service. One alumna,

Kathleen Byerly Kathleen Mae Bruyere ( Donahue, previously Byerly; 5 February 19443 September 2020) was a captain in the United States Navy. She was one of the twelve women named by ''Time'' magazine as Time Person of the Year in 1975, representing American wo ...

, was among the women featured in ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine when the American Woman was selected Time's Person of the Year for 1975.

Frances Spence Frances V. Spence ( Bilas; March 2, 1922 – July 18, 2012) was one of the original programmers for the ENIAC (the first electronic digital computer). She is considered one of the first computer programmers in history. The other five ENIAC progr ...

, one of the original

ENIAC ENIAC (; Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was the first programmable, electronic, general-purpose digital computer, completed in 1945. There were other computers that had these features, but the ENIAC had all of them in one packa ...

programmers, graduated from Chestnut Hill College in 1942. Writer of "The Cat I Never Named" Dr Amra Sabic-el-Rayess went to Chestnut Hill for one semester after escaping genocide in

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

Academics

The college offers Associate of Arts, Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Music, and Bachelor of Science degrees. It also offers graduate programs in professional fields as well as the Doctor in Clinical Psychology degree (Psy.D.).

Athletics

Chestnut Hill College's sports teams are known as the Griffins. Chestnut Hill College is an

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

institution that competes in the

Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference The Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (or CACC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Its fourteen member institutions are located in the northeastern ...

(CACC). Previously, Chestnut Hill was a charter member of the

North Eastern Athletic Conference The United East Conference (UEC), formerly known as the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC), is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division III. Member institutions are located in the Mid-Atlantic region of th ...

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their stu ...

from 2004–2005 to 2006–2007. The college sponsors 17 varsity intercollegiate sports teams, with baseball, basketball, football, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer,

sprint football Sprint football, formerly called lightweight football, is a varsity sport played by United States colleges and universities, under standard American football rules. As of the 2022 season, the sport is governed by the Collegiate Sprint Football ...

, and tennis for men, and basketball, bowling, cross country, lacrosse, soccer, softball, tennis, and volleyball for women.

Julia Cohen Julia Cohen (born March 23, 1989) is an American former professional tennis player. In 2001, she won the USTA National Spring Championships 12-Under Division Championship. In her career, Cohen won five singles and four doubles titles on the ITF ...

, formerly in the top 100 in the world in women's tennis, is an assistant coach of the tennis teams. Chestnut Hill College also has a Quidditch team. The Chestnut Hill College Griffins placed third at the 2008 Intercollegiate Quidditch Association World Cup and earned first place at the 2014 Brotherly Love Cup. They host an annual Harry Potter Festival in mid- to late October.

References

External links

Official website

Official athletics website
{{authority control Former women's universities and colleges in the United States Universities and colleges in Philadelphia Catholic universities and colleges in Pennsylvania Sisters of Saint Joseph colleges and universities Educational institutions established in 1924 Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia 1924 establishments in Pennsylvania