Mount Ida College

History

The Mount Ida School for Girls, once a high school, became a finishing school and was founded in 1899 by George Franklin Jewett, named after the hill on which it was located in Newton Corner, Massachusetts. The first junior college level courses were offered at Mount Ida in the mid 1900s, and the school was officially rebranded as a Junior College in 1961. It was granted the ability to award associate degrees and the first were awarded in 1967. After encountering severe financial difficulties, it was forced to close during the Great Depression, but was purchased by William Fitts Carlson in 1939 and relocated to its present location in Oak Hill section of Newton.

The school was later renamed as Mount Ida Junior College, and became a co-educational institution in 1976, a logical step since so many Vietnam veterans were attending in the 1970s thanks to the GI Bill. Several Boston-based institutions also merged with Mount Ida on the Newton campus, Chamberlayne Junior College (1988), New England Institute of Funeral Service Education (1989), and Coyne Electrical and Technical School. The Senior College division awarding bachelor's degrees began in stages. In 1982 Massachusetts allowed Mount Ida to grant three Bachelor degrees as Mount Ida filed to drop the Junior part of the college name The Senior Degree program was fully accredited in 1984, with an emphasis on career and professional education. In 2012 Barry Brown was appointed president of the college.

Campus

Located in Newton, Massachusetts the 72-acre campus of Mount Ida College is located on a tract of land that once belonged to William Sumner Appleton (1840 – 1903, father of William Sumner Appleton Junior). The estate was transferred after Appleton's death to Robert Gould Shaw II. Shaw commissioned Boston architect James Lovell Little Junior to build a carriage house and horse stable in 1910; this building was subsequently refurbished and is now known as Holbrook Hall. The building now known as Shaw Hall, which became the nucleus for the new Mount Ida campus, was also commissioned by Shaw and designed by Little in 1912. The building now known as Hallden Academic Support Center was also constructed in 1912, presumably by Little.

The Shaw fortune had collapsed during the Depression, which enabled Dr. Carlson to purchase the vacant and decaying Shaw Estate and reopen Mount Ida Junior College in 1939. In 1956, a two story dormitory designed by architect Albert C. Rugo was added to Shaw Hall. Rugo designed several other buildings that were added to the complex in the 1950s and 1960s.

Student life

The college has approximately 1,400 students enrolled as of the 2016-2017 academic year. Approximately 65% of students live in campus housing. Residence buildings consist of six different residence halls, including New Hall. Built in 2008, New Hall houses 136 upperclassmen and features a “pod” design. Each of the pods has three floors with each floor having a small community of 22 students who live in different types and sizes of rooms surrounding a common bath area. Malloy Hall was renovated in 2013, with new amenities, which include new student common living and learning areas, a student lounge and café. Malloy offers suite-style living options for groups of 14 students who share private bathrooms; and six single rooms. Suites are single gender, co-ed and gender neutral, depending on location.

A unique aspect of residence life at Mount Ida College includes the opportunity for students to live in LLC – living learning communities – where students of like interest can live in a community together (e.g. women in science, design students, etc.).

Students engage in college sponsored activities such as movie nights and outings into Boston, as well as participation in a number of different student clubs offered on campus. The college's close proximity to Boston affords the ability for students to easily venture into the city on weekends.

Academics

Mount Ida College consists of four schools:

Undergraduate Majors include:

Graduate Studies: Master of Science in Management (M.S.M.)with concentrations in:

The College's programs in Veterinary Technology, Dental Hygiene, Biology, and the School of Design have particularly strong reputations. Graduates from some majors have close to 100% job placement rates in their field of study. Mount Ida's educational model, built on experiential learning, has been a hallmark of the College.

The Gallery at Mount Ida College holds exhibitions of regional, national, and international fine artists and designers. The Gallery has featured works in photography, painting, sculpture, video, and a variety of other art forms. The Gallery opened in 1999, allowing artists and designers to have a showcase for traditional and alternative media works as an innovative part of the Mount Ida College Learning Community.

Athletics

Mount Ida's athletes compete as the Mustangs in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference in eleven NCAA Division III varsity sports (men's & women's basketball, cheerleading, men's & women's cross country, equestrian, football, men's & women's lacrosse, men's & women's soccer, softball, tennis and men's & women's volleyball), as well as IHSA equestrian competition and club baseball. Other student activities include Student Government, a campus newspaper, over 20 clubs and organizations as well as many one-day events sponsored by student activities.

Notable alumni