Mary Baldwin University

Located in Staunton, Virginia within Augusta County, the university was founded as the Augusta Female Seminary in 1842 by Rufus William Bailey. Among the first students was Mary Julia Baldwin. In 1863, Baldwin was named principal and headed the school through the Civil War, although most schools in the area had closed due to the war and economic hardship.{{cite web| url=https://marybaldwin.edu/about/history/| publisher=MBU| title=History| access-date=May 1, 2018}}

In 1895, the school was renamed Mary Baldwin Seminary in honor of Baldwin. In 1923, the name changed to Mary Baldwin College when the school became a four-year institution.{{cite book| title=To Live in Time: The Sesquicentennial History of Mary Baldwin College| author=Patricia H. Menk| date=1992| publisher=Mary Baldwin College| isbn=978-0-9633486-0-9}}

In 1963, Mary Baldwin became racially de-segregated, officially ending its policy of admitting only white women.{{cite news|title=Grade-a-Year Mix Plan Approved in Tallahassee|work=The Tuscaloosa News|date=April 23, 1963 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=axEdAAAAIBAJ&pg=5535%2C3132105}}

In the mid-1970s, men began to be admitted as day students and graduate students. Four decades later, in 2017, the school began accepting residential male students, albeit not without some controversy at the time.{{cite web

|title= History and Traditions at Mary Baldwin University

|year=2020

|publisher=Mary Baldwin University

|url=https://marybaldwin.edu/about/history/}}

In 1976, when Staunton Military Academy (SMA) closed, its grounds and buildings were purchased by Mary Baldwin, expanding the campus from {{convert|19|to|58.5|acre|abbr=off|lk=on}}.{{cite web |url=http://www.mbcathletics.com/traditions/fightsong |publisher=MBC Athletics |title=The MBC Fight Song |date=July 12, 2011 |access-date=February 4, 2015 }}

In 1977, Mary Baldwin became the first college in Virginia to launch an adult degree program. Cynthia Haldenby Tyson was appointed as the eighth president in 1985. That same year, the Program for the Exceptionally Gifted (PEG) was established to allow academically gifted girls to earn bachelor's degrees.

In 1995, the Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership was established as the only all-female cadet corps. In 2001, the university established the Shakespeare and Performance graduate program after the American Shakespeare Center opened the Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton.

In 2003, after 18 years as president, Cynthia Haldenby Tyson retired and Pamela Fox, dean of Miami University's School of Fine Arts, was named the ninth president.{{cite web| url=http://miamioh.edu/news/article/view/3137| publisher=Miami University| title=Dean Pamela Fox named president at Mary Baldwin College| date=April 3, 2003 | access-date=February 4, 2015 }}{{cite web| url=http://www.ssentinel.com/index.php/school/article/graduation_at_rcc_set_for_may_8| publisher=Sentinel| title=Graduation at RCC set| date=April 22, 2009 | access-date=February 4, 2015 }}

In May 2015, the board of trustees voted unanimously to change the name of the institution to Mary Baldwin University, effective August 31, 2016, reflecting the school's range of bachelor's, master's, and doctoral programs.{{cite news|last1=Kapsidelis|first1=Karen|title=Mary Baldwin to become University|url=http://www.richmond.com/news/article_7fce1e5f-8e5b-5903-b800-9c1704aa5aa6.html|access-date=March 10, 2016|agency=Richmond Times-Dispatch|publisher=Richmond Times-Dispatch|date=May 12, 2015|ref=31}}

On July 1, 2023, Jeffrey P. Stein began his tenure as Mary Baldwin University's tenth president after two decades at Elon University.{{Cite web |date=April 14, 2023 |title=Jeffrey P. Stein Elected 10th President of Mary Baldwin University |url=https://marybaldwin.edu/news/2023/04/14/jeffrey-p-stein-elected-10th-president-of-mary-baldwin-university/ |access-date=April 4, 2024 |website=Mary Baldwin University |language=en-US}}

Mary Baldwin University offers Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Social Work degrees in more than 30 majors.{{cite web| url=https://marybaldwin.edu/academics/| publisher=Mary Baldwin University| title=MBU Academics| date=September 12, 2017| access-date=May 1, 2018}} Undergraduate degrees are offered through the Mary Baldwin College for Women and two co-educational programs: University College and MBU Online. The school offers graduate degrees through the College of Education (Master of Arts in Teaching, Master of Education, Master of Science in Higher Education, and Master of Science in Applied Behavior Analysis), Murphy Deming College of Health Sciences (Doctor of Occupational Therapy, Doctor of Physical Therapy, Master of Science in Physician Assistant, and RN-to-BSN), and the Shakespeare and Performance program (Master of Letters and Master of Fine Arts).{{cite web| url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/07/21/tensions-mary-baldwin-college-signal-competing-understandings-liberal-education| publisher=Inside HigherEd| title=What's Expendable?| author=Charlie Tyson| date=July 21, 2014| access-date=February 4, 2015}}

Additionally, Mary Baldwin offers fast-track degrees, bachelor's-plus-master's-degree plans, professional school preparation and certificate programs. Community service and study-abroad opportunities are supplied through the Spencer Center for Civic and Global Engagement, which opened in 2007.

The co-educational Master of Letters and Master of Fine Arts students in the Shakespeare and Performance program is partnered with the American Shakespeare Center, allowing the students to learn and perform in the Blackfriars Playhouse located a block away from campus.{{cite web| url=http://www.mbc.edu/shakespeare/| publisher=Mary Baldwin College| title=Shakespeare and Performance| access-date=February 4, 2015| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512090047/http://www.mbc.edu/shakespeare/| archive-date=May 12, 2015}}

The Heifetz International Music Institute, founded by violinist Daniel Heifetz, was moved from its Wolfeboro, New Hampshire location to Mary Baldwin University in 2012. The institute accepts applicants annually from around the world and offers summer programs for classically trained musicians.{{cite web| url=http://www.richmond.com/news/article_d713fe3a-6e36-5d49-8416-a6291048a8fd.html| publisher=Richmond Times Dispatch| title=Heifetz International Music Institute moving to Mary Baldwin campus| author=Holly Prestidge| date=September 13, 2011| access-date=February 4, 2015}}{{cite web| url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2014/08/11/npr-veteran-ben-roe-to-be-executive-director-of-heifetz-institute/| work=The Baltimore Sun| title=NPR veteran Ben Roe to be executive director of Heifetz Institute| author=Tim Smith| date=August 11, 2014| access-date=February 4, 2015}}

MBU has also partnered with international organizations including the Clinton Global Initiative and Women for Women International to sponsor participants in Women for Women programs and raise awareness of human trafficking around the world.{{cite web| url=http://www.mbc.edu/student_activities/clubsandorgs/| publisher=Mary Baldwin College| title=Clubs and Organizations| access-date=February 5, 2015| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150306200724/http://www.mbc.edu/student_activities/clubsandorgs/| archive-date=March 6, 2015}}{{cite web| url=http://www.mbc.edu/spencer_center/changemakers_for_women/| publisher=MBC| title=Spencer Center- Changemakers for Women| access-date=February 4, 2015| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150205050021/http://www.mbc.edu/spencer_center/changemakers_for_women/| archive-date=February 5, 2015}}

Mary Baldwin has partnerships with several women's colleges around the world including Doshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts in Japan, Sungshin Women's University in South Korea, and Lady Doak College in India.

Founded in 1995 by request of the Commonwealth of Virginia,{{cite news |author-link=Joan Biskupic|last1=Biskupic |first1=Joan |title=Supreme Court Invalidates Exclusion of Women by VMI |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/library/vmi/court.htm |access-date=August 10, 2018 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=June 27, 1996 |quote=Rehnquist agreed with the majority that the Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership, at nearby Mary Baldwin women's college, was 'distinctly inferior.' Ginsburg noted the VWIL program, established in response to a lower court ruling against VMI, offers a faculty with 'significantly fewer Ph.D.'s' than at VMI and enrolls students with SAT scores about 100 points lower than the score for VMI freshmen.}} VWIL (pronounced "vee-will") is an all-female cadet corps and four-year program preparing participants for both military and civilian leadership through academics, fitness, military training, practical experiences and co-curricular activities. Cadets also participate in co-educational ROTC training.{{cite journal| title=It's a Woman's World| author=Meghan Modafferi| date=November 2013| journal=US Airways Magazine |url= https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pace/usairways_november2013/index.php#/p/86 }} Commandant of the corps of cadets is Brig. Gen. Teresa "Terry" A. H. Djuric (USAF, Retired).{{cite news |last1=Stuart |first1=Bob |title=New commandant takes over Virginia Women's Institute |url= https://www.dailyprogress.com/newsvirginian/news/local/new-commandant-takes-over-virginia-women-s-institute/article_6df0b448-3797-11e3-81a3-001a4bcf6878.html |access-date=August 10, 2018 |work=The News Virginian |date=October 18, 2013}}{{cite news |author1=Charles House II |title=Mary Baldwin College Sees Leadership Change for Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership |url= http://www.whsv.com/home/headlines/Mary-Baldwin-College-Cahnging-of-Corps-Leadership-228272811.html |access-date=August 10, 2018 |work=WHSV-TV |date=October 18, 2013 |quote=Authority was transferred to Brigadier General Teresa Djuric from Brigadier General N. Michael Bissell.}}

The Program for the Exceptionally Gifted (PEG) at Mary Baldwin University is an early entrance college program for girls who have completed 6th-10th grade and have not yet completed, or in some cases not yet started, high school. Critically, the program accepts young women between the ages of 12 and 16. Applicants of later ages are encouraged to apply for early admission instead. The program was founded in 1985 with a class of 11 students and now enrolls up to 30 new students each year. Early success of the program was greatly boosted by the women-only residential campus, which eased parental concerns, as well as exceptionally strong participation and attention by faculty in providing extra challenges and opportunities to the gifted students. Participants ("PEGs") reside in a PEG-specific dorm building named for past president Cynthia Tyson, but attend classes with traditional-age students with the exception of a mandatory, PEG specific, introductory philosophy course named "Knowing the Self" (Phil 112). PEGs typically earn a bachelor's degree in the normal four years.{{cite web | url = https://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/articles/990920/archive_001918.htm | title = The Littlest Freshman of All: Colleges recruit adolescent geniuses. But who benefits? | last = Kleiner | first = Carolyn | publisher = U.S. News & World Report |id=[https://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/articles/990920/archive_001918_2.htm page 2] | date = September 12, 1999 | access-date = August 14, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111223053/http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/articles/990920/archive_001918.htm |archive-date=January 11, 2012}}{{cite news | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2007/12/01/ST2007120102004.html | title = Young, Gifted and Skipping High School: Va. College Feeds Academic Cravings | newspaper = Washington Post | date = December 2, 2007 | access-date = August 14, 2011 | last = Glod | first = Maria}}

The MBU main campus is located in Staunton, and its Murphy Deming College of Health Sciences is located in nearby Fishersville.

The first building on Staunton campus was the Mary Baldwin University, Main Building, built in 1844. The building now houses administrative offices and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) since 1973.{{cite web| url=http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/vamainstreet/bal.HTM| publisher=National Park Service| title=Mary Baldwin College, Main Building| access-date=February 5, 2015}}

MBU celebrates several annual traditions with the surrounding community. Every autumn, Mary Baldwin University commemorates Apple Day, during which students and faculty glean apples at a Virginia orchard. In recent years, the collected fruit has been distributed to area food pantries.{{cite web|title=Mary Baldwin Students glean orchard to feed needy|url=http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2010/10/mary-baldwin-students-glean-orchard-to-feed-needy/| access-date = November 5, 2016|first=Sally|last= Voth|date=October 2010}} The college also has marked Founders Day each October since 1898 to honor founders Mary Julia Baldwin and Rufus William Bailey.{{cite web| url=https://marybaldwin.edu/about/traditions/| publisher=MBU| title=Traditions| access-date=May 1, 2018}}

The "Mary Baldwin College Fight Song" is sung to the tune of "Blue and Gold." The song was used by Staunton Military Academy (SMA) until it closed in 1976. After Mary Baldwin purchased the SMA campus, the college began using the academy's athletic fields, adopted the melody of the SMA fight song in 2008, and still flies SMA flags during parades. VWIL continues to hold an annual SMA reunion weekend involving a parade, banquet, and awarding of several scholarships.

File:Mary Baldwin field.jpg

Mary Baldwin athletic teams are the Fighting Squirrels. The university is a member of the Division III level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily competing in the USA South Athletic Conference (USA South) since the 2007–08 academic year. The Fighting Squirrels previously competed in the Atlantic Women's Colleges Conference (AWCC) from 1995–96 to 2006–07, and in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) from 1984–85 to 1991–92.

Mary Baldwin competes in 13 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, soccer, tennis and track & field. Women's sports include basketball, cross country, soccer, softball, tennis, track & field and volleyball.

Mary Baldwin began to sponsor men's sports when the university became co-educational, effective in the 2019–20 school year, beginning with cross country, soccer, tennis and track & field. Basketball and baseball were added for the 2021–22 school year.

The original mascot of the Mary Baldwin athletics program was Gladys the Fighting Squirrel. Baldwin was introduced as the new athletics mascot in November 2019.

File:Tallulah Bankhead Argentinean Magazine AD.jpg]]

• Cora Lily Woodard Aycock, First Lady of North Carolina
• Tallulah Bankhead, actress
• Claudia Brind-Woody, IBM executive
• Dorie Clark, author and executive education professor
• Mary S. Cummins, educator
• Judith Godwin, abstract painter
• Caroline Rose Hunt, hotelier and philanthropist
• Anna Jarvis, founder of Mother's Day
• Louisa Venable Kyle, writer
• Custer LaRue, musician
• Lucille Foster McMillin, federal official
• Jason Narvy, actor
• Susan Schmidt, Pulitzer prize-winning journalist
• Susan Swecker, chair of the Virginia Democratic Party
• St. Clair Wright, historic preservationist

• Women's Colleges in the Southern United States

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book | title = To Live in Time: The Sesquicentennial History of Mary Baldwin College | last = Menk | first = Patricia H. | publisher = Mary Baldwin College | year = 1992 | isbn = 978-0-9633486-0-9}}
• {{cite book | title = Women in the Barracks: The VMI Case and Equal Rights | first = Philippa | last = Strum | publisher = University Press of Kansas | year = 2002 | isbn = 0-7006-1164-9 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/womeninbarracksv0000stru }}

{{Commons category}}

• {{Official website}}
• [http://www.marybaldwinathletics.com/ Official athletics website]
• [http://marybaldwin.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/CampusMap-w-Key_black_and_white.pdf Campus map]
• [https://archive.org/search.php?query=%28collection%3Amarybaldwin%20OR%20mediatype%3Amarybaldwin%29%20AND%20-mediatype%3Acollection&sort=-avg_rating%3B-num_reviews Collection of scanned archival materials from MBC library hosted at archive.org] (Yearbooks, college newsletters, etc.)

{{Mary Baldwin University|state=autocollapse}}

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