Russell Sage College - History

History

RSC was founded in 1916 by Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage, a suffragist, as a "school of practical arts." She named the college after her husband, Russell, who was a Congressman from New York. With Eliza Kellas, head of the Emma Willard School, Mrs. Sage was active in the women’s suffrage movement; in founding the new College, they proposed to offer women the means of independence through the combination of broad education in the liberal arts with preparation for specific professional careers. Initially, the college operated under the charter of the Emma Willard School, granting its first baccalaureate degree in 1918 and graduating its first class in 1920. In 1927, the New York State Board of Regents granted a separate charter for Russell Sage College and reaffirmed the status of Emma Willard as a secondary school.

During World War II, an "emergency men's division" was created, and in 1942 the first graduate degree was conferred. In 1949, an Albany Division was opened, offering two-year, four-year and graduate degrees under the charter of Russell Sage College and extending the College's mission to include the education of men on the second campus. Sage Junior College of Albany received its own degree-granting powers in 1957. In 1995, Sage Graduate School became authorized to grant degrees independently, Sage Evening College became recognized as a separate administrative unit, and the institution was re-chartered by the Board of Regents of the state of New York as The Sage Colleges, often referred to for the sake of convenience as "Sage." The words Russell Sage College refer only to the college for women. In 2001, Sage Junior College of Albany and Sage Evening College were replaced by a single entity, Sage College of Albany.