Everything about Mills College totally explained
Mills College is an independent
liberal arts college founded in 1852 that offers bachelor's degrees to women and graduate degrees and certificates to women and men. Located in
Oakland, California, Mills was the first women's college west of the
Rockies. The institution was initially founded in 1852 in
Benicia as a young ladies' seminary. In 1865,
Susan Tolman Mills and her husband Cyrus Mills bought the school, renamed it Mills College, and then moved it to Oakland a year later. Mills received its charter in 1885 and introduced graduate degrees in 1921.
Mills offers more than 40 undergraduate and 23 graduate degrees and certificate programs. Mills women compete in six intercollegiate sports—
cross country,
rowing,
soccer,
swimming,
tennis, and
volleyball—as members of the
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III. Mills claims 20,058 alumni.
History
Mills College was initially founded as the
Young Ladies Seminary at
Benicia in 1852. It was under the leadership of Mary Atkins, a graduate of
Oberlin College. In 1866,
Susan Tolman Mills, a graduate of
Mount Holyoke College (then
Mount Holyoke Female Seminary), and her husband Cyrus Mills bought the
Young Ladies Seminary renaming it
Mills Seminary. In 1871 the school was moved to
Oakland, California and the school was incorporated in 1877. The school became Mills College in 1885. In 1890, after serving for decades as principal (under two presidents as well), Susan, herself, finally became the president of the college and held the position for 19 years. Beginning in 1906 the seminary classes were progressively eliminated. In 1921, Mills granted its first
master's degrees.
On
May 3,
1990, the Trustees announced that they'd voted to admit male students. This decision led to a two-week student and staff
strike, accompanied by numerous displays of
non-violent protests by the students. At one point, nearly 300 students blockaded the administrative offices and boycotted classes. On May 18, the Trustees met again to reconsider the decision, leading finally to a reversal of the vote.
Academics
In 2006–07, Mills enrolled a total of 1,410 students, 66 percent of whom are undergraduates. More than 80 percent of students are from California, and more than half of undergraduate students live on campus. Thirty-six states are represented, and international students enrolled from 18 different countries.
Mills offers several undergraduate courses of study, and even allows students create their own major, working with three faculty advisers to plan an individual program that draws courses from across the curriculum and creates an integrated and unique educational experience. Mills also provides the first two years of courses leading to a bachelor of science in nursing degree from
Samuel Merritt College.
Undergraduate students also may participate in one of six dual-degree programs. These five-year programs include BA/
MBA, BA/
MPP, BA/MA Infant Mental Health Program, BA/MA Interdisciplinary Computer Science Program, BA/BS Engineering Program, and BA/MA Mathematics.
The College also enrolls approximately 500 graduate students each year. Areas of study include
art (
MFA),
business (
MBA), interdisciplinary
computer science (MA and post-bac),
creative writing (MFA),
dance (MA and MFA),
education (MA,
EdD, and credentials),
English (MA), infant mental health (MA),
music (MA and MFA),
pre-med (post-bac), and
public policy (
MPP).
Rankings and admissions
In 2008,
The Princeton Review rated Mills as one of the
Best 366 Colleges and one of the
123 Best Western Colleges. The same source also puts it at #6 among Master's Universities (for example, institutions which provide a full range of undergraduate and master's programs but offer few, if any, doctoral programs) in the West. More broadly, a 2006
Washington Monthly report ranks the college #36 among
liberal arts colleges. The institution is also a top producer of
Fulbright Scholars, with 3 awards in 2007-2008.
Campus
The 135-acre campus is located in the
foothills of
Oakland on the east shore of the
San Francisco Bay. Morgan designed six buildings for the Mills campus:
El Campanil, believed to be the first bell tower on a United States college campus Morgan's reputation grew when the tower was unscathed by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake., Mills Hall became the College's new home when it moved from Benicia to Oakland in 1871. Mills Hall is "a long, four-story building with a high central observatory. The mansarded structure, which provided homes for faculty and students as well as classrooms and dining halls, long was considered the most beautiful educational building in the state". Mills Hall is a California Historical Landmark and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. and the California Pacific Conference of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Notable alumni
Further Information
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