Edgecliff College was a private

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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 stud ...

, 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

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religious institute. The college was designed to serve as a replacement for the College of Sacred Heart in Clifton, 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 ...

and the Ohio River. 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 variety of programs of study were offered, including majors 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 aspe ...

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, 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 coeducational. 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 and

Associate's degree An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of Tertiary education, 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 bachelo ...

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 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 44,0 ...

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 ...

for their architecture, and the Edgecliff House itself was individually granted the same designation in 1980; it has since been demolished.

References

Sources

External links

Edgecliff Alumni Association

Higher Learning Commission: Edgecliff College

Xavier 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

History

See also

References

Sources

Further reading

External links