Wellesley College

Wellesley education is rich, demanding, and transformative. Every year, some 2,400 of the world’s top undergraduate women are challenged to exceed their own highest personal and intellectual expectations. The mastery demonstrated by Wellesley graduates across the professional and vocational spectrum, and the influence they wield—whether in their own communities or on the world stage—is testament to a singularly empowering undergraduate experience.

Wellesley’s lively academic community places a high value on rigorous, probing inquiry, and creative, cross-discipline thinking, and it takes a collaborative approach to scholarship, encouraging students to question, debate, and refine their points of view, not only with each other, but with our world-class faculty members—often by working directly with them on groundbreaking projects.

A Wellesley education fosters in undergraduate women the highest standard of readiness for the “real world,” in terms of their ability to think, to act, and to contribute meaningfully and effectively in their chosen areas of interest.

Wellesley’s first president, Ada Howard, and nearly all of the College’s early educators and administrators were women. The first students, numbering 314, moved into College Hall and began classes in 1875. From that first class, 18 were graduated in 1879.

The Wellesley College Archives is responsible for managing, maintaining, and making accessible those records of the College that have long-term historical value. These records include administrative records, manuscripts, photographs, maps, architectural plans, honors theses, and audio/video materials. The Archives also collects materials from alumnae and others that help document and illustrate the history of Wellesley College. Among other things, these materials include scrapbooks, photographs, letters, and assorted realia and ephemera.

Mission
“Not to be ministered unto but to minister,” proclaims Wellesley’s motto, putting into four Latin words the outcome of the College’s mission: To provide an excellent liberal arts education for women who will make a difference in the world.

Courses Offered

• American Studies Interdepartmental Major
• Architecture Interdepartmental Major
• Astrophysics Interdepartmental Major
• Biological Chemistry Interdepartmental Major
• Cinema and Media Studies Interdepartmental Major
• Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences Interdepartmental Major
• Comparative Literature Structured Individual Major
• East Asian Studies Interdepartmental Major
• Environmental Studies Interdepartmental Major
• French Cultural Studies Interdepartmental Major
• German Studies Interdepartmental Major
• Hebrew, see Jewish Studies Interdepartmental Major & Minor
• International Relations Interdepartmental Major
• Jewish Studies Interdepartmental Major & Minor
• Latin American Studies Interdepartmental Major
• Media Arts and Sciences Interdepartmental Major
• Medieval/Renaissance Studies Interdepartmental Major
• Middle Eastern Studies Interdepartmental Major & Minor
• Neuroscience Interdepartmental Major
• Peace and Justice Studies Structured Individual Major
• Russian Area Studies Interdepartmental Major–Russian Department
• South Asia Studies Interdepartmental Major & Minor
• Theatre Studies Interdepartmental Major
• Women’s and Gender Studies Department
• Quantitative Reasoning Program
• Writing Program

Departments

• Africana Studies Department
• Anthropology Department
• Arabic, see Middle Eastern Studies
• Art Department
• Astronomy Department
• Biological Sciences Department
• Chemistry Department
• Classical Civilization, see Classical Studies Department
• Classical Studies Department
• Computer Science Department
• East Asian Languages and Literatures Department
• Economics Department
• Education Department
• English Department
• French Department
• Geosciences Department
• German Department
• Greek and Latin, see Classical Studies Department
• History Department
• Italian Studies Department
• Language Studies/Linguistics, see Cognitive & Linguistic Science
• Mathematics Department
• Music Department
• Philosophy Department
• Physical Education and Athletics Department
• Physics Department
• Political Science Department
• Psychology Department
• Religion Department
• Russian Department
• Sociology Department
• Spanish Department
• Women’s and Gender Studies Department

Contact Details
Wellesley College
106 Central Street
Wellesley, MA 02481
(781) 283-1000
Official Website: http://web.wellesley.edu/