Mount Holyoke Female Seminary received its collegiate charter in 1888 and became Mount Holyoke Seminary and College. It became Mount Holyoke College in 1893. Mount Holyoke's chapter of Phi Beta Kappa was established in 1905.
On February 28, 1987, a stamp featuring Mary Lyon was issued in honor of The Sesquicentennial (Mount Holyoke's 150th anniversary) http://www.mtholyoke.edu/%7Edalbino/fdcs/mlyon.html The .
Mount Holyoke offers a variety of programs for international students http://www.mtholyoke.edu/adm/app-international.shtml, non-traditional students (through the Frances Perkins Programhttp://www.mtholyoke.edu/adm/app-fp.shtml and for high school students during the academic year as well as summer. It also offers Teacher Licensure Programshttp://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/psych/teach/.
A member of SIAM, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Mount Holyoke is traditionally strongest in math and the sciences, with state of the art facilities and an unusually high percentage of science-related majors http://www.mtholyoke.edu/cic/about/science.shtml.It also has a long - standing commitment to encouraging women in computinghttp://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/vista/spring02/virtual.shtml (alumnae include Jean E. Sammet a computer scientist who developed the FORMAC programming language) and in medicine http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/acad_support.shtml#preparing (alumnae include Dr. Virginia Apgar, who introduced the first test, called the Apgar score, to assess the health of newborn babies).
Five colleges
In addition to classes at the college, Mount Holyoke students may also enroll in courses at Amherst College, Hampshire College, Smith College, and University of Massachusetts Amherst through the Five Colleges Consortium. The Five Colleges are geographically close to one another and are linked by buses which run between the campuses buses which run between the campuses http://www.umass.edu/campus_services/transit/index.html.
Mount Holyoke is also home to a professional golf course, The Orchards, which served as host to the U.S. Women's Open Championship in 2004 http://www.uswomensopen.com/2004/press/course-ideal.html. Golf Digest has ranked The Orchards as the second-best college course in the country http://www.golfdigest.com/features/index.ssf?/features/gd200509collegegolf2.html.
The 800 acre (3.2 km²) campus regularly places on The Princeton Review's list of the "Ten Most Beautiful College Campuses in America," capturing first place in 1997 http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/csj/970905/beautiful.html. The campus was designed and landscaped between 1896 and 1922 by the landscape architecture firm of Olmstead and Sons.
In addition to the Mount Holyoke College Botanic Garden, the grounds feature two lakes, a waterfall, tennis courts, stables and woodland riding trails, all surrounding the green (the grassy lawn in the center of campus). The green is framed by traditional ivy-covered, red brick dormitories, Skinner Hall, and the social hub, Blanchard Student Center.
The Odyssey Bookshop (a fixture in South Hadley for over 40 years), resides directly across from the campus in the college-owned Village Commons, which contains a quaint collection of locally owned shops and eateries. A little further away (and accessible by the five college bus) lie the towns of Amherst and Northampton which offer a number of interesting places to see and visit. The Hampshire Mall and Holyoke Mall also offer shopping and entertainment for students.
Some Mount Holyoke traditions include: * Disorientation: Affectionately known as "Dis-O," this tradition is the most closely guarded secret at Mount Holyoke. Generally, first-years are kept in the dark about it until it actually takes place. * Elfing: Sophomores secretly leave gifts for their chosen Firsties (Freshmen), usually during October. * Faculty Show: Happens once every four years, around April 1st. Faculty members put up a show with spoofs of themselves. * Founder's Day: Seniors dine on ice cream served to them by Trustees of the College, at (6 am) on the grave of Founder Mary Lyon. Later that morning, Convocation is held in Abbey Chapel; the medieval German ode to Academe, "Gaudeamus Igitus" is sung by berobed Seniors and Faculty during the procession. Following Convocation, Faculty line the path to Mary Lyon's grave. Seniors walk through this throng, to the grave (to place a wreath). As they pass by their professors, the Faculty members applaud the Seniors--thereby acknowledging them for the first time as scholars and colleagues. * Junior Show (also known as J - Show): Juniors (and a few professors) put the MHC experience into sketch and song, good-naturedly poking fun at the MHC experience. A common feature is a sketch mocking the president and dean of the college, along with well-known professors. * Laurel Parade: The day before Commencement, graduating seniors wear white and carry laurel garlands, in a parade to Mary Lyon's grave. They are escorted by approx. 3,000 Alumnae, also in white, who thereby welcome them into the Alumnae Association. . Once at Mary Lyon's grave, the garland is wound around the cast-iron fence, and the Farina song, "Bread and Roses" is sung by all in attendance. White is a tribute to those who fought for women's suffrage http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/csj/051900/Laurel.html. * M&C's (or Milk and Cookies): From Sunday through Thursday evenings, at 9:30 p.m. dormitory dining halls open to serve an evening snack. *Mountain Day: At the sound of ringing bells from Abbey Chapel on a random Autumn morning, all classes are cancelled for that day and many students hike to the summit of nearby Mount Holyokehttp://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/csj/961004/mtday.html.
* Horowitz, Helen Lefkowitz. Alma Mater: Design and Experience in the Women's Colleges from Their Nineteenth-Century Beginnings to the 1930s. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1993 (2nd edition).
