Bryn Mawr College
(colloquially brin-mar, Welsh brin-mauer) is a women's liberal arts
college located in Bryn Mawr
, a community in Lower Merion
Township
, Pennsylvania
, ten miles west of Philadelphia
. The name "Bryn Mawr" means "large hill" in
Welsh.
Bryn Mawr
is one of the Seven Sister
colleges, and is part of the Tri-College Consortium along with two
other colleges founded by Quakers — Swarthmore
College
and Haverford College
. The school has an enrollment of about 1300
undergraduate students and 400
graduate students.
History
Bryn Mawr
College was founded in 1885, and named after the original home of
its founder, a house near Dolgellau
, Merionnydd (Merioneth) Gwynedd
, Wales
, and largely
founded through the bequest of Joseph
W. Taylor. The first
president was
James Evans Rhoads.
Bryn Mawr was the first higher education institution to offer
graduate degrees, including
doctorates, to
women. The first class included 36 undergraduate women and eight
graduate students. Bryn Mawr was originally affiliated with the
Religious Society of
Friends (Quakers), but by 1893 had become
non-denominational.
In 1912,
Bryn Mawr became the first college in the United States
to offer doctorates in social work, through the Department of Social
Economy and Social Research. This department became the
Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research in 1970. In
1931, Bryn Mawr began accepting men as graduate students, while
remaining women-only at the undergraduate level.
A
June 3 2008 article in
The New York Times
discussed the move by
women's colleges in the
United States to promote their schools in the
Middle East. The article noted that in doing so,
the schools promote the work of graduates of women's colleges such
as
Hillary Rodham Clinton,
Emily Dickinson,
Diane Sawyer,
Katharine Hepburn and
Madeleine Albright. The Dean of
Admissions of Bryn Mawr noted, "We still prepare a disproportionate
number of women scientists [...] We’re really about the empowerment
of women and enabling women to get a top-notch education." The
article also contrasted the difference between women's colleges in
the Middle East and "the American colleges [which] for all their
white-glove history and academic prominence, are liberal
strongholds where students fiercely debate political action, gender
identity and issues like “heteronormativity,” the marginalizing of
standards that are other than heterosexual. Middle Eastern students
who already attend these colleges tell of a transition that can be
jarring."
In 1918, Bryn Mawr College was a mysterious "influenza escape"
community, having 110 cases of influenza, but zero deaths.
[31378]
College presidents
Campus
Bryn Mawr's Pembroke Hall
Mawr's library holdings are housed in the Mariam Coffin Canaday
Library (opened 1970), the Rhys Carpenter Library (opened 1997),
and the Lois and Reginald Collier Science Library (opened 1993).
TRIPOD, the online library catalog, automatically accesses holdings
at Haverford and Swarthmore.
The majority of Bryn Mawr students live on campus in residence
halls.
Many of the older residence halls are known
for their Gothic revival architecture, modeled after Oxford
University
. Each is named after a county town in Wales: Brecon
, Denbigh
(1891),
Merion
(1885), and Radnor
(1887). Pembroke East and West (1892). Rhoads North and
South was named after the college's first president, James E.
Rhoads; Rockefeller is named after its donor,
John D. Rockefeller. The newest residence halls
are Erdman (opened 1965, designed by architect
Louis Kahn) and the Haffner Language and Culture
House (opened 1971). In addition, students may choose to live in
Perry House (the Black Cultural Center) or Batten House (an
environmentally-friendly co-op). Glenmede (formerly graduate
student housing) is an estate located about a half mile from the
main campus which was available housing for undergrduate students.
In 2007, it was sold to a conservation buyer as the annual costs of
upkeep were too great for the college. As of the 2008-2009 academic
school year, the College was offering students off-campus
apartments located at Mermont Plaza. The College has since decided
to discontinue the rental of these apartments as part of their
ongoing budget cuts.
The campus was designed in part by noted landscape designers
Calvert Vaux and
Frederick Law Olmsted, and has
subsequently been designated an
arboretum
(the
Bryn Mawr Campus
Arboretum).
Blanca Noel Taft Memorial Garden
In 1908,
John C. Olmsted designed a private garden for
M. Carey
Thomas adjoining the Deanery. The garden was later modified and
renamed as the Blanca Noel Taft Memorial Garden. It currently
exists as a small, serene enclosure with two wall fountains, one
with a small basin and the other with a sunken reflecting pool, as
well as a statuary based on designs Thomas and Garrett had seen in
Italy.
The
decorative wall tiles, placed above the smaller wall fountain and
basin, were purchased from Syria
.
Erdman Hall Dormitory
In 1960, architect
Louis I. Kahn and Bryn Mawr College president,
Katharine McBride, came together to create
one of this century’s great buildings, the Erdman Hall dormitory
.For over a year, Kahn and his assistants struggled to translate
the college’s design program of 130 student rooms and public spaces
into a scheme (well documented by the letters written between
McBride and Kahn). The building comprises three
geometrical square structures, connected at
their corners. The outer walls are formed by interlocking student
rooms around three inner public spaces: the entry hall, dining hall
and living hall. These spaces receive light from towering light
monitors.
The Marjorie Walter Goodhart Theater
Sunset over Goodhart Hall
The Marjorie Walter Goodhart Theater houses a vaulted
auditorium designed by
Arthur Meigs, two smaller spaces that are ideal
for intimate performances by visiting artists, practice rooms for
student musicians, and the Office for the Arts. The building's
towers and
gables,
friezes, carvings and ornamental ironwork were
designed by
Samuel Yellin in the
gothic revival style. As of Summer
2008, the College has proceeded with a $19 million renovation plan
of Goodhart, to be completed in 2009.
M. Carey Thomas Library
Great Hall
Cloisters
after Bryn Mawr's first Dean and second president, the M. Carey
Thomas Library is no longer a
library.
Today, it is a space for performances, readings, lectures, public
gatherings and was once the home of the
Athena statue (which was damaged in 1997) which is
now located in a high alcove in the Rhys Carpenter Art and
Archaeology Library. The Great Hall (formerly the reading room of
the old Library) features a
cathedral
ceiling painted with geometric
Renaissance patterns and tall, lead-paned
windows, which flood the space with light. This area was renovated
and conserved by Voith & Mactavish Architects LLP. M. Carey
Thomas Library encloses a large open courtyard called "The
Cloisters", which is the site of the College's
traditional Lantern Night Ceremony. The
cremated remains of M. Carey Thomas are in the
courtyard cloister. Alumna
Katharine
Hepburn used to go
skinny dipping
in the Cloisters fountain, a fact confirmed by the source in her
1985 graduation address. A popular
tradition is for undergraduates to do the same
before graduating and conveniently the fountain contains
chlorinated water.
Rhys Carpenter Art and Archaeology Library
Named for Bryn Mawr’s late professor of Classical
Archaeology, the Rhys Carpenter Library was
designed by
Henry Myerberg of New
York and opened in 1997. The space is attached to the rear of the
M. Carey Thomas Library. The entrance is a four story
atrium.
Names of art and
archaeology faculty are on the main wall with a frieze of plaster casts from ancient Athens
. Most
of the stacks, study areas, lecture halls and seminar rooms were
built underground. The roof comprises a wide grassy area used for
outdoor concerts and picnics. The building won a 2001 Award of
Excellence for Library Architecture from the Library Administration
and Management Association and the American Institute of
Architects. Carpenter Library also houses the College's renowned
collections in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology, History of
Art and Classics . The building also contains a large lecture hall
and a seminar room.
Organization
Bryn Mawr undergraduates largely govern themselves in academic and
social matters. A significant aspect of self-government is the
Academic Honor System (
honor code).
Along with
Haverford
College, Bryn Mawr forms the Bi-College Community.
Students in the "Bi-Co" enjoy unlimited cross-registration
privileges and may choose to major at the other institution.
The two
institutions join with Swarthmore College to form the Tri-College Consortium, opening the
Swarthmore course catalog to interested Bryn Mawr students as
well. Free shuttles are provided between the three campuses.
There is the Blue Bus between Bryn Mawr and Haverford College, and
a van, known to the students as the "Swat Van", that goes between
the three colleges.
In
addition, the group is affiliated with the University
of Pennsylvania
through a special association known as the Quaker Consortium, allowing Bryn Mawr
students to take classes there. Additionally, Bryn Mawr
students in the Growth and Structure of Cities department may earn
a
Bachelor of Arts at Bryn Mawr and
a
master's degree in
city planning at Penn through the 3-2 Program
in City and Regional Planning.
Academics
Bryn Mawr is a small, four year, highly residential baccalaureate
college. Although the college offers several graduate programs, the
majority of enrollments are from students enrolled in the
undergradute arts & sciences program. The college granted 311
bachelor's degrees, 132 master's degrees, and 18 doctoral degrees
in 2008.
Students at Bryn Mawr are required to complete divisional
requirements in the
social sciences,
natural sciences (including lab
skills) and
humanities. In addition, they
must fulfill a two-year
foreign
language requirement, a quantitative skills requirement and a
College Seminar requirement.
Admission to Bryn Mawr is classified as "more selective, lower
transfer in." In 2008–2009, Bryn Mawr received 2,150 undergraduate
applications, admitted 1049 (48.8%), and enrolled 366 (34.9%).
First year students had interquartile ranges of 620–730 on reading,
580–680 on math, and 620–710 on writing on the
SAT. The four-year graduation rate is 81.4% and the
six-year rate is 86.3%. The student body comprises 1,287 female
undergraduate students and the graduate program comprises 458
graduate students (19.4% of them male).
Traditions
May Day at Bryn Mawr College
four major traditions are Parade Night, which takes place on the
first night of the academic year; Lantern Night, which takes place
in late October or early November; Hell Week, which takes place in
mid-February; and May Day, which takes place on the Sunday after
classes end in the spring semester. Step sings, when students bring
their class lanterns and congregate at Taylor Hall, singing songs
such as "
Bread and Roses", occur
around these events as well.
The two traditions mistresses of the College, elected by the
student body, are in charge of organizing and running
traditions.
In addition to events, Bryn Mawr's traditions extend to
superstitions around the campus, some of which date back to the
opening of the college in 1885.
Notable alumnae and faculty
A large number of Bryn Mawr alumnae have gone on to become notable
in their respective fields.
The list includes Drew Gilpin Faust, the first woman
president of Harvard
University
, Hanna Holborn
Gray, the first woman president of a major research university
(University of Chicago), modernist poets
H.D. and Marianne
Moore, classics scholar Edith
Hamilton, Nobel Peace Prize winner Emily Greene Balch, geneticist Nettie Stevens, artist Anne Truitt, federal judge Ilana Rovner, Health Editor for Ladies Home
Journal, Julia Kagan, author Joan Borysenko, and actress
Katharine Hepburn. Notable
faculty include
Woodrow Wilson,
Edmund Beecher Wilson,
Thomas Hunt Morgan, mathematician
Emmy Noether, classicist
Richmond Lattimore and Spanish
philosopher
José Ferrater
Mora.
Sustainability
Bryn Mawr has signed the American College and University
President's Climate Commitment, and in doing so, the school agreed
to make all new buildings comply with a LEED silver standard or
higher; to purchase Energy Star products whenever possible; and to
provide and encourage the use of public transportation. The
school's dining halls strive to be environmentally sustainable by
working to expand their local and organic offerings, recycling in
all dining areas, and recycling used fry oil as bio-diesel fuel.
The dining halls previously offered biodegradable takeout
containers, but reverted to Styrofoam in the 2009-2010 academic
year. Additionally, all leftover food is donated to a local food
bank. On the College Sustainability Report Card 2009, published by
the Sustainable Endowments Institute, Bryn Mawr received a C+. The
school's highest category score was an A in Investment Priorities,
since Bryn Mawr invests in renewable energy funds, but the score
was brought down by lower grades in categories like Green Building
(in which the school earned a D, since the campus currently
features no green buildings).
Athletics
Bryn Mawr fields intercollegiate teams in badminton, basketball,
cross country, field hockey, lacrosse, rowing, rugby, soccer,
swimming, tennis, track and field, and volleyball. The badminton
team won national intercollegiate championships in 1996 and
2008.
Bryn Mawr in popular culture
- On the AMC series Mad Men, character
Betty Draper is a graduate of Bryn Mawr with a degree in
anthropology. Real-life graduate Maggie Siff '96 also stars in a
recurring role as Rachel Menken on the series.
- On Episode 114 of The Simpsons,
I'm Spelling as Fast as I
Can, Bryn Mawr is featured in Lisa's dream of the Seven Sisters
Colleges.
- Simpsons character Edna
Krabappel, a fourth-grade teacher at Springfield Elementary
School, holds a Master's from Bryn
Mawr College.
- Lady Jaye, a fictional character in
the GI JOE universe, graduated from Bryn Mawr College.
- In Toni Morrison's novel
Song of Solomon,
First Corinthians Dead, sister of the protagonist, is a Bryn Mawr
alumna.
- In Sinclair Lewis' novel
Babbitt, George Babbitt's daughter,
Verona, is a recent graduate of Bryn Mawr.
- Fictional playwright Erica Barry, played by Diane Keaton in the 2003 film Something's Gotta Give, is a Bryn
Mawr alumna.
- In
April-May 2008, the major motion picture Tenure was filmed at Bryn Mawr, sharing the honor of
portraying fictional Gray College with nearby Rosemont
College
. Luke Wilson and
Dave Koechner star in the film, which
will be released in 2009.
- Bryn Mawr College was mentioned in the second season (episode
9) of TV drama Gossip girl.
- In Episode 7 of Season 1 of the NBC series
30 Rock, Jack Donaghy says to Liz Lemon
"this is not open mic night at the Bryn Mawr student union" after
she makes a bad joke.
- In season 1 episode 5 of the NBC series
"Life," a member of a band says their lead singer Angel "went back
to Bryn Mawr after all."
- Fatima Siad, the second runner-up in
cycle ten of America's Next Top
Model attended Bryn Mawr College.
- In the 1997 film "Inventing the Abbotts," Liv Tyler plays the
youngest Abbott girl, Pamela Abbott, a student at Bryn Mawr
College.
- In Some Like it Hot (1959),
Marilyn Monroe's character references Bryn Mawr students as society
girls.
- In Truman Capote's novel "Summer
Crossing", Steve Bolton's wife, Janet, attended Bryn Mawr
College.
- In Brian dePalma's 1976 movie Obsession, Michael Courtland, the main character,
talks about the way his wife did walk as a "Bryn Mawr walk" and
refers to the Bryn Mawr college girls while describing this walk:
"A Bryn Mawr walk is a kind of a glide, you know? Those girls used
to wear long polo coats in those old days, long raincoats. They
kind of glide, like they're late for class. They move fast and just
kinda glide."
See also
References
Footnotes
- Mackey & Mackey (1922) The Pronunciation of 10,000
Proper Names; also example at e-speech
site
- (not "high hill," as is often mistakenly given as the
translation; Bryn Uchel translates to "high hill.")
- A Brief History of Bryn Mawr College
- ‘Sisters’ Colleges See a Bounty in the Middle
East
- Glenmede Saved From Destruction and Over-Development |
Save Ardmore Coalition
- Bryn Mawr College Campus Plan - John
Olmsted
- The Architecture Week's Great Building Collection
http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Erdman_Hall_Dormitories.html
- http://www.brynmawr.edu/visit/guided_tour/goodhart.shtml
- The First 300: The Amazing and Rich History of
Lower Merion (Part 18)
- Bryn Mawr Now: Goodhart Renovation Plan Approved By
Historical Commission, Township Retrieved December 13, 2007
- Voith & Mactavish Architects LLP: Architecture
Portfolio : Thomas Great Hall
- Bryn Mawr College Library: Carpenter
Library
- http://www.brynmawr.edu/visit/guided_tour/carpenter.shtml
- Bryn Mawr College Student Activities
-
http://www.greenreportcard.org/report-card-2009/schools/bryn-mawr-college
- Smoking, Drinking, Writing, Womanizing, Smoking,
Drinking... - Mad Men - Television - NYTimes.com
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