Stephens College is 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 ...
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 ...
in
Columbia, Missouri. It is
the second-oldest women's educational establishment that is still a women's college in the United States. It was founded on August 24, 1833, as the Columbia Female Academy. In 1856,
David H. Hickman helped secure the college's charter under the name The Columbia Female Baptist Academy In the late 19th century it was renamed Stephens College after James L. Stephens endowed the college with $20,000. From 1937 to 1943, its Drama Department became renowned under its chairman and teacher, the actress
Maude Adams
Maude Ewing Adams Kiskadden (November 11, 1872 – July 17, 1953), known professionally as Maude Adams, was an American actress who achieved her greatest success as the character Peter Pan, first playing the role in the 1905 Broadway production ...
, James M. Barrie's first American
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythi ...
. The
Warehouse Theater is the major performance venue for the college. The campus includes a National Historic District:
Stephens College South Campus Historic District. It enrolled 593 students in Fall 2021.
Location
Situated in the center of the state, Stephens is approximately from both
Kansas City
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...
and
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
. Columbia is known as "College Town, USA" because of the 36,000 college students attending Stephens, the
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...
and
Columbia College. The Stephens campus is near downtown Columbia.
Academics
The college follows a
liberal arts
Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the ...
curriculum and has two schools: Health Sciences and Arts & Humanities
In addition to undergraduate programs, Stephens offers the following graduate degrees: Master of Education in Counseling, Master of Fine Arts in Television and Screenwriting, and Master in Physician Assistant Studies.
Campus life
Stephens is one of four women's colleges, along with
Bennett College
Bennett College is a private historically black liberal arts college for women in Greensboro, North Carolina. It was founded in 1873 as a normal school to educate freedmen and train both men and women as teachers. Originally coed, in 1926 it ...
,
Spelman College
Spelman College is a private, historically black, women's liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia. It is part of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium in Atlanta. Founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, Spelman re ...
, and
Brenau University, to have
sororities
Fraternities and sororities are Club (organization), social organizations at colleges and universities in North America.
Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an Undergraduate education, undergraduate student, but conti ...
on its campus.
Sigma Sigma Sigma
Sigma Sigma Sigma (), also known as Tri Sigma, is a national American women's sorority.
Sigma Sigma Sigma is a member of the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC), an umbrella organization encompassing 26 national sororities or women's fraterni ...
and
Kappa Delta
Kappa Delta (, also known as KD or Kaydee) was the first sorority founded at the State Female Normal School (now Longwood University), in Farmville, Virginia.
Kappa Delta is one of the "Farmville Four" sororities founded at the university, wh ...
, both of which are
National Panhellenic Conference
The National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) is an umbrella organization for 26 (inter)national women's Fraternities and sororities, sororities throughout the United States and Canada. Each member group is autonomous as a social, Greek alphabet#Use ...
sororities, have on-campus chapters. The sororities are governed by the Panhellenic Council and the Junior Panhellenic Council. Stephens students can also join historically Black or Asian sororities at the nearby University of Missouri campus.
There are also about a dozen academic
honor societies
In the United States, an honor society is a rank organization that recognizes excellence among peers. Numerous societies recognize various fields and circumstances. The Order of the Arrow, for example, is the National Honor Society of the Boy Sc ...
on campus:
Mortar Board
Mortar Board is an American national honor society for college seniors. Mortar Board has 233 chartered collegiate chapters nationwide and 15 alumni chapters.
History
Mortar Board was the first national honor society for college senior women ...
,
Psi Chi
Psi Chi () is a college student honor society in psychology with international outreach founded in 1929 at the University of Kansas in the United States.
Psi Chi is one of the largest honor societies in the United States, with more than 1,150 cha ...
,
Alpha Lambda Delta
Alpha Lambda Delta () is an honor society for students who have achieved a 3.5 GPA or higher during their first year or term of higher education.
History
Alpha Lambda Delta was founded in 1924 by the Dean of Women, Maria Leonard, at the Universit ...
,
Sigma Tau Delta
Sigma Tau Delta () is an international excelled English honor society for students of English at four-year colleges and universities who are within the top 30% of their class and have a 3.5 GPA or higher. It presently has over 850 chapters in ...
,
Tri-Beta,
Kappa Delta Pi
Kappa Delta Pi International Honor Society in Education, () is an honor society for education. It was founded in 1911 and was one of the first discipline-specific honor societies. Its membership is limited to the top 20 percent of those entering ...
,
Phi Alpha Delta
Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity, International ( or P.A.D.) is the largest professional law fraternity in the United States. Founded in 1902, P.A.D. has since grown to 717 established pre-law, law, and alumni chapters and over 330,000 initiated m ...
, and others. Although Stephens College is no longer a two-year institution, it is the location of the Alpha chapter of
Phi Theta Kappa
Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society ( or PTK) is the international honor society of students attending open-access institutions and seeking associate degrees, bachelor's degrees, or other college credentials. Its headquarters is in Jackson, Mississippi ...
International Honor Society of the Two-Year College.
The student newspaper is named ''Stephens Life'' and is online with a magazine printed once a semester. The college's literary magazine is named ''Harbinger'' and is released each spring.
Stephens opened pet-friendly residence halls in 2004. The college also allows students to foster shelter animals in exchange for scholarships.
The Warehouse Theatre Company is a student-run playhouse on campus which stages an average of four different productions per academic season.
Citizen Jane Film Festival
The Citizen Jane Film Festival was an annual
film festival
A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upon ...
established at Stephens College. The festival was first held October 17–19, 2008. Films were chosen that showcased women behind and in front of the camera. Though the festival has been discontinued, Citizen Jane continues in the form of a lecture series hosted by the Stephens College digital filmmaking program.
Athletics
The Stephens athletic teams are called the Stars. The college is a member of the
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stu ...
(NAIA), primarily competing in the
American Midwest Conference
The American Midwest Conference (AMC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) with 10 member institutions located in Arkansas and Missouri in the United States.
History
The c ...
(AMC) since the 2008–09 academic year. The Stars previously competed as an
NAIA Independent from 2004–05 to 2007–08. Prior joining the NAIA, Stephens was also a member 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 an ...
(NCAA): in 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 ...
ranks from 1994–95 (when the school re-instated back its athletics program) to 2003–04; and in the
Division II ranks from about 1982–83 to 1986–87, before transitioning to club status until discontinuing the athletics program after the 1988–89 school year.
Stephens competes in four intercollegiate varsity sports: basketball, soccer, softball and volleyball. Former sports included cross country. Club sports include competitive dance and
esports
Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. Although orga ...
, which is the first varsity esports team at an all-women's college.
Alumnae
The Stephens College Alumnae Association has more than 20,000 members internationally. Alumnae are found in every state.
Notable alumnae
*
Stephanie Beatriz
Stephanie Beatriz Bischoff Alvizuri (born February 10, 1981) is an American actress, model and singer. She is known for playing Detective Rosa Diaz in the Fox/NBC comedy series ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'' (2013–2021), and voicing protagonist Mira ...
, actress
*
Paddy Bowden, psychotherapist, wife of
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...
singer
Bruce Dickinson
Paul Bruce Dickinson (born 7 August 1958) is an English singer who has been the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 1981 to 1993 and 1999–present. He is known for his wide-ranging operatic vocal style and energetic stage ...
*
Nancy Elizabeth Brown
Vice Admiral Nancy E. Brown (born 1952) most recently served as the Director, Command, Control, Communications and Computer Systems (C4 Systems), The Joint Staff. She is the principal advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on all C4 ...
,
Vice Admiral,
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
*
Shirley Clarke
Shirley Clarke (née Brimberg; October 2, 1919 – September 23, 1997) was an American filmmaker.
Life
Born Shirley Brimberg in New York City, she was the daughter of a Polish-immigrant father who made his fortune in manufacturing. Her mother w ...
, filmmaker
*
Nancy Cozean
Nancy J. Cozean (born November 22, 1947) was mayor of the city of Poughkeepsie, New York, USA from 2004 to 2008. During her tenure the city has experienced significant economic growth and its first sustained population growth in nearly 50 years ...
, former
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
and
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
*
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, ncertain year from 1904 to 1908was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion pict ...
, actress (did not complete first year)
*
Frances Crowe
Frances Crowe (née Hyde; March 15, 1919 – August 27, 2019) was an American peace activist and pacifist from the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts.
Early life
Frances Hyde was born in Carthage, Missouri on March 15, 1919. Growing up, she ...
,
peace activist
A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals, such as the ending of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world peac ...
*
Leslie Easterbrook
Leslie Easterbrook is an American actress and producer. She played Sgt./Lt./Capt. Debbie Callahan in the '' Police Academy'' films and Rhonda Lee on the television series '' Laverne & Shirley''.
Early life
Easterbrook was adopted when she was n ...
, actress; best known for her role as
Debbie Callahan in the
Police Academy
A police academy, also known as a law enforcement training center, police college, or police university, is a training school for police cadets, designed to prepare them for the law enforcement agency they will be joining upon graduation, or othe ...
series
*
Shirley Adele Field, Oregon legislator and judge
*
Susan Flannery
Susan Flannery (born July 31, 1939) is an American actress and director known for her roles in the daytime dramas ''The Bold and the Beautiful'' and ''Days of Our Lives''.
Early life
Flannery was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, on July 31, 19 ...
, soap actress on CBS ''
The Bold & the Beautiful
''The Bold and the Beautiful'' (often referred to as ''B&B'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. It premiered on March 23, 1987, as a sister show to the Bells' other soap opera ''The Yo ...
'', retired December 2012 after 25 years
*
Karith Foster, stand-up comedian and radio personality
*
Wally Funk
Mary Wallace Funk (born February 1, 1939) is an American aviator, commercial astronaut, and Goodwill Ambassador. She was the first female air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, the first female civilian flight in ...
, aviator and astronaut
*
Tammy Grimes
Tammy Lee Grimes (January 30, 1934 – October 30, 2016) was an American film and stage actress.
Grimes won two Tony Awards in her career, the first for originating the role of Molly Tobin in the musical '' The Unsinkable Molly Brown'' and the ...
, actress and singer
*
Anne Gwynne
Anne Gwynne (born Marguerite Gwynne Trice; December 10, 1918 – March 31, 2003) was an American actress who was known as one of the first scream queens because of her numerous appearances in horror films. Gwynne was also one of the most popula ...
, actress
*
Corky Hale
Corky Hale (born July 3, 1936) is an American jazz harpist, pianist, flutist, and vocalist. She has been a theater producer, political activist, restaurateur, and the owner of the Corky Hale women's clothing store in Los Angeles, California.
Ear ...
,
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
musician
*
Joan Robinson Hill
Joan Olive Robinson Hill (February 6, 1931 – March 19, 1969) was a socialite and equestrian from Houston, Texas. Her unexplained death at age 38 led to her husband, John Hill, becoming the first person to be indicted by the state of Texas on th ...
, equestrienne and socialite
*
Eva Johnston, classical scholar; first American woman to receive a Doctoral degree from the
University of Konigsburg; second female Professor and first Dean of Women at the
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...
*
Jeane Kirkpatrick
Jeane Duane Kirkpatrick (née Jordan; November 19, 1926December 7, 2006) was an American diplomat and political scientist who played a major role in the foreign policy of the Ronald Reagan administration. An ardent anticommunist, she was a lo ...
, first female
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.
*
Ashley Litton, former
Miss Missouri USA
The Miss Missouri USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state Missouri in the Miss USA pageant. It is directed by Vanbros and Associates, based in Lenexa, Kansas. In 1993, Missouri joined the Vanbros group of st ...
*
Ginny McSwain
Ginny McSwain is an American voice actress, voice casting director, and animation production professional from Los Angeles, CA.
Life and career
McSwain graduated from Stephens College in 1974, before moving to Los Angeles. She has worked as cas ...
, casting director and voice director
*
Bonnie McElveen-Hunter
Mary Bonneau "Bonnie" McElveen-Hunter (born June 29, 1950) is an American businesswoman, philanthropist, and diplomat who is the first female chair of the board of governors of the American Red Cross. She is the founder and CEO of Pace Commun ...
, businesswoman and former
U.S. Ambassador to Finland
*
Marjie Millar
Marjorie Joy "Marjie" Millar (August 10, 1931 – April 16, 1966) was an American television and film actress. She was born Marjorie Joy Miller to George W. and Eunice Miller in Tacoma, Washington. Millar's father had changed his surname to "Mill ...
, actress
*
Leslie Adrienne Miller,
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
*
Elizabeth Mitchell
Elizabeth Mitchell (born Elizabeth Joanna Robertson) is an American actress known for her lead role as Juliet Burke on the ABC drama mystery series ''Lost'' (2006–2010). Mitchell also had lead roles on the television series '' V'' (2009–201 ...
, actress
*
Martha Beall Mitchell, wife of former
U.S. Attorney General
The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
John Mitchell
*
Jean Muir
Jean Elizabeth Muir ( ; 17 July 1928 – 28 May 1995) was a British fashion designer.
Early life and career
Jean Muir was born in London, the daughter of Cyril Muir, a draper's floor superintendent, and his wife, Phyllis Coy. Her father ...
, actress, first performer added to the
Hollywood Blacklist
The Hollywood blacklist was an entertainment industry blacklist, broader than just Hollywood, put in effect in the mid-20th century in the United States during the early years of the Cold War. The blacklist involved the practice of denying emplo ...
[ ]
*
Alanna Nash
Alanna Nash is an American journalist and biographer.
Born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1950, Nash holds a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and is the author of several acclaimed books. She is a 1972 graduat ...
, journalist
*
Carrie Nye, actress
*
Lyndsey Olson
Lyndsey Olson is an American attorney and serving as the city attorney for Saint Paul, Minnesotal.
Early life and education
She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stephens College in 1998 and a Juris Doctor from the Hamline University Schoo ...
, Saint Paul City Attorney
*
Annie Potts
Anne Hampton Potts (born October 28, 1952) is an American actress. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for ''Corvette Summer'' (1978) and won a Genie Award for '' Heartaches'' (1981), before appearing in ''Ghostbusters'' (1984), ''Pretty i ...
, television and film actress
*
Emily J. Reynolds,
Secretary of the U.S. Senate
*
Virginia Shehee, first woman to serve in the
Louisiana State Senate
The Louisiana State Senate (french: Sénat de Louisiane) is the upper house of the state legislature of Louisiana. All senators serve four-year terms and are assigned to multiple committees.
Composition
The Louisiana State Senate is compose ...
*
Julie Suk, poet
*
Jennifer Tilly
Jennifer Tilly (born Jennifer Ellen Chan; September 16, 1958) is an American–Canadian actress and poker player. Known for her distinctive voice and comedic timing, she has been nominated for an Academy Award, two MTV Movie Awards and three Sat ...
, actress
*
Dawn Wells
Dawn Elberta Wells (October 18, 1938 – December 30, 2020) was an American actress known for her role as Mary Ann Summers on the CBS sitcom ''Gilligan's Island''.
Early life
Wells was born to Evelyn (née Steinbrenner) and Joe Wesley Wells ...
, actress
*
Glad Robinson Youse
Gladys "Glad" Robinson Youse (1898 – 1985), was an American composer.
Born in Miami, Oklahoma, Gladys Robinson graduated from Stephens College in 1919 with a music degree, then studied composition with Tibor Serly in New York. She married Cl ...
, composer; Stephens College offers a Glad Robinson Youse Scholarship
*
Paula Zahn
Paula Ann Zahn (; born February 24, 1956) is an American journalist and newscaster who has been an anchor at ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, and CNN. She currently produces and hosts the true crime documentary series ''On the Case with Paula Zahn'' ...
, journalist
*
Paula Zima, artist
Historic buildings
Firestone Baars Chapel
The Firestone Baars Chapel was designed by world-famous Finnish architect
Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1910 – September 1, 1961) was a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer noted for his wide-ranging array of designs for buildings and monuments. Saarinen is best known for designing the General Motors ...
who also designed the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. The chapel symbolizes commitment to individual spiritual development and worship. The chapel is used for meditation, religious services, vespers, weddings, memorials and campus programs.
Historic Senior Hall
Historic
Senior Hall dates back to 1841, when Oliver Parker bought the tract of land on which the college was first located. In 1857, the Columbia Baptist Female College, which later became Stephens College, acquired the building. Until 1918, Historic Senior Hall was the only dormitory at the college. It was the tradition for the President of the Civic Association (now the Student Government Association) to occupy the first floor room just north of the Waugh Street entrance. Many generations of students feel this building is their tie to the past. A complete restoration of Historic Senior Hall began in the spring of 1987, and the building was rededicated in the spring of 1990. Senior Hall was placed 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 ...
in 1977.
References
Further reading
*
External links
Official websiteOfficial athletics website
{{Authority control
1833 establishments in Missouri
Educational institutions established in 1833
Universities and colleges in Columbia, Missouri
Music schools in Columbia, Missouri
Private universities and colleges in Missouri
Liberal arts colleges in Missouri
Women's universities and colleges in the United States
Performing arts in Columbia, Missouri