Bryn Mawr College (pronounced brin mauer) is a highly
selective women's liberal arts college located in Bryn Mawr, a community in Lower Merion
Township, Pennsylvania, ten miles northwest of Philadelphia.
The College is known for its academics, exceptionally close relationship between students and faculty, and sense of community
and shared values. Bryn Mawr College is one of the nation's premier liberal arts colleges.
In terms of academics, percent doctorates earned by graduates, placement among select professional schools, student
satisfaction/quality of life, and social impact on America according to US
News, Princeton Review, NSF data, the
Wall Street Journal and the Washington
Monthly, Bryn Mawr has consistently ranked in the top 20 of liberal arts colleges in America, and sometimes, among
undergraduate institutions (including universities) as well. The Washington
Monthly also ranked Bryn Mawr College as #1 college in America based on social mobility, fostering scientific and
humanistic research, and how well it promotes an ethic of service to country.
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.
The name "Bryn Mawr" means "big hill" in Welsh (not "high hill," Bryn Uchel, as
is often mistakenly given as the translation).
Academics
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.
History
Bryn Mawr College was founded in 1885, founded largely through the bequest of Joseph W. Taylor. It 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.[1] A committee has been assembled to select a new president.[2]
Notable alumnae and faculty
-
A 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, modernist poets H.D. and Marianne Moore, the classics scholar Edith Hamilton, Nobel Peace
Prize winner Emily Greene Balch, and the actress Katharine Hepburn. Notable faculty include Woodrow Wilson,
Thomas Hunt Morgan and Richmond
Lattimore.
Organization
Bryn Mawr undergraduates largely govern themselves in academic and social matters. Their Self-Government Association, formed
in 1892, is the oldest such organization in the United States. 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.
Facilities
Bryn Mawr's Pembroke Hall
Bryn 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). The
exceptions are Pembroke East and West (1892), named for the House of Pembroke and its importance to William
Shakespeare, (although Pembrokeshire is also a county in Wales). 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 Glenmede (formerly graduate
student housing), Perry House (the Black Cultural Center) or Batten House (an environmentally-friendly co-op).
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).
Architecture and Significant Places
Blanca Noel Taft Memorial Garden
In 1908, John C. Olmsted designed a private garden for M. Carey Thomas adjoining the Deanery. Today this garden is modified and renamed the Blanca Noel Taft
Memorial Garden. It was designed as a small, serene enclosure with two wall fountains, one with a small basin and the other with
a sunken reflecting pool, another smaller reflecting pool, as well as a statuary based on designs Thomas and Garrett had seen in
Italy. The decorative wall tiles were purchased from Syria.[2]
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. It is rumored among students that Kahn wanted to construct a building that would promote
studying rather than socializing.
The Marjorie Walter Goodhart Theater
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.[3] [4]
M. Carey Thomas Library
Named 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.[5] 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
Halicarnassus. 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 [6].
The building also contains a large lecture hall and a seminar room.[7][8]
Traditions
May Day at Bryn Mawr College
The 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.[9]
Parade Night
On the first night of classes, first year students are gathered near the main entrance to the college. The remainder of the
college community gathers, by class, lining the sides of the road leading to the steps of Taylor Hall. The Freshwomen must run
through the road first pelted by water balloons by the Sophomore class, then showered with
candy by the Junior class as the Senior class looks on.
Older parade nights (until the 60s or 70s) were quite different. There was a large bonfire
built on Merion Green and a parade led by the local firemen's band that led to the bonfire. Freshwomen joined hands in circles
around the bonfire and the Sophomores tried to break through these circles. Part of the older Parade Night ceremony has survived
to date. Each Freshwoman class writes a Parade Night Song, which the Sophomores attempt to steal a copy of so that they can write
a Parade Night Parody. The songs are sung on the steps of Taylor Hall after the "Parade" in a
Step Sing.[10]
Lantern Night
Dressed in traditional, black, academic robes, Freshwomen are given lanterns from the
upperclasswomen in their class color symbolically representing the light of knowledge being passed from one class to another. The
color of the lantern's panes are the same as the previous year's departing class, either red, dark blue, green or light blue or
the McBride scholar color of purple. During this intricate ceremony, Sophomores hand out the lanterns while the Juniors and
Seniors lead the singing of college hymns in Greek. The tradition concludes with a Step
Sing on the Taylor Hall steps.[11]
Hell Week
Hell Week occurs in mid-February, about a month after students return from winter break. It serves as a way to break the
monotony in the time between winter and spring breaks. Freshwomen are put through academic and social paces by gentle "hazing"
conducted by the Sophomore class. Freshwoman often perform random or ridiculous tasks, such as asking silly questions in class,
reciting poetry extolling the virtues of the Sophomore class in public, or performing on a stage erected in the main dining hall.
Juniors attempt to provide relief for the Freshwomen by giving them gifts or providing them "safe havens".[12]
May Day
Bryn Mawr College now celebrates May Day on the first Sunday following the end of classes.
Somewhat akin to a mini renaissance festival, it is a day long celebration in which
students and faculty participate. The students dress in white and begin the day by feasting on strawberries and cream. Students then perform in a myriad of traditional
parades, plays, and concerts
including various cultural dancing display such as May-Pole and Scottish Country dancing. Like Lantern Night and Parade Night, May Day ends in a Step Sing and
then is concluded with the traditional showing of "The Philadelphia Story,"
starring Alumna Katharine Hepburn.[13]
References
Footnotes
- ^ A Brief History of Bryn Mawr College
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.
In the sense in which the set of Seven Sister colleges have sometimes been thought of as paralleling the seven once-all-male
Ivy League schools, Bryn Mawr was considered the sister school of either Princeton or the University of
Pennsylvania.
College presidents
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External links
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