Kirkland Alumnae
Get involved with Kirkland College — renew old connections, build new relationships, support young talent, and continue to learn and grow!
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The Meaning of Kirkland
In honor of the 50th anniv. of the charter class, alumnae share how Kirkland shaped their lives
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June 11-14: Class of 1976 Celebration
Save the dates and plan to join us as we recognize this milestone for the Kirkland Class of 1976.
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Alumnae Association
Contact Lori Richard Reidel K’77, president of the Kirkland College Alumnae Association
Kirkland Wall
A towering wall outside the Johnson Gallery in the Kennedy Center is inscribed with the names of 2,350 or so women who matriculated at Kirkland College. The Kirkland Wall was intentionally designed without a specific order, but a lookup tool is available to help locate individual names.
Kirkland Pioneers
The diversity of Kirkland women is best told through personal narratives. Long after our college closed her doors, our history remains compelling to current students, their parents, and current faculty members. The Kirkland Pioneers Poster Project helps gather snippets (and longer bios for the Kirkland Archives) paired with past and current imagery. The project fosters a greater understanding of who we are and how we changed College Hill. It highlights the range of career and life choices we made, offering a glimpse into our collective pioneer spirit.
History of Kirkland College
Kirkland was to be the first of a cluster of colleges envisioned to reflect the model of the Claremont Colleges in California. Hamilton was an all male school at the time – McEwen and the board felt that creating a women’s college would be a reasonable path in an era in which the concept of co-education was being embraced. Kirkland College was chartered in 1965: its first class entered in 1968. Kirkland brought women to College hill along with a more diverse lifestyle and an innovative philosophy of teaching. Kirkland rounded out the Hamilton curriculum, adding the departments and offerings in the arts, creative writing and social sciences. Students could take courses at either school.
As a brand new school, Kirkland was heavily dependent on Hamilton financially. Without an endowment Kirkland’s finances became more and more precarious. In 1978 Hamilton’s President and Board of Trustees decided to merge the two schools. The curriculum remained the same. The legacy of Kirkland changed the Hill and enriched the Hamilton experience.
Kirkland Half-Century Annalist Letters
Contact
Office / Department Name
Alumni & Parent Relations
Contact Name
Jacke Jones
Director, Alumni & Parent Relations
