Hollins University is a
private university
Private universities and private colleges are institutions of higher education, not operated, owned, or institutionally funded by governments. They may (and often do) receive from governments tax breaks, public student loans, and grant (money ...
in
Hollins, Virginia. Founded in 1842 as Valley Union Seminary in the historical settlement of
Botetourt Springs, it is
one of the oldest institutions of higher education for women in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
.
Hollins enrolls about 800 undergraduate and graduate students. As Virginia's first chartered
women's college, undergraduate programs are female-only. Men are admitted to the graduate-level programs.
Hollins is known for its undergraduate and graduate writing programs, which have produced
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...
-winning authors
Annie Dillard
Annie Dillard (born April 30, 1945) is an American author, best known for her narrative prose in both fiction and non-fiction. She has published works of poetry, essays, prose, and literary criticism, as well as two novels and one memoir. Her 19 ...
, former U.S. poet laureate
Natasha Trethewey
Natasha Trethewey (born April 26, 1966) is an American poet who was appointed United States Poet Laureate in 2012 and again in 2013. She won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for her 2006 collection ''Native Guard'', and she is a former Poet La ...
, and
Henry S. Taylor
Henry Splawn Taylor (born June 21, 1942) is an American poet, author of more than 15 books of poems, translation, and nonfiction, and winner of the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
Taylor was born in Lincoln, Virginia, in rural Loudoun County, w ...
. Other prominent alumnae include pioneering sportswriter
Mary Garber, 2006
Man Booker Prize
The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...
winner
Kiran Desai
Kiran Desai (born 3 September 1971) is an Indian author. Her novel ''The Inheritance of Loss'' won the 2006 Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award. In January 2015, The Economic Times listed her as one of 20 "mo ...
, UC-Berkeley's first tenured female physicist (and a principal contributor to theories for detecting the
Higgs boson
The Higgs boson, sometimes called the Higgs particle, is an elementary particle in the Standard Model of particle physics produced by the quantum excitation of the Higgs field,
one of the fields in particle physics theory. In the Stan ...
)
Mary K. Gaillard, ''
Goodnight Moon'' author
Margaret Wise Brown
Margaret Wise Brown (May 23, 1910 – November 13, 1952) was an American writer of children's books, including '' Goodnight Moon'' and '' The Runaway Bunny'', both illustrated by Clement Hurd. She has been called "the laureate of the nursery" fo ...
, author
Lee Smith, photographer
Sally Mann, and
Ellen Malcolm, founder of
EMILY's List
EMILY's List is an American political action committee (PAC) that aims to help elect Democratic female candidates in favor of abortion rights to office. It was founded by Ellen Malcolm in 1985. The group's name is an acronym for "Early Money ...
.
History
The area where Hollins College developed was the site of
Botetourt Springs. The area developed as a resort which operated from 1820 to 1841. It then became the site of a short-lived seminary. When it failed the property and buildings were acquired for Valley Union Seminary.
1842–1855: Valley Union Seminary and Charles Lewis Cocke
![Cocke](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Cocke.jpg)
The institution of higher learning that would become Hollins was first established in 1842 by the Reverend Joshua Bradley as the coeducational Valley Union Seminary.
Bradley left in 1845 for
Missouri
Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...
, and in 1846, the seminary's trustees hired a 25-year-old math instructor from
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, Californi ...
named Charles Lewis Cocke to direct the institution.
Cocke years, 1846 -
Cocke arrived with his wife, Susanna, and 16 slaves. The same year, Cocke established the first school for enslaved people in the Roanoke area; many students at the school worked at the seminary. In 1851, Cocke abolished the men's department of the institution, and in 1852, the school became a
women's college called the Roanoke Female Seminary.
In 1855,
Lynchburg residents John and Ann Halsey Hollins gave $5,000, and the school was renamed Hollins Institute.
The Hollinses gave an additional $12,500 in gifts before their deaths in 1859 and 1864 respectively.
Slaves and servants
Before the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...
, Hollins used the labor of
enslaved people to build and maintain the grounds. In addition, many students brought "servants" with them who were likely slaves. After
slavery was abolished, Hollins employed many formerly enslaved people, mostly women whose names were not recorded. Students were encouraged to ignore these workers in the college handbook during this era, and employees were forbidden from developing friendly relationships with women studying at Hollins.
1855 - 1870s: Family institution
As the head of Hollins, Cocke saw his students as a part of a family and himself as their father figure. His
pedagogy
Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...
was based upon the "southern sensibility that a lady was to be trained to submit to the order of men".
Though he thought women studying at Hollins were best confined to domestic duties, he still placed great value on intellectual excellence.
Cocke considered the higher education of young women in the South to be his life's calling; in 1857, he wrote that "young women require the same thorough and rigid mental training as that afforded to young men".
Hollins was known as a rigorous institution where degrees were not easily earned during Cocke's tenure. Students at the school during this period remember the "unbelieveably serious" instruction and "high standards".
During this period, Hollins also pioneered several academic practices; it became the first school in the United States to begin a system of elective study, and it was the first to establish an English department under a full professor.
1880s - 1901
The Hollins of Cocke's ambitions was limited by region, as Cocke was interested in educating women only from
Southern states.
Because of this limited scope, Hollins struggled to "professionalize" in the 1880s and beyond. Its remote location far from the better respected and funded men's institutions put Hollins in contrast with the
Seven Sisters in the Northeast. Despite its academic rigor, Hollins and other southern women's colleges were smaller and poorer than women's college such as
Smith College
Smith College is a private liberal arts women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith and opened in 1875. It is the largest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite women's coll ...
and
Mount Holyoke
Mount Holyoke, a traprock mountain, elevation , is the westernmost peak of the Holyoke Range and part of the 100-mile (160 km) Metacomet Ridge. The mountain is located in the Connecticut River Valley of western Massachusetts, and is the ...
in the north. However, Hollins saw its enrollment rise in the last two decades of the 19th century, as more women sought higher education nationwide.
From 1846 until his death, Cocke did not take a stipulated salary from the institution so that the trustees could instead put the school's income toward paying faculty and improving the grounds.
In 1900, the board of trustees found themselves so thoroughly in debt to Cocke that the school was deeded to him and his family.
1901–1932: Matty Cocke and accreditation
Charles Lewis Cocke's death in 1901 at the age of eighty-one was a grave moment for the Hollins Institute, but the transition to the leadership of his forty-five-year-old daughter
Matty Cocke was smooth. "Miss Matty," as she preferred to be called, was intent on preserving the "genteel" atmosphere her father had cultivated at Hollins.
Though she was a "charismatic leader"
and the first woman to head a college in Virginia, Miss Cocke was not interested in waging any battles for women's education; indeed, she let her nephews, Joseph Turner and M. Estes Cocke, handle the school's financial dealings entirely. Miss Cocke shared the opinion of President John McBryde of
Sweet Briar Women's College, who in 1907 decried the "independence" sought by
Vassar and other members of the Seven Sisters and suggested instead that women's education focus on "grace
ndrefinement". In 1911, the school was renamed Hollins College.
![Harriett_Huldah_Fillinger_(b](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Harriett_Huldah_Fillinger_%28b._1890%29_%288492299978%29.jpg)
Because the Cocke family owned Hollins, the school could not raise an endowment through alumna donations. Further stalling Hollins' prosperity was President Matty Cocke's distaste for
fundraising
Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...
.
Due to their financial limitations, Hollins was not able to hire high-quality faculty or assemble an up-to-date library or laboratory, making accreditation hard to achieve. This was not unusual for the time; as of 1916, only seven southern women's college were certified by professional organizations as "standard," while both Hollins and
Sweet Briar were designated as "approximate". The Cocke family agreed to turn over ownership if sufficient funds were raised in 1925, but the
Depression slowed their efforts. A scathing 1930 letter from alumna Eudora Ramsay Richardson in the ''South Atlantic Quarterly'' indicted the
American Association of University Women
The American Association of University Women (AAUW), officially founded in 1881, is a non-profit organization that advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research. The organization has a nationwide network of 170,000 ...
for regional bias. Richardson's letter and prompting from the presidents of
Mount Holyoke
Mount Holyoke, a traprock mountain, elevation , is the westernmost peak of the Holyoke Range and part of the 100-mile (160 km) Metacomet Ridge. The mountain is located in the Connecticut River Valley of western Massachusetts, and is the ...
and
Bryn Mawr sped up the accreditation process. The Cocke family turned the school over to a board of trustees and President Cocke tendered her resignation in 1932, as the school finally gained accreditation.
1933–present
Hollins was home to the first exhibition gallery in the Roanoke region in 1948. In 1950 when he was 31 years of age
John R. Everett was elected President of Hollins College, a position he held until he resigned in 1960.
One of the first writer-in-residence programs in America began at Hollins in 1959. Hollins was home to the first graduate program focusing on the writing and study of children's literature, established in 1993. Hollins University Quadrangle is 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 ...
.The institution was renamed Hollins College in 1911, and in 1998 it became Hollins University.
Nancy Oliver Gray led Hollins from 2005 until she retired in 2017; that same year, Pareena Gupta Lawrence, an economist and an Asian-American immigrant, became Hollins's twelfth president.
![Blackface photo p](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Blackface_photo_p._177_Hollins_University_yearbook_The_Spinster_%281915%29_%28page_101_crop%29.jpg)
In April 2019, the president directed the temporary removal of four volumes of the university yearbook from the library's
digital commons
Digital Commons is a commercial, hosted institutional repository platform owned by RELX Group. This hosted service, licensed by bepress, is used by over 500 academic institutions, healthcare centers, public libraries, and research centers to show ...
after the
2019 blackface controversy involving Virginia Governor
Ralph Northam
Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf").
The most common forms ...
. The four volumes (1915, 1950, 1969, 1985) contained photographs of students wearing
blackface. The university issued a statement saying access to the digitized yearbooks would be restored as soon as the university developed accompanying "educational information regarding the history and practice of blackface to help all of us understand why it is a racist and prejudicial practice." The removal was criticized by the
Society of American Archivists
The Society of American Archivists is the oldest and largest archivist association in North America, serving the educational and informational needs of more than 5,000 individual archivist and institutional members. Established in 1936, the or ...
, the
American Library Association
The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members ...
's Office of Intellectual Freedom, and the
Virginia Library Association
The Virginia Library Association (VLA) is a nonprofit organization whose purpose is "to develop, promote, and improve library and information services, library staff, and the profession of librarianship in order to advance literacy and learning a ...
. The digitized volumes were still available on the Internet Archive, and all physical copies of the yearbooks were also available in the library. The Wyndham Robertson Library and the Working Group on Slavery issued a statement in response objecting to the decision, stating that, "we cannot and do not support any erasure of institutional history, even if only temporarily" and recommended that the affected yearbooks be made electronically accessible again along with a statement on the content. Access to the four digitized volumes was restored on April 9, less than one week after their removal along with the added educational content.
Mary Dana Hinton became the thirteenth president of Hollins University on August 1, 2020. She is the first African American president in the university's history. An active and respected proponent of the liberal arts and inclusion, her leadership reflects a deep and abiding commitment to educational equity (as opposed to equality) and the education of women.
Architectural history
The Hollins College Quadrangle consists of six contributing buildings. The earliest buildings were built for the
Botetourt Springs resort which operated from 1820 to 1841 and then became a seminary. When it failed the property and buildings were acquired for Valley Union Seminary.
The first built specifically for the new college is East Building, erected 1856–58 opposite the hotel building. The Main building was built in 1861 at the north end of the quadrangle, Bradley Chapel was erected in 1883 between the East and Main Buildings, the octagonal Botetourt Hall was built in 1890, and the Charles Cocke Memorial Library was built in 1908 at the south end of the quadrangle.
[ an]
''Accompanying photo''
/ref>
The main dorm of Hollins University was decorated and improved in the 19th century by local carpenter and woodworker Gustave A. Sedon. "In Sedon's daybook, his journals, all these bits and pieces of decorations are noted. Seadon (sic) was a very interesting character with a wry sense of humor, even though he had troubles spelling in English. One year just before the Civil War, his journal notes he had to build a walkway to the necessary—a walk way to the outhouse behind the building. The next year he cryptically noted a cover to the walkway to the necessary. Obviously, the young ladies didn't like getting wet as they walked downstairs."
Hollins College Quadrangle was added to 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 ...
in 1974.
Traditions
Hollins University has a number of beloved traditions, many of which have been observed for more than 100 years. Tinker Day is the school's best known and best loved tradition, dating back to the 1880s. One day in October, after the first frost, classes are cancelled so that students, faculty, and staff can climb nearby Tinker Mountain while wearing colorful and silly costumes. After a lunch of fried chicken and Tinker Cake, the students and new faculty perform skits and sing songs before returning to campus. The exact date of the celebration is a closely held secret.
Academics
Hollins offers small classes with a 9:1 student-teacher ratio in a variety of majors. The most popular majors are English, psychology, studio art, business, and biology. Currently Hollins offers graduate programs in dance (M.F.A.), creative writing (M.F.A.), children's literature (M.A., M.F.A.), liberal studies (M.A.L.S.), playwriting (M.F.A.), screenwriting and film studies (M.A., M.F.A.), and teaching (M.A.T.). , Hollins offers a graduate-level certificate in Children's Book Illustration.
Hollins was one of the first colleges in the nation to establish a study abroad program, launching Hollins Abroad-Paris in 1955. Approximately half of Hollins students have an international learning experience. Hollins runs its own programs in London and Paris; non-Hollins students are free to apply to the Hollins Abroad-London and-Paris programs. Hollins students can also study through Hollins-sponsored programs in Argentina, Germany, Ghana, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Japan, Mexico, Spain, South Africa, and in various other countries through the School for Field Studies. Hollins also sponsors an annual service-learning project in Lucea, Jamaica.
In January, or J-Term, students follow their own independent course of study with a sponsoring professor, take off-campus internships, or study abroad with other Hollins students. The innovative 4-1-4 calendar, established in 1968, was one of the first in the nation.
Hollins's peer tutoring center is known as the Center for Learning Excellence and includes the Writing Center, which offers students support and feedback on their writing interests, and the QR Center, established in 2002, which offers support to students enrolled in quantitative courses.
Curriculum
A liberal arts school, Hollins has designed its own Education through Skills and Perspectives (ESP) general education requirement program. Rather than focusing on the usual math, science, English, and history booklist of required courses, Hollins requires each student to take a variety of skills classes (writing, oral communication, applied quantitative reasoning, and applied research techniques) and perspectives classes (aesthetic analysis, creative expression, ancient and/or medieval worlds, modern and/or contemporary worlds, social and cultural diversities, scientific inquiry, and global systems and languages). These requirements can be completed in as few as 8 courses but aim to help the students explore other fields of study while rounding out their basic understanding of the world.
Hollins offers majors in the fields of studio art, art history, biology, business, chemistry, classical studies, communication studies, dance, economics, English, environmental studies, film, French, gender and women's studies, history, interdisciplinary studies, international studies, mathematics, music, philosophy, political science, psychology, public health, religious studies, sociology, Spanish, and theatre.
Other academic offerings include: arts management certificate, the Batten certificate in leadership studies
Leadership studies is a multidisciplinary academic field of study that focuses on leadership in organizational contexts and in human life. Leadership studies has origins in the social sciences (e.g., sociology, anthropology, psychology), in ...
, Hollins Outdoor Leadership certificate, education, first-year seminars, three-year accelerated degree program, pre-law, pre-med, pre-nursing, pre-vet, short term, and Horizon program for adult women.
Writing Program
The graduate program in creative writing was founded by Louis D. Rubin, Jr., in 1960, but Hollins has offered classes in creative writing for even longer. In 2008 the Jackson Center for Creative Writing was established through a private donation from Susan Gager Jackson '68 and her husband, John Jackson, of Far Hills, New Jersey.
The Jackson Center for Creative Writing is home to Hollins' esteemed undergraduate and graduate writing programs, which have produced dozens of writers of national and international acclaim, including Lee Smith '67 and Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...
winners Annie Dillard
Annie Dillard (born April 30, 1945) is an American author, best known for her narrative prose in both fiction and non-fiction. She has published works of poetry, essays, prose, and literary criticism, as well as two novels and one memoir. Her 19 ...
'67, M.A. '68; Henry S. Taylor
Henry Splawn Taylor (born June 21, 1942) is an American poet, author of more than 15 books of poems, translation, and nonfiction, and winner of the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
Taylor was born in Lincoln, Virginia, in rural Loudoun County, w ...
M.A. '66; and Natasha Trethewey
Natasha Trethewey (born April 26, 1966) is an American poet who was appointed United States Poet Laureate in 2012 and again in 2013. She won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for her 2006 collection ''Native Guard'', and she is a former Poet La ...
M.A. '91. Kiran Desai
Kiran Desai (born 3 September 1971) is an Indian author. Her novel ''The Inheritance of Loss'' won the 2006 Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award. In January 2015, The Economic Times listed her as one of 20 "mo ...
M.A. '94 won both the Man Booker Prize
The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...
for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".[Madison Smartt Bell
Madison Smartt Bell (born August 1, 1957, in Nashville, Tennessee) is an American novelist. While established as a writer by several early novels, he is especially known for his trilogy of novels about Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolut ...]
M.A. '81 has been recognized by a Strauss Living Award, and numerous other Hollins writers have received NEA, Guggenheim, and countless other grants and awards for their poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, contributing to the cultural life of the nation that is disproportionate to the program's size. In fact, Hollins's creative writing program has been called "the most productive writing program in America" by ''Creative Writing in America.''
The campus has three literary magazines. ''Cargoes'', which won the Undergraduate Literary Prize for content by the Association of Writers and Writing Programs in 2005, ''The Album'', which is offered as a more alternative campus periodical, and ''Gravel'', which focuses on student work centered around multicultural and diverse identities. R. H. W. Dillard
Richard Henry Wilde Dillard Vance, Jane Gentry. "R. H. W. Dillard entry" in Southern Writers: A New Biographical Dictionary' (2006). Joseph M. Flora, Amber Vogel, and Bryan Albin Giemza (eds.). Louisiana State University Press. pp. 105-06. . ...
, Cathryn Hankla
Cathryn ("Cathy") Hankla (born March 20, 1958) is an American poet, novelist, essayist and author of short stories. She is professor emerita of English and Creative Writing at Hollins University in Hollins, Virginia, and served as inaugural dire ...
, and Jeanne Larsen are among the writers who teach at Hollins.
Horizon Program
Established in 1974, the Horizon program helps nontraditional female students earn a bachelor of arts degree, the same degree offered to traditional students. Horizon students are fully integrated into the Hollins community and often participate in campus activities, clubs, and study abroad.
Athletics
Hollins University athletics is a member of the Division III
In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below.
Association football
*Belgian Thir ...
level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...
(NCAA), primarily competing throughout Virginia in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference
The Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) is an NCAA Division III athletic conference. Of its 15 member schools, all but one are located in Virginia; the other full member is in North Carolina. The conference also has an associate member in Nort ...
(ODAC) since the 1981–82 academic year.
Hollins competes in ten intercollegiate varsity sports: Women's sports include basketball, cross country, lacrosse, riding, soccer, swimming, tennis, track & field (indoor and outdoor) and volleyball. In the past Hollins has had programs in golf, fencing, and field hockey. The last year that the university had a golf program was in the 2017–18 academic year.
Hollins is well known for its riding program and was named a Kaplan "Hot School" for riding in 2004–05. To date, Hollins has won 18 individual national championships, two team national championships, and four individual national high point rider championships. Hollins consistently dominates ODAC team competition.
Hollins does not have a mascot, and the sports teams do not have an official nickname. In 1989, students voted against 100 mascot ideas.
As part of its Education through Skills and Perspectives (ESP) general education requirement program, two regular terms of physical education course work are required for graduation.
Housing
There are nine residence halls on campus. Most first-years live in Tinker and Randolph in doubles. Sophomores and juniors generally live in West or in singles in Tinker and Randolph, and primarily seniors (with a few exceptions) live in Main, or the university apartments across the street from campus. Housing choices are determined by a lottery number given after the housing deposit is paid in the spring; the lottery numbers are assigned randomly from within a preset range determined by class year.
All undergraduates are required to live on campus. The exceptions to this rule are Horizon (nontraditional) students, married students or those with children, those over the age of 23, or those whose official residence with parents or guardians is in the Roanoke Valley area.
All residence halls, houses, and apartments are smoke-free.
Specialty housing
Hollins does not have sororities; instead, undergraduates can choose to live in "specialty housing." Each house or hall with this designation operates as an independent community within Hollins and has competitive admission.
Organization and Interest-Related Houses
Near East Fine Arts (NEFA) – Devoted to increasing fine arts awareness and participation among Hollins students and members of the Roanoke community. Housed in East.
Sandusky – Devoted to increasing awareness and participation of all Hollins students in activities pertaining to community service. House members lead by example to encourage students to serve on campus and in the Roanoke Valley and to collaborate with S.H.A.R.E staff to reach this goal.
Mind, Body, Spirit (MBS) – MBS residents seek personal balance by finding ways to get themselves and others involved in and out of the classroom. All MBS residents commit to a substance-free lifestyle. Housed in Far East.
International and Language Houses
Spanish House (La Casa Hispanica) is situated next door to NEFA in East and is a house for students studying the Spanish language and Hispanic cultures in the Americas and beyond.
Francophone House (La Maison Francophone) is one of the Hill Houses and houses students studying the French language and culture.
Carvin House, another Hill House, is for international students and students interested in international affairs.
Academic-Related Houses
Mae Jemison Hall - Math and science majors work together in Mae Jemison to promote campus involvement in everyday science and bring awareness to the importance of women in STEM fields. Housed on the second floor of Randolph.
Student body
Hollins has about 794 undergraduate students from 46 states and 13 countries; 20% are students of color. The average high school GPA is 3.5. By the time they graduate, nearly two-thirds have had internships and almost 50% have had an international learning experience. Within one year of graduation, an average of 70% are employed and 27% are attending graduate or professional school.
In October 2019, Hollins released a new policy regarding applicants and students who may identify as transgender. The new policy states "Hollins accepts applications from individuals who consistently live and identify as women." Students who begin to transition from female to male while at Hollins are still eligible to earn their degree.
Clubs and organizations
Hollins has a number of organizations that are open to all students.
The university has a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...
.
Freya walks take place on nights of special events or issues. Members of this secret society walk at night to call attention to or celebrate current events. They wear black-hooded robes to protect their anonymity and carry candles to symbolize hope. Since 1903 Freya has sought to emphasize the notion that "concern for the community is a creative and active force."
ADA can be found wearing purple on Tuesday’s with silly decorum and shiny objects as well. They promote school spirit by announcing the happenings on campus throughout the week and hold skits every Tuesday night. ADA has been a great organization that builds community through a loving and supporting network of great individuals. They are among some of the notably oldest secret societies on campus, established in 1907.
Eleanor D. Wilson Museum
Founded in 2004, the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum, an art museum
An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own collection. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. Although primarily con ...
, is housed at the university.
Notable alumnae
* Jennifer Berman
Jennifer Ruth Berman is an American sexual health expert, urologist and female sexual medicine specialist. She is also a former co-host on the television show '' The Doctors''. She has been likened to Dr. Ruth Westheimer (Dr. Ruth).
Media
Berman ...
, sexual health expert, urologist, and female sexual medicine specialist
*Margaret Wise Brown
Margaret Wise Brown (May 23, 1910 – November 13, 1952) was an American writer of children's books, including '' Goodnight Moon'' and '' The Runaway Bunny'', both illustrated by Clement Hurd. She has been called "the laureate of the nursery" fo ...
, author of ''Goodnight Moon'', 1932
*Kiran Desai
Kiran Desai (born 3 September 1971) is an Indian author. Her novel ''The Inheritance of Loss'' won the 2006 Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award. In January 2015, The Economic Times listed her as one of 20 "mo ...
, author and recipient of the Man Booker Prize
The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...
in 2006, M.A. 1994
*Annie Dillard
Annie Dillard (born April 30, 1945) is an American author, best known for her narrative prose in both fiction and non-fiction. She has published works of poetry, essays, prose, and literary criticism, as well as two novels and one memoir. Her 19 ...
, Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...
–winning writer, 1967, M.A. 1968
*Henry S. Taylor
Henry Splawn Taylor (born June 21, 1942) is an American poet, author of more than 15 books of poems, translation, and nonfiction, and winner of the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
Taylor was born in Lincoln, Virginia, in rural Loudoun County, w ...
, Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...
–winning poet, M.A. 1966
* Ellen Malcolm, founder of EMILY's List
EMILY's List is an American political action committee (PAC) that aims to help elect Democratic female candidates in favor of abortion rights to office. It was founded by Ellen Malcolm in 1985. The group's name is an acronym for "Early Money ...
, B.A. 1969
*Katy Pyle
Katy Pyle is an American ballet dancer and choreographer. They are the founder and artistic director of Ballez.
Early life and education
Pyle began studying ballet at the age of 3 and danced with the Texas Youth Ballet. When they were 13 years ...
, artistic director of Ballez
Ballez is an American ballet company based in New York City. The company re-stages classical works and produces original ballets to emphasize LGBTQ representation in ballet.
History
Ballez was founded in 2011 by Katy Pyle, a lesbian and gender ...
, B.A. 2002
*Ann Compton
Ann Compton (born January 19, 1947) is an American former news reporter and White House correspondent for ABC News Radio.
Career highlights
Ann Compton graduated from New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois, in 1965. She began her broadcasti ...
, ABC Radio White House Correspondent, National Radio Hall of Fame
*Jenny Boully
Jenny Boully (born 1976) is an author and recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowships award in 2020 for general nonfiction. She is the author of ''The Book of Beginnings and Endings'' (Sarabande Books, 2007), ''The Body: An Essay'' ( Slope Editions, 200 ...
, poetry and essayist
References
External links
Official website
Official athletics website
Hollins University Quadrangle, 7916 Williamson Road, Hollins, Roanoke, VA
at the Historic American Buildings Survey
Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...
(HABS)
Robertson Library, Hollins University, 7950 East Campus Drive, Hollins, Roanoke, VA
at HABS
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University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia
Women's universities and colleges in the United States
Private universities and colleges in Virginia
Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
Educational institutions established in 1842
Education in Roanoke County, Virginia
Education in Botetourt County, Virginia
Buildings and structures in Roanoke County, Virginia
Tourist attractions in Roanoke County, Virginia
National Register of Historic Places in Richmond County, Virginia
Historic American Buildings Survey in Virginia
Old Dominion Athletic Conference schools
1842 establishments in Virginia
Women in Virginia