Ask Aggie: Commencements & Firsts

“Commencements are endings and new beginnings, not just for the graduates, but also for the institution,” said Sage’s Archivist Aggie Stillman, who shares highlights from these milestones in the Colleges’ history. 

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On May 10, 2008 Sage commemorated its 91^st commencement since its first one in 1918. The 1918 commencement, only two years after the College’s founding, occurred because of 20 students who earned two-year certificates and two students who earned the Bachelor of Science in Household Economics. The two students were transfers who already had earned degrees at Vassar College. They also had been graduates of the Emma Willard School.

At the first two commencements, only the Bachelor of Science was conferred. In 1920, the first four-year graduating class had one Bachelor of Arts recipient, Gertrude E. May, as well as 33 Bachelor of Science degrees and 20 two-year certificates. Among the graduates was Helen Ham, who had been the very first student to enroll in the College in 1916.

In 1921, three students received their degrees with honors. In 1922, Anah Louise Parsons graduated with the first Bachelor of Science degree in the liberal arts discipline of Chemistry. The last of 10 degrees in Industrial Arts, one of the three original majors, was granted in 1924. This also was the year that the degree read only “Russell Sage College” rather than “Russell Sage College and Emma Willard School.”

After 1924 there were no more two-year certificates. Interestingly, however, in 1926, one student received a Bachelor of Science degree in a one-year secretarial course for college graduates and one student received a diploma from the Conservatory of Music—Organ. Even though the college opened its doors in 1916, the Emma Willard School continued to use the Plum Building for music and art programs until 1936. In 1926, Sage and Emma Willard were still connected under one charter.

The 1927 commencement recognized Sage’s first bachelor’s degree in Nursing—Ethel Marion Spears. Notable in 1928, the College’s first president, Eliza Kellas, presided at her final commencement as president (although she continued as Emma Willard’s principal until 1942). At the time of her retirement (and her sister Katherine’s), the two schools received separate charters from the New York State Education Department.

Three items of note occurred in 1929, at the first of President Meader’s commencements. The major Household Economics was changed to Home Economics; The Latin honor “cum laude” was first used; and the first honorary degrees were given—to Eliza Kellas and to Mrs. A. Eleanor Roosevelt.

The following years, 1930 and 1931 were transition years for the new major in Physical Education. Three-year certificates as well as bachelor’s degrees were granted as Helen McKinstry’s New York City School of Physical Education and Hygiene became a part of Russell Sage College.

In 1934, the Secretarial Studies major, one of the originals, became Secretarial Training. In 1937, it became Business Education, and in 1943, it became a bachelor’s degree in Business. Also in 1943, Bachelor’s of Science degrees in liberal arts fields again were granted. Over the years, disciplines such as Laboratory Technology, Elementary Education and Physical Therapy were included in this category.

All colleges were asked to accommodate the influx of veterans after World War II. Russell Sage established the Men’s Division in 1946 and several males earned degrees between 1950 and 1953.

In 1951 Shirley Ann Beede Nelson earned the first Physical Therapy degree, then offered by Sage’s Physical Education Department. She needed to complete clinical practice before actually having the degree in hand. In 1959 the Physical Therapy program was housed in the school of Arts and Sciences.

Simone Firestone Gutoff received Sage’s first master’s degree in 1952. That same year, Russell Sage granted the first bachelor’s degrees to students in the evening division. The evening division never had degree granting privileges. Evening students’ degrees were granted through Russell Sage College and after 1958, the then-Junior College of Albany (for bachelor’s and associate degrees, respectively.) The junior college held its own commencements from 1960 through 1995. In 1996, all of Sage’s schools graduated together in one place and have done so ever since (evening students’ diplomas have been granted through Sage College of Albany since 2003.)

The last degrees in Home Economics, one of the original three majors, were granted in 1967 after which the major was eliminated.

In 1996, the bachelor’s and master’s degrees were conferred simultaneously—tied together with green ribbon—on physical therapy graduates after five years of study, due to a change in physical therapy program regulations. The Occupational Therapy program followed suit in 1997, but physical and occupational therapy students who had completed four years attended graduation. They were invited to stand and be recognized before the Dean of Russell Sage officially passed them on to the Dean of Sage Graduate School. By 2005, the Physical and Occupational Therapy programs had become graduate programs; students had a choice of undergraduate majors which allowed them to receive their bachelor’s degrees in four years. Also in 2005, Sage’s first doctoral students graduated with the Doctor of Physical Therapy degree.

The 91 Russell Sage Commencements were held at the First Presbyterian Church from 1918 through 1938; the Troy Music Hall from 1939 through 1962; and RPI’s Houston Field House from 1964 through today. In 1963, commencement was held at the State Armory on 15^th Street in Troy and in 1983, on Sage’s Albany Campus, due to renovations on RPI’s Field House.

Sage held winter commencements from 1997 to 2003 because the number of May graduates was becoming too large for their families to fit into the Field House. Although they were popular and well attended, the December graduations were discontinued both because the weather conditions were often questionable--with no opportunity for a “rain date”-- and because smaller enrollments meant the Field House could accommodate all the graduates and their families.