Records of Administrative Departments, 1947- | Wheelock College Archives

Lucy Wheelock founded Wheelock College in 1888 to educate teachers of young children. As the necessary functions of the school changed, the administrative departments evolved in tandem. For many years Miss Wheelock conducted all administrative business herself, or with the help of a handful of assistants. Miss Laura Holmes Reed ‘10, Miss Wheelock’s niece, became the first Registrar when the office was created in 1923. The Wheelock School became Wheelock College in 1941, and the positions of treasurer and financial secretary were created, and later subsumed into the department of Finance. The Career Planning and Placement Office, established in 1977, had its origins in the placement office that began in the mid-1940s.

Public relations were administered by the President’s Office until 1970, when the Office of Public Information and the Publications department took over these duties, merging to become the Public Relations Office in 1975. The first director of Alumni Affairs was hired as an administrative officer of the College in 1970. In 1981, the Office of Academic Advising was established; advising then fell to various deans and academic departments before the Office was resurrected in 1997.

The Student Development Office was created in 1984, and the Academic Affairs Office in 1993. In 1994, the former maintenance and personnel departments were renamed Facilities Management and Human Resources. The Information Technology Office was created in 1995-96 to support the increasing use of computers in education.