Lake Erie College

Founded as the Lake Erie Female Seminary in 1856, the institution toppled the belief that women were not capable of significant intellectual improvement. The only single-sex institution of higher education for women in the Western Reserve, it took after its sister seminary, Mount Holyoke.

The seminary was relocated in Painesville after Willoughby Seminary, founded in 1847, burned to the ground. Its founders include prominent local citizens Timothy Rockwell, general store owner Silas Trumbull Ladd, Judge William Lee Perkins, Mayor and Judge Aaron Wilcox, Charles Austin Avery and Judge Reuben Hitchcock, a president of the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad and cousin of Edward Hitchcock.

Scholarship was not a chief concern at the Seminary for many years, however. Educating future mothers through domestic work, physical education and etiquette ranked among the Seminary's chief aims. For a tuition of $160, seminarians trained as teachers.[6]

Over 40 years, the seminary raised standards, finally delivering a college degree. It took on the official name of Lake Erie College in 1908 when a charter was passed.

The Arts took up a home in the halls of Lake Erie. Helen Rockwell Morley Memorial Music Building, opened in 1927, still shines – its classic Greek design, Corinthian pillars, seating for more than 1,000, and four-manual E.M. Skinner organ with 5,000 pipes.

The Civil Aeronautics Authority approved Lake Erie for a civilian pilot program in 1939, several years after Amelia Earhart visited the campus to speak to its Aviators Club.[7]

In the 1940s, President Dr. Helen D. Bragdon, a Harvard alumna, moved the College from more Victorian ideals toward an active, responsible citizenry. Her successor, Dr. Paul Weaver, initiated a required general studies lecture series to demonstrate the interconnectivity of fields of study, three 10 week terms, and the establishment of study centers in many European cities.

In 1954, Lake Erie College became the first institution of higher education in the United States to require a term abroad for its students.

In 1967, Lake Erie added a School of Equine Studies to its equestrian riding program developed by Laddie Andahazy, an influential horseman who founded the Cleveland Grand Prix.

A special exhibit of Modern art signaled the opening of Royce Hall for the Fine and Performing Arts in 1970. Prints, sculpture, graphics and more by celebrated artists such as Dali, dekooning, Magritte, Miro and Picasso were on display. R. Buckminster Fuller spoke at the facility's ground-breaking.[8]

In 1985, Lake Erie College became coeducational, merging Garfield Senior College with Lake Erie College for Women, and men were admitted officially as students.

The IACBE-accredited School of Business offers its students ten undergraduate majors and six minors.[9]

Lake Erie College is a member of the Entrepreneurship Education Consortium and its programming integrates entrepreneurship concepts and collaborative retreats and competitions such as ideaLabs and Entrepreneurship Immersion Week into traditional academic studies. Its Center for Entrepreneurship consists of business faculty and a resident entrepreneur.

The School of Arts and Humanities offers its students 13 undergraduate majors and 16 minors. Some popular majors include criminal justice, psychology, communication and English. Minors such as gender, sexuality & women's studies as well as comedy studies fall outside the scope of major fields of study. While most major fields lead to a Bachelor of Arts degree, a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree is also offered.[10]

The School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics offers its students four majors.[11] Students have access to regional land preserves due to the School's partnership with The Nature Conservancy.[12]

In addition to three undergraduate programs, the School of Education and Professional Studies also offers endorsements in TESOL and reading, post-baccalaureate programming, and an M.Ed. degree.[13]

The School of Equine Studies offers its students four majors.[14]

Lake Erie College's equestrian riding teams compete throughout the calendar year in English and Western events, including the IHSA Hunt Seat Team, IHSA Western Team, and IDA Dressage Team. The college hosts shows, clinics and events, most notably the annual Prix de Villes, at its George M. Humphrey Equestrian Center.