Wellesley College

Wellesley College was chartered in 1870 by Henry Fowle Durant and his wife Pauline Fowle Durant as an all-women's liberal arts college. Today, the mission of the college is to "provide an excellent liberal arts education for women who will make a difference in the world." The college's motto, "Non Ministrari sed Ministrare" (not to be ministered unto but to minister), reflects this purpose.

The private college, located in Wellesley, Massachusetts (13 miles west of Boston), grants four-year baccalaureate degrees and is one of the Seven Sisters schools. Approximately 2,400 students attend the school. The college has a cross-registration program with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and houses the Wellesley Centers for Women, which consists of the Center for Research on Women and the Stone Center for Developmental Services and Studies. Based on rankings by U.S. News & World Report, Wellesley consistently ranks among the top five liberal arts colleges in the United States, and as the highest ranking women's college in this category.

Famous Alumnae

Katharine Lee Bates (1880) (author of the words to the anthem America the Beautiful)
Marjory Stoneman Douglas (conservationist and writer)
Madeleine Albright (1959) (former U.S. Secretary of State)
Madame Chiang Kai-shek (1917) (Former First Lady of the Republic of China)
Hillary Rodham Clinton (1969) (U.S. Senator; Former First Lady of the U.S)
Nora Ephron (1962) (Movie screenplay writer: When Harry Met Sally; Writer and Director: Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail)
Judith Martin (1959) (Newspaper columnist)
Cokie Roberts (1964) (Journalist)
Diane Sawyer (1967) (Journalist)
Lynn Sherr (1963) (Journalist)
Pamela Melroy (1983) (Astronaut)

External Links

Wellesley College website
U.S. News & World Report's Best Colleges Index
How to Succeed? Go to Wellesley is an article by Judith H. Dobrzynksi which appeared in the N. Y. Times on October 29, 1995; it discusses the college's large number of top-level executive alumnae.