Marlboro College to Merge With the University of Bridgeport
BRIDGEPORT, CT and MARLBORO, VT – The University of Bridgeport (UB) and Marlboro College have announced that they are planning to enter into a merger that will draw on the strengths of both institutions to create an expanded university with deeper connections between professional programs and the liberal arts. The move is a way to expand geographic and educational opportunities for students while creating a sustainable future for one of New England’s storied liberal arts colleges at a time of rapid change in the higher education landscape. The University of Bridgeport is the most diverse private, secular university in the Northeast, and Marlboro College is recognized as ranked among the best Northeastern Colleges by the Princeton Review.
“At a time of hyper-competition and swift change in higher education, our two unique institutions are demonstrating a new paradigm for colleges and universities of the future,” says Laura Skandera Trombley, president of the University of Bridgeport. “In strategically combining the shared values, strengths, and resources of the University of Bridgeport and Marlboro College, we are proactively ensuring an extraordinarily enriched academic experience for current and future generations of students.”
Students at Marlboro College embrace the communal aspects of life on campus, participating in weekly New England-style town meetings. In place of traditional majors and minors, Marlboro students craft a customized Plan of Concentration based on their academic interests, which culminates in a major body of scholarship. In keeping with the College’s rural setting, all students have access to outdoor facilities including an organic farm, solar greenhouse, and ecological reserve. Experiencing the same challenges as liberal arts colleges throughout the northeast, Marlboro began the process of seeking a strategic partnership last year, contracting with EY-Parthenon to help navigate the burgeoning crisis facing small liberal arts colleges across the country.
“This partnership of two mission-driven schools embodies a remarkable complementarity, joining UB’s strengths in engineering and the health sciences with Marlboro’s strengths in the arts and sciences and self-directed learning,” says Kevin Quigley, president of Marlboro College. “It links our beautiful campuses in the Green Mountains and on Long Island Sound in innovative ways that will expand educational opportunities for all of our students, better preparing them for meaningful work and lives of purpose.”
The University of Bridgeport from its beginning has been an institution of integration and inclusion. It is regarded as a leading innovator in STEM and the health sciences, along with a strong tradition in the arts and sciences, offering degrees from bachelors to masters to Ph.D. and Ed.D. within its three colleges: The College of Health Sciences, The College of Engineering, Business, and Education, and The College of Arts and Sciences, to be renamed The Marlboro College of Arts and Sciences.
Together, the two schools represent an educational community as diverse as the society they seek to serve, and wide-ranging educational opportunities that advance what is best in American higher education. Both institutions share a history of innovation and boldness since their beginning—the University of Bridgeport is nearing its 100th anniversary while Marlboro College is nearing its 75th.
Students will benefit from the merger as soon as spring 2020.
About the University of Bridgeport
The University of Bridgeport, established in 1927 in Bridgeport, CT, is a private, non-sectarian institution with 5,400 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students enrolled in three colleges offering degrees in engineering, business, education, the health sciences, and the arts and sciences. Located alongside beautiful Long Island Sound and two miles of coastline, the University is known for its academic excellence, student and career-oriented focus, and community and civic engagement.
About Marlboro College
Marlboro College cultivates a close-knit, intentionally small learning community where independent thinkers can explore their deepest interests, collaborate with faculty as colleagues, and set the course for their own intellectual and professional pursuits. Located in southeastern Vermont, Marlboro undergraduate and graduate programs are based on a scenic campus in the town of Marlboro. Combined enrollment for undergraduate and graduate programs is fewer than 500 students.