Endicott College was originally an all-girls college when it was opened in 1939 by Eleanor Tupper and her husband, Dr. George O. Bierkoe. The married couples’ goal was to create a college in which women would be educated to provide their students with a substantial and independent role in the workplace society. To further this, Endicott was one of the first colleges to provide internship opportunities in each field of study to gain firsthand experience. The institution transformed to a co-educational college in 1994, making it available for males to attend as well.
Endicott currently has a few professors that worked under President Tupper and Dr. Bieroke. Today, the School of Business proudly employs staff member Professor Bob Chambers, who is now entering his 50th year of teaching at Endicott, making him the professor who has been here the longest amount of time. When he first started, Endicott had population of around 800 young female adults. As the years went on, the class sizes increased. Chambers explained that the courses were “designed to appeal to women.”
Before Endicott accepted males, we learned from alumni Charlene Rivard-Sitaras that the college was still growing and students found there was a lack of activities on campus. She said that many students would go off campus or to other colleges for events or different classes that were not offered at Endicott. “[Going to an all girls institution] socially it was estranged. But [my sister and I] made the best of friends, that today live all over the country,” said Rivard-Sitaras, “for fun, we took the “T” and did whatever we had to do for something new.”
Professor Chambers described that before 1994, there was little to no social interaction, which he believes is very important for college students. “[When the institution became co-ed], it was great to see relationships form on campus and the resulting participation in campus events,” he said. Since males were inducted into the institution, sports became very popular. “To make it a successful co-ed institution, many sports were introduced that encouraged men to enroll. Also, the sports made things interesting for students on campus. The introduction of sports was very important for Endicott to become an institution of good growth,” said Chambers. According to Professor Chambers, when Endicott transformed to a co-ed institution, there was resistance among faculty and administration. Professor Chambers clarified that administration and faculty believed that this transformation would be a big risk. Chambers explained,
“[That professors worried if Endicott went co-ed]; would the co-ed institution change the character of the college and therefore some students who would enroll would decide to attend another institution?Would current faculty adapt to the new format, particularly those who were used to teaching in a single-sex environment?Would many courses structured for women need to change? For example, there were many courses in retailing- a major that appealed to women. Would these courses become irrelevant? Many recruiters came to Endicott to hire employees for certain fields. Would these fields change or be eliminated and result in fewer recruiters visiting the campus? How would dorm living change; would there be a need for new dorms for men?” Despite some negative outlooks, Endicott has proven that accepting both males and females a big success, and the changes that were made paid off substantially. Since Endicott’s big change, the college had to make adjustments to the course selections, adding variety and interest for both males and females. Chambers’ courses, for example, worked with the format, so his curriculum did not change. He said, “It is interesting that some majors such as the secretarial major had exceptionally good students. I think they were especially career-oriented students and saw that after two years they would probably get good employment opportunities. After the change to co-ed, there did not appear to be any majors with particularly outstanding students. At first, the sports oriented students were not especially good students, however, as the programs improved and there was good recruiting, athletes became better and better students all the time.” As Endicott’s popularity grew, new opportunities arose. For example, Endicott was the very first institution in the United States to require students to take internships during their studies. Through much with outside businesses, we now have one of the best internship programs in the U.S. “With the development of the semester-long internship, many students were offered employment opportunities with the companies in which they were interns for. Thus, as seniors, there was no need to look for employment, as many had it in an environment in which they were very familiar,” said Chambers. Endicott has clearly made a positive transformation and we are only moving forward today to do bigger and better things for the students and our community.