Lucy Wheelock founded the Wheelock Kindergarten Training School in Boston, Mass., in 1888. In 1926, the program changed from a two year to a three year curriculum to include the preparation of teachers for nursery, kindergarten and primary grades. The school was incorporated on a non-profit basis in 1939, and a Board of Trustees was appointed, with Lucy Wheelock as Chairman of the Board.
Among the first decisions of the Board was to expand Wheelock School’s three year course into a four year degree-granting program. In May 1941, following an inspection and hearings before the Education Committee of the Legislature and the State Department of Education, Governor Saltonstall signed a bill authorizing the Wheelock School to award the degree of Bachelor of Science in Education. On November 21, 1941, an amendment to the Charter of the Corporation changed the name from Wheelock School to Wheelock College. The first degrees were conferred in 1943, and Wheelock applied for accreditation by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, which it achieved in March 1944. In December of 1950 Wheelock College was accredited by the New England Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools (NEASC).
A change of purpose and an amendment to the Charter were filed by the Board of Trustees in November of 1951, which proposed admitting men students and adding a graduate program. In 1952, the Board of Collegiate Authority of the State Department of Education approved the charter, granting permission to admit men and women students and to bestow advanced degrees. A College seal, bearing the arms of the College, was adopted in 1960.
In 1964, Wheelock first achieved accreditation by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). The Bachelor of Social Work degree program was accredited by the Council on Social Work Education in 1985. In 1996, Wheelock College joined the Colleges of the Fenway consortium, sharing courses, student services, buildings, and social activities with Emmanuel College, Simmons College, Wentworth Institute of Technology, and the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy.
The Bermuda Master’s Program was evaluated and approved for accreditation by NEASC in 1998.
Legal and Organizational Re...
| Wheelock College Archives
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