Elms College Turn of the Century (1979-2013)

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Presented here are items that exhibit the history of the College of Our Lady of the Elms (Elms College) from 1979 to 2013. Sr. Mary A. Dooley became the sixth college president in 1979, and with the help of the Springfield Diocese, the college was able to raise $750,000 to match a $250,000 challenge grant from the NEH. During the 1980s, a paralegal program was created and weekend college began, and in 1990 the first masters program, in Applied Theology, was founded. In 1994 Sr. Kathleen C. Keating became the seventh president, and the college was awarded a Kresge Foundation Grant to match funds raised to build the McGuire Center, which also necessitated moving the chapel to its present location. In 1997, the college admitted its first male students. In 1994 Joachim W. Froehlich became the eighth president, followed in 2003 by James H. Mullen, Jr. In 2009, Sr. Mary Reap became the tenth president of Elms College, and by 2013, the college constructed a state-of-the-art science building, renovated two of its older buildings, and created a Learning Commons in Alumnae Library.