Union College
Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia College. In the 19th century, it became known as the "Mother of Fraternities", as three of the earliest Greek-letter fraternities were established there. Union began enrolling women in 1970, after 175 years as an all-male institution. The college offers a liberal arts curriculum across 21 academic departments, including ABET-accredited engineering degree programs.
History
Founding
Chartered in 1795, Union was the first non-denominational institution of higher education in the United States, and the second college established in the State of New York.Only Columbia University, founded in 1754 as King's College, had preceded Union in New York. Twenty-five years later impetus for another institution grew.
Schenectady had been founded and populated by people originating from the Netherlands. With about 4,000 residents, it was the third largest city in the state, after New York City and Albany. The local Dutch Reformed Church began to show an interest in establishing an academy or college under its auspices there. In 1778, it invited the Rev. Dirck Romeyn of New Jersey to visit. Returning home, he authored a plan in 1782 for such an institution and was summoned two years later to come help found it.
The Schenectady Academy was established in 1785 as the city's first organized school. It immediately flourished, reaching an enrollment of about 100 within a year. By at least 1792 it offered a full four-year college course, as well as one of elementary and practical subjects taught mainly to girls. Attempts to charter the academy as a college with the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York were initially rejected,
but in 1794 the school reapplied as "Union College", a name chosen to reflect the resolution of its founders that the school should be free of any specific religious affiliation. The resulting institution was awarded its charter on February 25, 1795 - still celebrated by the college as "Founders' Day".
Nineteenth century
In 1836, the year of its founding, the Union College Anti-Slavery Society claimed 51 members. It published its Constitution and Preamble, with an address to students—not just those of Union—calling on them to join the abolitionist cause. Phi Beta Kappa addresses were often published before the Civil War. A number of them were anti-slavery and others were progressive addresses.Union College was sometimes called Schenectady College in this period.
Seals, mottos, and nickname
Union chose the modern language French—France was then the most revolutionary of countries—rather than Latin for its motto. The resulting tone of the entire seal is both historically aware and distinctly modern in outlook.The head of the Roman goddess Minerva appeared in the center of an oval. Surrounding it in French was "Sous les lois de Minerve nous devenons tous frères". This was expanded to "et soeurs" in 2015.
Minerva was originally patroness of the arts and crafts, but had over time evolved to become an icon of the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment. By the late 18th century she had indeed come to represent all of those qualities that might be wished for in a rational, virtuous, prudent, wise, and "scientific" man.
In 2023, the college changed the school's nickname from "Dutchmen" and "Dutchwomen" to "Garnet Chargers" as part of a branding update. Garnet has been the school's official color for 150 years, and the name "chargers" is a reference to "Schenectady's legacy as a leader in electrical technologies."
Presidents
Union College has had nineteen presidents since its founding in 1795. The school has the distinction of having had the longest serving college or university president in the history of the United States, Eliphalet Nott.On September 9, 2024 David Harris announced he would be resigning on June 30, 2025. Union hired former Rhodes CEO Trust Elizabeth Kiss as its first woman president in its 230-year history on February 25, 2025. Kiss assumed office on July 1, 2025.
Development of the curriculum
During the first half of the 19th century, students in American colleges would have encountered a very similar course of study, a curriculum with sturdy foundations in the traditional liberal arts. But by the 1820s all of this began to change.Although Latin and Greek remained a part of the curriculum, new subjects were adopted that offered a more readily apparent application to the busy commercial life of the new nation. Accordingly, French was gradually introduced into the college curriculum, sometimes as a substitute for Greek or Hebrew.
One approach to modernization was the so-called "parallel course of study" in scientific and "literary" subjects. This offered a scientific curriculum in parallel to the classical curriculum, for those students wishing a more modern treatment of modern languages, mathematics, and science, equal in dignity to the traditional course of study.
Union College commenced a parallel scientific curriculum in 1828. Its civil engineering program, introduced in 1845, was the first of its kind at an American liberal arts college. So successful were Union's reform efforts that by 1839 the college had one of the largest faculties in American higher education and an enrollment surpassed only by Yale.
Campus
Design
After Union College received its charter in 1795 the college began conducting classes on the upper floor, while a grammar school continued to be conducted on the lower. It soon became clear that this space would prove inadequate for the growing college. Construction soon began on a three-story building, possibly influenced by Princeton's Nassau Hall, that was occupied in 1804. Two dormitories were constructed nearby.Eliphalet Nott became college president that year, and envisioned an expanding campus to accommodate a growing school. In 1806 a large tract of land was acquired to the east of the Downtown Schenectady, on a slope up from the Mohawk River and facing nearly due west. In 1812 French architect Joseph-Jacques Ramée was then hired to draw up a comprehensive plan for the new campus. Construction of two of the college buildings proceeded quickly enough to permit occupation in 1814. The Union College campus became the first comprehensively planned college campus in the United States.
Landmarks
Nott Memorial: Designed by Edward Tuckerman Potter, this building derived from the central rotunda in the original Ramée Plan. While it was probably intended to be a chapel in its original conception, the Nott Memorial's primary purpose when finally built was aesthetic. It served as the library until 1961 when Schaffer Library was built. Its design bears some resemblance to the Radcliffe Camera at Oxford University. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986. The building was restored between 1993 and 1995 and today is the centerpiece of the campus.North and South College: The first college buildings using Ramée's plans, the pair were started in 1812 and occupied in 1814. Serving as dormitories, both buildings included faculty residences at each end until well into the 20th century.
Memorial Chapel: Memorial Chapel was constructed between 1924 and 1925 to serve as the central college chapel and to honor Union graduates who lost their lives serving during wartime. The names of Union alumni who died in World War I and World War II appear on its south wall, flanked by portraits of college presidents.
Schaffer Library: Schaffer Library, erected in 1961, was the first building constructed at Union for the sole purpose of housing the college library. Trustee Henry Schaffer donated the majority of funds needed for its construction as well as for a later expansion between 1973 and 1974. The original building was designed by Walker O. Cain of McKim, Mead and White and built by the Hamilton Construction Company. Additional interior work supported by the Schaffer Foundation was done in the 1980s. After structural problems with the 1973-1974 addition developed, a major project to renovate and expand the library was undertaken in the late 1990s. Designed by the firm of Perry, Dean, Rogers, and Partners, the renovation provided space for College Media Services, Writing Center, and a language lab.
Jackson's Garden: Begun in the 1830s by Professor Isaac Jackson of the Mathematics Department, Jackson's Garden comprises of formal gardens and woodlands. Sited where Ramee's original plans called for a garden, it initially featured a mix of vegetables, shrubs, and flowers – some of which were grown from seeds sent by botanists and botanical enthusiasts from around the world. As early as 1844 it drew the admiration of visitors such as John James Audubon, and evolved into a sweeping retreat for both students and faculty.