College Profile: Harcum College
The College of Possibilities
It was conceived by its founder as a music school that provided its students with more than just notes and scales. Over the past century it has evolved into a career oriented, associate degree granting college with thousands of successful graduates in careers throughout the eastern U.S. and beyond.
Harcum College in Bryn Mawr, PA has seen its enrollment increase over 70 percent in the past five years, while its basketball and volleyball teams have amassed winning records and competed in championships, its historic Little Theater has reopened as a venue for the arts after a complete renovation, and new programs, labs and classrooms greet the largest entering classes in Harcum’s history. There’s a new spirit of learning and living in the Harcum community that’s shared by students, faculty and staff.
Founded in 1915 as a private residential college, Harcum was the first institution in Pennsylvania to award the Associate in Arts and Associate in Science degrees. As the “College of Possibilities” Harcum strives to help every student discover and nurture those skills that open up life’s possibilities, and provide a rich array of career choices.
Today, Harcum offers over 20 associate degree and certificate programs and ranks among the top independent two-year colleges in the U.S. for health care career education.
Harcum also offers programs in business, human services, fashion merchandising and interior design, law and justice, and early childhood education, combining the same range of programs offered by neighboring four-year institutions, but at a two-year college price.
Harcum is attracting new students from across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and beyond who seek new possibilities and are attracted to Harcum’s unique mix of practical career education, hands-on internships and clinical experiences, personal attention and support from faculty, and a job placement rate near 100 percent in several of its allied health majors. In this way, Harcum still follows the path blazed by Harcum’s founder, who created the school to help students expand upon their individual skills and talents while providing a strong academic program.
Founder Edith Hatcher was the daughter of prominent Virginia clergyman Dr. William E. Hatcher, an educator who was also a talented concert pianist who passed his talent to his daughter. In 1913, Edith Hatcher married Octavius Marvin Harcum. After the birth of their first child, Edith wrote “the concert career did not offer a chance for family stability” so they chose a venture that would combine “my talents as an educator and artist and his business vision and ability.” They opened the Harcum Post Graduate School on October 1, 1915 with three students and five pianos. Though her expertise was in the fine arts, Edith was also committed to providing a strong academic program. She worked with faculty consultants from Harvard University, Vassar College and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts to craft the curriculum.
In its early years, Harcum was a preparatory school, giving students the skills needed for college study. It quickly grew, soon adding junior college-level courses. The Junto Adult School was a non-profit educational corporation founded by Benjamin Franklin. It purchased the assets of Harcum in 1952 for possible use as a residential college for adults but soon decided to continue Harcum’s mission as a two-year college for women. In 1956, Pennsylvania granted Harcum permission to be the first college in the Commonwealth’s history to confer the Associate of Arts and the Associate of Science degrees.
The College continued to grow in the 1980’s and 1990’s and officially became co-educational in 2003. Along with its main campus in Bryn Mawr, Harcum offers programs at seven satellite locations in southeastern Pennsylvania.
Harcum’s majors are offered through three fully-accredited academic centers: Allied Health Sciences, Business and Professional Studies, and Social Sciences.
Allied Health majors include allied health science, animal center management, dental assisting, dental hygiene, expanded functions dental assisting(EFDA), nursing, occupational therapist assistant, physical therapist assistant, radiologic technology, and veterinary technology. In the field of clinical laboratory science, majors include medical laboratory technician (also known as clinical laboratory technician), histotechnican, and phlebotomist.
Business and Professional Studies majors are business administration, fashion and interior design, fashion merchandising, and sports management. Social Sciences offers programs in human services, law and justice, leadership development and early childhood education. Harcum also has a General Studies option that offers core curriculum students can add to as they choose an academic specialty.
All programs are taught by faculty with professional experience in their fields.
All Harcum students are given the opportunity to complete a career-related work experience either through required internships, clinical or practicum experiences, or service learning activities. All students graduate with both career-specific and life-enriching skills.
To support student learning, Harcum has newly-refurbished residence halls and an active program of on-campus activities for residential students. Harcum benefits from its location twenty minutes by rail from downtown Philadelphia, as well as the presence of six other colleges and universities within a few miles of Harcum. The Bears, the men’s basketball team, continue their winning ways after their historic 2009-10 season as the nation’s highest scoring team in Division I of the NJCAA. Since the start of the men’s program in 2005-06, Harcum has amassed a record of 147 wins and just 36 losses, and fifteen Harcum players have gone on to play at NCAA Division I institutions. Also competing are the Harcum Lady Bears in basketball, soccer and volleyball, and a track and field team.
The College has reopened the Little Theater, restored to its former glory as a center for arts and academics on campus. It is a 75-seat multi-use venue that will benefit the community and Harcum students, nestled inside of a Classical style mansion adjacent to the Bryn Mawr rail station. Harcum’s Little Theater was home to its Drama program in the 1940’s. Richard Nash, a playwright and director who taught at Harcum, was the author and screenwriter of the 1956 Hollywood classic “The Rainmaker”, starring Burt Lancaster and Katherine Hepburn. One of his Broadway hits, “The Young and the Fair” was set on a college campus very similar to Harcum.
Harcum has a variety of clubs and on-campus activities throughout the fall and spring, including music, movies, speakers, trips and opportunities to volunteer in the community.
The new “green” Student Lounge in the Academic Center, redesigned with environment-friendly soy-based paints, recyclable flooring, recycled furniture and other features, was a project of Harcum interior design students. New dental and veterinary labs are being added and a complete refurbishment of the Harcum Library is currently underway.
While Harcum prides itself on remaining up-to-the minute in new trends and technology, the founder’s mission remains intact. By offering individual attention, relevant coursework and hands-on training, Harcum provides its students with the supportive atmosphere and marketable skills to guarantee them success after graduation.
Editorial provided by Harcum College, www.harcum.edu.
