History
The college was founded in 1919 by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur as the first women's Catholic college in New England. The trustees of the college were incorporated by the state in 1921. In 2000, cash-strapped and with fewer than 500 students enrolled, Emmanuel College faced an uncertain future. Led by longtime President Sister Janet Eisner, the college signed an agreement with Merck Pharmaceuticals to lease a portion of its campus for a new research laboratory, for 75 years and approximately $50 million. The agreement makes Emmanuel the only college in the country with a pharmaceutical lab on campus.
The subsequent windfall and alliance with Merck permitted Emmanuel to add dormitories so it could start admitting men in 2001, sparking a sustained revival that has made Emmanuel one of the fastest growing colleges in New England. Emmanuel developed an ambitious building campaign featuring the state-of-the-art Jean Yawkey Student Center, which opened in 2004 as the first new building on campus in 35 years. That same year, Merck opened its 12-story facility, whose glass facade glitters over the college's main quad and English Gothic buildings.
Until 2001, Emmanuel was a women's college primarily known for training teachers but long-time President Sister Janet Eisner used the windfall to secure millions in federal science grants to fund the construction of a $50 million science center. The Maureen Murphy Wilkens Science Center open in fall 2009 effectively doubling the academic space of the campus. The Wilkens Center is four floors and 47,500 feet and contains faculty/student research space and offices, student study areas, new classrooms for all academic areas, 120 underground parking spaces, as well as teaching laboratories for Biology, Chemistry, Biochemistry and Physics. Since 2001, overall enrollment has tripled, but male enrollment has declined since the initial surge.
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