View source for Elms College

{{Short description|Catholic college in Chicopee, Massachusetts, US}}
{{redirect|Lady of the Elms|the Ohio school|Our Lady of the Elms High School}}
{{More citations needed|date=June 2009}}
{{Infobox university
 | name                   = College of Our Lady of the Elms
 | image                  = Seal of Elms College.svg
 | image_size             = 150 
 | caption                = 
 | latin_name             = Collegium Dominae Nostrae In Ulmis<ref>{{Cite web |title=Search |url=https://archive.org/search?query=%22Collegium+Dominae+Nostrae+In+Ulmis%22&sin=TXT |website=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>
 | motto                  = ''Viam Veritatis Elegi''
 | mottoeng               = "I have chosen the way of truth"
 | established            = 1928
 | type                   = [[Private college]]
 | religious_affiliation  = [[Catholic church|Roman Catholic]] ([[Sisters of St. Joseph]])
 | academic_affiliation   = [[Cooperating Colleges of Greater Springfield]]
 | endowment              = [[United States dollar|US$]]12 million
 | president              = Harry Dumay
 | undergrad              = 1,217
 | faculty                = 67
 | city                   = [[Chicopee, Massachusetts|Chicopee]]
 | state                  = [[Massachusetts]]
 | country                = U.S.
 | coor                   = {{Coord|42|8|32.15|N|72|36|5.00|W|display=title}}
 | campus_size            = {{Convert|22|acre}}
 | athletics_affiliations = [[National Collegiate Athletic Association|NCAA]] [[Division III (NCAA)|Division III]]
 | sports_nickname        = Blazers
 | colors                 = Green, gold, white
 | website                = {{url|https://www.elms.edu/|elms.edu}}
| logo = ElmsCollege TextLogo.svg
| logo_size = 150
}}

The '''College of Our Lady of the Elms''', often called '''Elms College''', is a [[Private college|private]] [[Catholic church|Roman Catholic]] college in [[Chicopee, Massachusetts]] in the United States.

== History ==
The Sisters of St. Joseph and the Diocese of Springfield co-founded Elms College as a preparatory [[academy]] for women in [[Pittsfield, Massachusetts]], the Academy of Our Lady of the Elms, in 1897.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/americanuniversi0000song |url-access=registration |title=American Universities and Colleges: A Dictionary of Name Changes |first=Alice H. |last=Songe |publisher=Scarecrow Press |location=Metuchen, N.J. |year=1978 |page=[https://archive.org/details/americanuniversi0000song/page/45 45] |isbn=0810811375}}</ref> In 1899, Rev. John McCoy and Bishop Thomas Beaven of the Springfield diocese purchased property in Chicopee and it became St. Joseph's Normal College.

In 1927, the [[Sisters of Saint Joseph]] petitioned the [[Commonwealth of Massachusetts]] to charter the school as a women's liberal arts college with a specialization in education, the charter was approved in 1928, and the name was changed to the College of Our Lady of the Elms with Rev. Thomas Michael O'Leary as the first president. Through the efforts of the Sisters of St. Joseph and the Springfield diocesan clergy, the curriculum was expanded through the 1940s and 1950s, and in 1953, an evening program was established.

To meet the needs of the surrounding community, Elms developed undergraduate programs in nursing, business management, and communication sciences and disorders during the 1960s and 1970s. In the late 1980s, Weekend College, paralegal studies and legal studies, and a Master of Arts degree program in teaching were instituted.

The Elms College board of trustees voted 23–5 to begin admitting men, starting with the 1998–1999 school year, on October 7, 1997.

== Campus ==
[[File:Berchmans Hall, Elms College, Chicopee MA.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Berchmans Hall]]
The campus is about two miles north of [[Metro Center, Springfield, Massachusetts|Metro Center]] [[Springfield, Massachusetts]]. It is focused on the Keating Quadrangle, which lies at its center, and has 14 buildings.<ref>[http://www.elms.edu/about/map.htm Elms College Campus Map]</ref> In 2014, Elms College completed construction on the Center for Natural and Health Sciences, its first academic building in more than 30 years.

==Academics==
Elms offers thirty-three [[academic major]]s to 814 full-time undergraduate students, and it employs 67 full-time [[Faculty (university)|faculty]] members.{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}}

Academically, the college is divided into the division of business, division of communication sciences and disorders, division of education, division of humanities and fine arts, division of natural sciences, mathematics and technology, and division of social sciences.

In 2013, the division of nursing became the school of nursing. On August 9 2023, Julie Beck was announced as the new dean of the School of Nursing (SON).<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2023-08-09 |title=Elms College Names Julie Beck Dean of School of Nursing |url=https://businesswest.com/blog/elms-college-names-julie-beck-dean-of-school-of-nursing/ |access-date=2024-02-13 |website=BusinessWest |language=en-US}}
</ref>

== Student body ==
In 2020 the school had about 1,100 students at the undergraduate level, with about 40% eligible for [[Pell grants]]. Fred Thys of [[WBUR]] wrote that year that "Elms caters to many students who are the first in their family to go to college."<ref>{{cite web|author=Thys, Fred|url=https://www.wbur.org/edify/2020/06/24/small-college-reopening-decision|title=For Small Colleges, Decision To Reopen Campus Is Especially Daunting|work=[[WBUR]]|date=2020-06-24|access-date=2020-06-26}}</ref>

== Student life ==

===Athletics===
The Elms College teams participate at the [[Division III (NCAA)|Division III]] level of the [[National Collegiate Athletic Association]]. The team colors are green, gold, and white.  The Elms athletic teams competes in the [[Great Northeast Athletic Conference]]<ref>[http://athletics.elms.edu/landing/index Elms College Athletics]</ref> and are known as the Blazers. 

[[File:Elms college athletics logo.png|thumb|100px|Elms Blazers logo]]

{| class="wikitable"; style= "text-align: "
! width= 150px style="{{CollegePrimaryStyle|Elms Blazers|border=1|color= white }}"| Men's sports
! width= 150px style="{{CollegePrimaryStyle|Elms Blazers|border=1|color= white }}"| Women's sports
|-
| Baseball || Basketball
|-
| Basketball || Cross Country
|-
| Cross Country || Field hockey
|-
| Golf || Lacrosse
|-
| Lacrosse|| Soccer
|-
| Soccer || Softball
|-
| Swimming || Swimming
|-
| Volleyball ||Volleyball 
|}

===Facilities===
The majority of athletics at Elms College are based out of The Maguire Center, which features a physical therapy and training center, gym and weight room, six-lane swimming pool (Natatorium), 100-meter track, and the Picknelly Arena basketball court.<ref>http://athletics.elms.edu/information/facilities/index {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100608222420/http://athletics.elms.edu/information/facilities/index |date=2010-06-08 }} Maguire Center</ref> In June of 2007, the college announced an athletic fields renovation project involving the soccer specific ''Leary Field'' being transformed into a multi-use artificial surface field and the construction of a new NCAA-compliant softball field.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2007-06-05 |title=Elms College building 2 new athletic fields |url=https://www.masslive.com/news/2007/06/elms_college_building_2_new_at.html |access-date=2024-02-13 |website=masslive |language=en}}</ref> The baseball team travels to [[Mackenzie Stadium]] in Holyoke, Mass.

====Cheryl R. Condon Field====
The new softball field was built in for the 2008 season, it featured newly-added covered dugouts and a batting cage and extended the homerun wall a few feet. The field was dedicated to longtime winningest coach [[Cheryl R. Condon]] on April 23 2008.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lightman |first=Andrew |title=Elms College names softball field for Rockland High School grad |url=https://www.enterprisenews.com/story/news/2008/04/23/elms-college-names-softball-field/40226552007/ |access-date=2024-02-13 |website=Enterprise News |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.masslive.com/news/2012/08/cheryl_condon_jennifer_ledoux.html | title=Cheryl Condon, Jennifer LeDoux, Kristin Tassey headed to Elms College Athletics Hall of Fame | date=5 August 2012 }}</ref>

== Notable people ==

=== Alumni ===

* [[Joan Hartley]], Connecticut politician, Deputy President Pro Tempore of the [[Connecticut State Senate]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Senator Hartley |url=http://senatedems.ct.gov/Hartley.php |access-date=2024-01-20 |website=senatedems.ct.gov}}</ref>

=== Faculty ===
* [[Paul Jenkins (poet)|Paul Jenkins]], professor of poetry
* [[Thomas Michael O'Leary]], co-founder and first president of Elms College
* [[John Elder Robison]], adjunct professor, autistic author of two books, brother of [[Augusten Burroughs]]
* [[Christopher Joseph Weldon]], president of Elms College from 1958 to 1977

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{ccat}}
* {{oweb}}
* [https://ecblazers.com/landing/index/ Athletics website]

{{Cooperating Colleges of Greater Springfield}}
{{Women's Colleges that are Coeducational}}
{{Great Northeast Athletic Conference navbox}}
{{Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference navbox}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Elms College| ]]
[[Category:Sisters of Saint Joseph colleges and universities]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Chicopee, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Universities and colleges established in 1928]]
[[Category:Former women's universities and colleges in the United States]]
[[Category:Catholic universities and colleges in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Universities and colleges in Hampden County, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:New England Collegiate Conference schools]]
[[Category:1928 establishments in Massachusetts]]