Growing into a Regional Player

1968

• Babson launches the first phase of its new five-year Master Plan.
• Babson becomes coeducational in October. Anne McCormick and Sandra Adams become the first women in the undergraduate program, both earning their Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (B.S.B.A.) in 1970.

1969

• Babson Institute becomes Babson College on April 25.
• Carolyn Levosky becomes the first woman to receive a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at Babson.
• Babson College has its first sophomore class.
• Former President Carl Smith dies October 16.
• The undergraduate summer school begins.

1970

• Ina Mae Harmon becomes the first African-American woman to receive a degree at Babson, completing her MBA in December.
• Babson’s Black Society is formed.
• The first issue of the Babson Free Press is published October 1.

1971

• Canfield Hall and Keith Hall are dedicated October 2.
• Babson is granted authority to grant a Bachelor of Science (BS) “without specification” on March 3.

1972

• Frances Burgess retires after 49 years as secretary to Presidents of Babson.
• Babson offers its first graduate course in entrepreneurship.
• School for Executive Education is founded.

1973

• Gerber Hall and Babson Hall are constructed in the first phase of the “Educational Center.”
• Cheryl Williams is elected the first female class president.
• Debra Amidon becomes the first female dean (Student Affairs).
• Craig St. Armour, Class of 1975, becomes the first Babson All-American, winning for swimming three years running.
• The B.S.B.A. is last granted at the May Commencement. Henceforth the undergraduate degree will be an unrestricted BS.

1974

• Henry Kriebel retires. Harvard Business School Marketing Professor Ralph Sorenson becomes Babson’s seventh President on September 1. His inauguration is October 10.
• McCullough Hall is dedicated November 13.
• Babson’s first pub, the Beaver Brau, opens in the basement of Coleman Hall on April 4.

1975

• Babson’s original Administration Building is named in honor of Edith Babson Webber Mustard on December 15.
• The Babson International Student Organization is organized.
• The men’s soccer team wins Babson’s first NCAA^® title

1976

• Kriebel Hall is dedicated November 13.
• Elizabeth McCarthy ’78 becomes the first female editor-in-chief of the campus newspaper.
• Virginia Harrison retires after 17 years as curator of the Grace K. Babson Collection of the Works of Sir Isaac Newton.

1977

• Margaret Weinblatt becomes the first woman to receive tenure at Babson.
• Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs is founded.

1978

• Center for Entrepreneurial Studies is founded (now The Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship).
• In April Babson establishes its first endowed chair, the Paul T. Babson Professorship in Entrepreneurial Studies.
• Berry Gordy, Soichiro Honda, Ray Kroc, Royal Little, and Kenneth Olsen are the first inductees into the Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs.
• Babson’s Writing Center opens in the fall with Professor Kathleen Kelly as its first director.

1979

• Diane Von Furstenberg becomes the first female member of the Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs. This class includes Byung-Chull Lee, John Erik Jonsson, John H. Johnson, and Thomas Mellon Evans.
• Babson offers its first undergraduate major in entrepreneurship.

1980

• President Sorenson offers his resignation effective June 1981.
• The undergraduate program is accredited by the AACSB (American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business) effective June 13.
• Horn Library, named to honor the memory of Charles Lilley Horn of the F.W. Olin Foundation, is dedicated October 18.
• Pietz Hall is opened.

1981

• William Dill, dean of New York University’s Graduate School of Business, is inaugurated as Babson’s eighth President on October 2.
• Tomasso Hall, the renovated Sir Isaac Newton Library, is dedicated to honor Angelo Tomasso, father of Victor F. Tomasso, Class of 1951.
• The graduate program is accredited by the AACSB effective May 6.
• The former “Spear and Staff Building” opens as the new Alumni Hall.
• Bennett E. Bidwell, Charles J. McCarthy, and Richard M. Nichols are awarded the first Babson Medals. The Babson Medal is awarded to distinguished alumni and friends in recognition of leadership or contributions made to the College, the community, and their profession.
• Walter H. Carpenter, Jr., longtime faculty member and former dean of faculty, dies October 13.
• Gustavo A. Cisneros, Class of 1968, becomes the first Babson graduate to be inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs.
• Executives in Residence program begins with Al Ries as the first in residence.

1982

• North Hill is leased to Life Care Services for 50 years.
• Former Babson Bulletin editor Frances Dalton wins the first Carpenter Prize. This annual prize is awarded to employees in recognition of outstanding service to the College and community.
• The Dry Dock snack bar is rebuilt and renamed The Exchange.

1983

• The Certification Program in Advanced Management Studies begins.
• Esther Buffler, the first Charles D. and Marjorie J. Thompson Visiting Poet, performs February 24.

1984

• Women’s field hockey becomes a varsity sport.
• Men’s ice hockey wins its first NCAA^® title
• Undergraduates organize the Babson Student Federal Credit Union as an entrepreneurial venture.
• The Babson Entrepreneurial Exchange is founded.

1985

• A residence hall called “New Hall” is built. It is later named Putney Hall after Jesse and Freeman Putney (see 1991).
• Paul Cuneo, Class of 1985, earns double All-American status for one- and three-meter diving.
• Paula Rooney becomes Babson’s first female vice president, heading Student Affairs.
• Babson hosts it first Symposium for Entrepreneurial Education.

1986

• Roger Enrico, Class of 1965, president and CEO, Pepsi-Cola Company, addresses the senior class and MBA candidates at Commencement.

1987

• The Horn Computer Center is dedicated October 16.

1988

• The Center for Executive Education is dedicated May 14.
• Former President Edward Hinckley dies September 21.
• Roger’s Pub opens September 26.

1989

• William Dill resigns as President effective June 30.
• Xerox Vice Chairman William Glavin becomes Babson’s ninth President on July 1. He is inaugurated October 20.
• The Webster Center is dedicated November 10.
• Babson’s new honors program gets the go-ahead in the spring.
• This year’s Commencement is the first where the graduate and undergraduate programs are separate.

1990

• After 43 years teaching accounting and character at Babson, Clinton “Pete” Petersen retires.
• G.I.V.E. (Get Into the Volunteer Experience), a student-run community service organization, is formed.

1991

• Babson creates an Athletics Hall of Fame.
• The One-Year MBA program begins in May.
• Jesse Putney, Class of 1956, MBA’59 retires, ending 50 years of Putneys (father and son).

1992

• Senior Jim Pierrakos becomes Babson’s first basketball All-American.
• Knight Annex is renamed Malloy Hall by vote of the Board of Trustees on February 8.
• A new Two-Year MBA curriculum is initiated.

1993

• Bryant Hall reopens as a residence hall for “nontraditional” students after a much-needed renovation.
• Van Winkle Hall opens on the campus highpoint.
• October brings the beginning of the yearlong 75th anniversary celebration.
• The refurbished Babson World Globe is rededicated October 2.

1994

• The former dean’s residence at 227 Forest Street is renovated and named in honor of John E. Millea, dean of students and member of the faculty from 1920 until World War II. It serves as home to College Marketing.

1995

• John Mulkern’s Continuity and Change: Babson College, 1919–1994 is published.
• The last students for whom Foundations of Management and Entrepreneurship is an elective enter Babson.
• The Babson OneCard is introduced in March 1996.
• The F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business building is dedicated in October. The building is achieved as part of a $30 million grant, one of the largest ever given to a business school.
• Lyon Hall is completely renovated and renamed Luksic Hall in honor of A. Andronico Luksic, a member of the Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs, and his son Andronico, Class of 1976.
• First-year students entering this fall are the first to experience the new, integrated undergraduate curriculum.

1997

• William Glavin retires June 30 after eight years as President.
• Leo Higdon, Jr., dean of the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, becomes the 10th President of Babson on July 1. He is inaugurated September 19.
• Warren Buffett speaks on March 19.
• Three new campus facilities are dedicated—the Glavin Family Chapel, the Richard W. Sorenson Center for the Arts, and the Donald W. Reynolds Campus Center.

1998

• The Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship is dedicated.
• The Institute for Latin American Business is launched.
• Babson College Radio goes on the air February 17 at noon and becomes the first college web radio station in the United States.

1999

• Babson sells a parcel of its Needham, Mass., property to the F.W. Olin Foundation. The new Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering breaks ground.
• Former President Henry Kriebel dies May 6.
• Entrepreneurship Intensity Track makes its debut in the MBA program.