Edgecliff College was a
private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
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 ...
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 ...
located in
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
,
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
. It was founded in 1935 and merged with
Xavier University
Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati and Evanston (Cincinnati), Ohio. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier has an undergraduate enrollment of 4,860 studen ...
, also of Cincinnati, in 1980.
History
The college was founded as Our Lady of Cincinnati College by the
Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They a ...
, a
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
religious institute
A religious institute is a type of institute of consecrated life in the Catholic Church whose members take religious vows and lead a life in community with fellow members. Religious institutes are one of the two types of institutes of consecrate ...
. The college was designed to serve as a replacement for the
College of Sacred Heart in
Clifton
Clifton may refer to:
People
*Clifton (surname)
*Clifton (given name)
Places
Australia
* Clifton, Queensland, a town
**Shire of Clifton
*Clifton, New South Wales, a suburb of Wollongong
*Clifton, Western Australia
Canada
*Clifton, Nova Scotia ...
, which had ceased operations. The campus was located on a hill in the
Walnut Hills section of the city, which offered students views of northern
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...
and the
Ohio River
The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...
.
Edgecliff received its accreditation from the
Higher Learning Commission
The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is an institutional accreditor in the United States. It has historically accredited post-secondary education institutions in the central United States: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa ...
in 1955. A
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 ...
, a variety of programs of study were offered, including
majors
Jonathan Michael Majors (born September 7, 1989)Majors in is an American actor. He rose to prominence after starring in the independent feature film ''The Last Black Man in San Francisco'' (2019). In 2020, he garnered wider notice for portraying ...
in
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
,
art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
,
social work
Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...
, and
nursing
Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...
. In 1969, the name was changed to Edgecliff College. A year later, the first
male
Male (symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization.
A male organism cannot reproduce sexually without access to ...
students were admitted, making the college fully
coeducation
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 ...
al.
In the late 1970s, Edgecliff developed an
articulation agreement with the
Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science
Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science (CCMS) is a private mortuary science college in Springfield, Ohio. CCMS is the oldest school of its kind in the United States, tracing its history back to the Clarke School, which organized its first class ...
, which allowed CCMS students to receive their
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
at Edgecliff after receiving their
diploma
A diploma is a document awarded by an educational institution (such as a college or university) testifying the recipient has graduated by successfully completing their courses of studies. Historically, it has also referred to a charter or offici ...
and
Associate's degree
An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree.
The fi ...
from CCMS. By 1979, the CCMS campus had moved onto the Edgecliff campus, though the two colleges continued to operate as separate institutions.
Following financial struggles, Edgecliff officially
merged
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...
with Xavier University on July 1, 1980. The final Edgecliff class graduated in 1984. All student records are now held by Xavier, and services for the more than 3,500 living
alumni
Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...
are organized through the university. Xavier's Alumni Hall was renamed Edgecliff Hall in honor of the college.
[Fortin, p. 358.]
In 1986, Xavier closed the Edgecliff campus and sold it to a private developer. The developer wanted to build two condominium towers on the cliff overlooking the Ohio River, but ultimately built only the first 23-story tower and gave the rest of the hillside to the Cincinnati Hillside Trust. The
University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...
bought all of the rest of the land and the academic buildings from the developer, renovated the buildings and added an academic building, and moved its
College of Applied Science to the location in 1988 from its historic home at the Emery Building (Walnut and Central Parkway).
In 1977,
several of the buildings were 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 their architecture, and the
Edgecliff House itself was individually granted the same designation in 1980;
it has since been demolished.
See also
*
*
List of university and college mergers in the United States
This is a list of mergers of universities and/or colleges in the United States with the name of the surviving institution, predecessors, and effective date.
A through D
*Alderson Broaddus University – merger of Alderson Academy and Broaddus In ...
References
Sources
*
Further reading
*
History of CCMS"
Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science
Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science (CCMS) is a private mortuary science college in Springfield, Ohio. CCMS is the oldest school of its kind in the United States, tracing its history back to the Clarke School, which organized its first class ...
. Accessed February 16, 2008.
* Johnston, John.
Edgecliff finds a home" ''
The Cincinnati Enquirer
''The Cincinnati Enquirer'' is a morning daily newspaper published by Gannett in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. First published in 1841, the ''Enquirer'' is the last remaining daily newspaper in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, alth ...
''. November 16, 1999.
* Schier, Tracy. ''Catholic Women's Colleges in America''. 2002.
* Songe, Alice H. ''American Universities and Colleges: A Dictionary of Name Changes''. 1978.
External links
Edgecliff Alumni AssociationHigher Learning Commission: Edgecliff CollegeXavier University
{{Authority control
Educational institutions disestablished in 1980
Defunct private universities and colleges in Ohio
Defunct Catholic universities and colleges in the United States
Educational institutions established in 1935
Embedded educational institutions
Xavier University
1935 establishments in Ohio
Catholic universities and colleges in Ohio
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati
Buildings and structures in Cincinnati
Samuel Hannaford buildings
Historic districts in Cincinnati
National Register of Historic Places in Cincinnati
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio