Bryn Mawr 100: Bryn Mawr College

toes a fine line between nostalgia and progress.

"We certainly value our heritage as a strong traditional liberal arts institution," said college secretary and Bryn Mawr 100 point person Ruth Linbeborg, herself a 1980 grad. "But across the college—faculty, students, administrators—each in their own way are interested in thinking about how this tradition moves forward in the 21st century."

About that progress: Linbeborg says the 126-year-old school is particularly excited about a set of curricular pilot programs they've recently initiated. Among them is the "360 Degree" Program.

Starting this academic year, students will be encouraged to take a two-to-four course load on a dynamic issue of our time. Rather than a conventional course that might touch peripherally on, or simply provide better analytical tools to understand, an urgent matter, this program invites students to become expert on one.

"It's a tremendous opportunity to think critically about a serious issue," said Linbeborg. "And not in a little box, but in a broad sense."

Linbeborg added that one 360 topic the college expects to draw particular interest is the Economics of Energy. Participating students will take courses in Economic and Environmental Science and evaluate the policy choices the world community makes vis-a-vis fuel.

Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Jenny Rickard said the aspect she thinks will continue to fuel the college, and the intellectual growth of its student body, is diversity.

"Twenty-five percent of our students are international," said Rickard, who boasted that Bryn Mawr was one of the first higher educational institutions to provide financial aid for such students.

"We want to be a global college, with students that think globally," said Rickard, who added that the greatest boon may come not to these international students, but to the classmates that benefit from their presence.

"It broadens perspectives," Rickard said. "When you have a classroom with students from Asia, Africa, Latin America, New Jersey, you have conversations that are so much more enriched by various perspectives."

Broadening the minds of young women has always been the objective of Bryn Mawr College.

Founded in 1885 by a group of Quakers who aimed to provide a level of education that, up to that point, was only available to men, Bryn Mawr was modeled after Harvard, Oxford, and Cambridge. From its inception, the school offered postgraduate as well as undergraduate programs—the former being a first.

"We're the first women's college to offer degrees from BA to Ph.D.," added Linbeborg.

The college, which is the alma mater of Katherine Hepburn, is focused on continuing this work towards women's empowerment.

In addition to their high percentage of women who graduate with degrees in the sciences, Bryn Mawr launched, in March, a partnership with the U.S. State Department and a handful of other women's colleges to encourage more women to enter public office. The goal, said Linbeborg, is to achieve equity between men and women in government by 2050.

"50/50," she said.

Bryn Mawr College, it appears, has struck a fine balance between future and past: always pushing ahead, but informed by the values of yesteryear.

Editor's Note: This is the tenth in a . Check back with Bryn Mawr-Gladwyne Patch for more profiles leading up to the Sept. 10 celebration.