Simmons University (previouslySimmons College) is aprivate university inBoston, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1899 by clothing manufacturerJohn Simmons. In 2018, it reorganized its structure and changed its name to a university. Its undergraduate program iswomen-focused while its graduate programs areco-educational.
Simmons isaccredited by theNew England Commission of Higher Education.[3] As of 2020, 83percent of applicants to undergraduate programs were accepted.[4] The university is divided into two campuses in theFenway-Kenmore neighborhood totaling 12 acres (4.9 ha), one of which has five academic buildings and the other of which has nineGeorgian-style residential buildings.[5]
The university enrolls approximately 1,736 undergraduates and 4,527 graduate students.[6] Its athletics teams compete inNCAA Division III as the Sharks.
Simmons was founded in 1899 with a bequest byJohn Simmons, a wealthy clothing manufacturer in Boston. Simmons founded the college, calledSimmons College, based on the belief that women ought to live independently by offering aliberal arts education for undergraduate women to integrate into professional work experience.[7]Sarah Louise Arnold was the school's firstdean.[8]
Simmons graduated its firstAfrican American student in 1914. Furthermore, Simmons was one of the few private colleges not to impose admission quotas onJewish students for the first half of the 1900s.[7]
The school's MBA program was the first in the world designed specifically for women.[10] Today, the undergraduate program is women-centered, while the graduate schools arecoed.[11]
In 2014, Simmons College teamed up with for-profit online program manager2U, a deal that would generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues for the school.[12]
In November 2014, the institution released an explicit policy on the acceptance oftransgender students, claiming a strong tradition of empowering women and challenging traditional gender roles and a "rich history of inclusion." Its undergraduate program accepts applicants who are assigned female at birth as well as those who self-identify as women, making Simmons the third women-centered college in theUnited States to accept transgender women.[13] Government documentation of gender is not required. (Graduate programs are co-educational, so gender identity is not of concern.)[14]
In 2016, the MBA program went online as MBA@Simmons, and began admitting men.[15]
In 2018, Simmons College changed its name toSimmons University after reorganizing the structure of the school.[16]
Simmons University is currently divided into two campuses located in theFenway-Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. One campus is home to five academic buildings referred to as the Academic Campus. The other campus, referred to as the Residential Campus, is home to nine residential buildings for undergraduate students. The original site of the Simmons College Graduate School of Social Work is featured on theBoston Women's Heritage Trail.[17]
In November 2020, a plan for a single campus was launched by the university called One Simmons. This plan aims to combine the two campuses into a single campus and create a 21-story "Living and Learning Center." This will include 1,100 dorm rooms, classrooms, and athletic facilities. Additionally, the plan outlines renovations to the Main College Building and Lefavour Hall. Lefavour Hall specifically will be outfitted with a new library and a new science center. Following the completion of these renovations in spring of 2022, the Park Science Center has been closed. It is going to be taken down to build the new Living and Learning Center. The project is scheduled to break ground in Fall 2022 and open in Fall 2026.[18]
Simmons University entered into an agreement withSkanska, a multinational construction and property development company. Skanska will build the new Living and Learning Center building, and in exchange, Simmons University will give Skanska a 99-year lease for the grounds of the residential campus.[18] Skanska will plan and execute commercial development of the former residential campus after the construction of the Living and Learning Center is completed.[19]
According to the College Scorecard, the racial and ethnic composition of the undergraduate population is 62% white, 11% Asian, 8% Hispanic, 6% black, and 5% non-resident alien. 30% of the undergraduate student body is Pell Grant eligible.[21]
Simmons received 2,905 first-year applications for admission in fall 2020. They admitted 2,398 applicants (82.5% acceptance rate) and enrolled 451. The average high schoolGPA of first-year students enrolled in fall 2020 was 3.69; the middle 50% range of SAT composite scores was 1080-1250; and the middle 50% range of ACT composite scores was 24–29.[22]
Simmons University reorganized its academic structure in 2024 to foster interdisciplinary learning and cross-departmental collaboration among its constituent schools:
Gwen Ifill School of Media, Humanities, and Social Sciences
School of Library and Information Science (SLIS), est. 1902[25][26]
^"College Corner",The Item of Millburn and Short Hills, September 1, 1966. Accessed May 6, 2021, viaNewspapers.com. "Three Millburn High School alumnae have been named to the dean's list of scholars at Simmons College in Boston for the year..... Sondra A. Perl, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Herman Perl of South Orange Avenue, will be a sophomore in the department of education."
