Harcum College Turns 100 in 2015

Harcum College commemorates its 100th anniversary beginning in January 2015 with a host of special events for students, alumni, prospective students, employees, and the general public throughout 2015. Harcum was founded in 1915 as a school for women.

“We’ve planned a meaningful and memorable celebration to showcase not only our identity but also our mission and how we are unique within the higher education landscape,” said Dr. Jon Jay DeTemple, who has served as president of Harcum College since 2007. “It’s exciting to be standing on the threshold of this milestone. Besides engaging our own community, the Greater Philadelphia and Bryn Mawr communities are invited to take part in many of the 100th anniversary festivities.”

In celebration of the College’s first anniversary, a free lecture series kicks off on February 19. In addition, 100 Acts of Service are slated throughout 2015 to benefit the wider Philadelphia community, a call for entries has been issued for a juried art show called 100 Years of Art, a community engagement art project called “Bears and Squares” is in the process of collecting entries, and a centennial gala is planned for October of 2015. A centennial kickoff for the Bryn Mawr Campus is scheduled for Thursday, January 15, after students return for Spring Semester 2015. More specific information about the centennial celebration and all of its components is available at www.harcum.edu/hc100.

Harcum College was founded by Edith Hatcher Harcum, a concert pianist and daughter of a prominent Virginia clergyman. Desiring to prepare women for dignified, remunerative, and socially useful work, Mrs. Harcum opened the Harcum Post Graduate School on October 1, 1915, with three students and five pianos in Melville Hall at Morris and Montgomery Avenues in Bryn Mawr. Mrs. Harcum served as School Head and President until 1952.

In 1955, under President Philip Klein’s leadership, Harcum became the first junior college in Pennsylvania authorized to grant associate’s degrees of arts and sciences. In 2003, the College began admitting men and added new Allied Health programs in Nursing and Radiologic Technology.

Today Harcum College is an independent residential associate’s degree granting college with an enrollment of approximately 1,700 students, women and men, who reside at or commute to the Main Campus in Bryn Mawr in addition to attending classes at 12 other Partnership Sites around Greater Philadelphia. Since the 2004–05 season, it has competed in the NJCAA or National Junior College Athletics Association and now numbers eight sports participating in Division I or Division III. In 2012, Harcum College was recognized as a Main Line Chamber of Commerce Nonprofit Business of the Year. In 2014, the Men’s Division I Basketball Team made its first appearance in the NJCAA final four.

Harcum College remains committed to Edith Harcum’s ideal to provide women and men with outstanding career preparation for the possibility of a rewarding career and a fulfilling life. Hence, it employs the tagline, “The College of Possibilities.” Besides 23 traditional degree programs, Harcum currently offers online programs and trainings and continuing education courses in several allied health professions such as dental hygiene, occupational therapy assistant, physical therapist assistant, nursing, and dental assisting. Harcum also offers certificate programs and evening classes in art and design fields such as residential, digital, and fashion design.

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About Harcum College

Harcum College, one of Pennsylvania’s first independent, two-year colleges, was founded in Bryn Mawr, PA in 1915 and was the first college in Pennsylvania chartered by the state to grant associate degrees. Harcum offers fully accredited, career-ready majors in nursing, the allied health professions, business and social sciences on campus, online, and regionally, as well as lifelong learning programs and corporate training. It will celebrate a year-long 100th anniversary beginning in January of 2015.