History of Mills College

1852Young Ladies’ Seminary opens in Benicia, then state capitol of California

1865 Cyrus and Susan Mills, Christian missionaries returning from Sandwich Islands (nowHawaii) purchase the Seminary from Oberlin graduate Mary Atkins

1871 Millses move the Seminary to Oakland foothills where a new campus had beenpurchased and Mills Hall built

1876 Emma Nevada, international opera singer, graduates from Mills in music, and laterperforms at Mills accompanied by master cellist Pablo Casals

1879 Mills Alumnae Association is founded

1885 Mills is chartered as the first women's college west of the Rockies

1889 Mills grants first bachelor’s degrees

1890 Susan Mills, a Mount Holyoke graduate, becomes President of Mills and serves until 1909

1909 Dr. Louella Clay Carson becomes President of Mills until 1914

1914 Professor of Math Hattie Belle Ege becomes becomes Dean and Acting President until 1916

1916 Aurelia Henry Reinhardt becomesthe third President of Mills, leading the Collegethrough two world wars and the Great Depression

1917 Mills is admitted to Association of American Universities and Colleges

1920 Mills Graduate Division opens

1921 Mills confers first master’s degrees

1926 Education Deptartment establishes Children’s School, first laboratory school west of the Mississippi

1934 Trustees approve faculty tenure

1940 Composer Darius Milhaud begins his tenure of more than 30 years as music professor

1941 Mills becomes one of nation’s first liberal arts colleges to grant a degree in modern dance

1966 Mills launches Upward Bound program for aspiring college students, now one ofthe country’slargest program of its kind

1967 The Mills “Tape Center” - now the Center for Contemporary Music, is dedicated

1969 Walter A. Haas Pavilion is dedicated

1971 Merce Cunningham Dance Company begins campus residency

1974 Mills becomes the first women’s college to offer a computer science major

1986 The Aron Art Center, with up-to-date art studios and teaching spaces, is dedicated

1990 The F.W. Olin Library, centerpiece project of the Campaign for Mills (1984-1989) opens

- Trustees reaffirm the Mills commitment toeducating women following campus-wide striketo remain all-women undergraduate

1991 Janet L. Holmgren, inaugurated as 11th President of Mills, leads College into 21st century

1992 Leadership Institute for Teaching Elementary Science (funded by National ScienceFoundation) is established to advance science teaching in Oakland public schools

1993 Women’s Leadership Institute and its Center for Visiting Women Scholars is established

- Mills announces two-year tuition freeze to enhance educational access for women

1994 Women’s Leadership Institute hosts Women in Science Summit, releases national reportto advance women’s leadership in scientific disciplines

- Mills endowment passes $100 million mark

- Mills Hall is renovated following near destruction in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake

1997 Mills receives major three-year James Irvine Foundation grant to create modelundergraduate liberal arts curriculum through multicultural transformation

1998 Trefethen Aquatic Center opens

1999 Mills’ first doctoral degree, an EdD in educational leadership, is accredited

- National conference on girls’ education hosted by Women’s Leadership Institute

- Mills convenes summit to address statewide teacher shortage

- Educator Johnetta Cole gives commencement address, receives honorary degree

2000 New $8 million Education Center opens for pre-school to doctoral programs

- Board of Trustees announces Sesquicentennial Campaign to raise $100 million by 2002

- Author Isabel Allende gives commencement address, receives honorary degree

2001- New academic programs debut: the Institute for Civic Leadership, the “4+1”BA/MBA, the environmental science major, and the public policy program

2002 Mills celebrates its Sesquicentennial as the oldest women’s college west of the Rockies

2003 Mills College Art Museum presents major “Reflections in Black” African American photography exhibit as part of three-museum showcase

2004 Mills completes largest fundraising campaign in its history, $130 million raised - $30 million over goal. Funds to support academic programs, student scholarships, endowed professorships, facilities, and technology

- $10 million gift received from Lorry I. Lokey to support new Graduate School of Business

- Mills launches innovative two-year, Pre-Nursing Program leading to bachelor of science in partnership with Samuel Merritt College

2006 Mills attains highest enrollment in College's history with more than 1,400 students

- Mills begins enrolling students for new Master's Degree in Public Policy

- Mills endowment passes $200 million mark