Sarah Lawrence is a coeducational liberal arts college, offering undergraduate as well as graduate degrees. The College is nationally renowned for its rigorous academic and creative standards. These are fostered by small seminar classes and individual student-faculty tutorials made possible by a low student-to-faculty ratio of 9-to-1. It is a lively community of students, scholars, and artists offering outstanding programs in the humanities, the natural sciences and mathematics, history and the social sciences, and the creative and performing arts.

Sarah Lawrence College’s 44-acre campus is in Yonkers, N.Y., though it also has a historic and close relationship with the nearby village of Bronxville. Its close proximity to New York City has long drawn students and faculty members interested in exploring the cultural and intellectual life of one of world’s great metropolitan areas.

The College was founded by William Van Duzer Lawrence in 1926 to honor his wife, Sarah Bates Lawrence. Mr. Lawrence, a philanthropist and real estate developer, turned to his friend Henry Noble MacCracken, then president of Vassar College, for advice on creating a new college (Sarah Lawrence was affiliated with Vassar for several years after its founding). When the College opened in 1928, it admitted only women; Sarah Lawrence, however, made the commitment to coeducation in 1968, with the conviction that its distinctive opportunities should be available to both sexes.

Throughout its history, Sarah Lawrence has promoted new ideas and instituted outstanding programs. In 1937, the College founded the Early Childhood Center, a school for children aged two through six, where Sarah Lawrence students serve as interns and engage in research projects. In 1949, the College introduced programs leading to the M.A. degree; since 1969, the College has also awarded the M.F.A. degree in the performing arts and creative writing. In 1962, Sarah Lawrence established the Center for Continuing Education, the first full-scale undergraduate program in the country designed for returning adult students. Sarah Lawrence has pioneered several outstanding graduate programs that have served as models nationwide: the master’s program in Human Genetics (1969), providing training for professionals in genetics and inheritable disorders; the master’s program in Women’s History (1972), linking teaching and research with the problems of women in a changing society; and the master’s program in Health Advocacy (1980), offering training for patient representatives. In 1985, the College began the Art of Teaching, a program leading to the M.S.Ed. degree, preparing students for teacher certification (nursery through sixth grade). Activities and programs in child development were consolidated as the Child Development Institute in 1987. Sarah Lawrence began one of the only U.S. study abroad programs in Cuba in 2001.

Since its establishment, Sarah Lawrence had been served by nine presidents, all visionary educators, administrators, and advocates of liberal arts education: Marion Coats (1926-29), Constance Warren (1929-45), Harold Taylor (1945-59), Harrison Tweed (1959-60), Paul Ward (1960-65), Esther Raushenbush (1965-69), Charles DeCarlo (1969-81), Alice Stone Ilchman (1981-98), and Michele Tolela Myers (1998-2007). Karen R. Lawrence began her tenure as Sarah Lawrence College’s tenth president on August 1, 2007.