Babson College

In 1904 Roger Babson and his wife, Grace Babson, founded Babson’s Statistical Organization with $1,200; it sold investment research by subscription and was later renamed Business Statistics Organization, then Babson’s Reports and then Babson-United Investment Reports.⁠[1][2]

Babson College’s history page begins its account in 1908, when Roger Babson offered a correspondence course on selling bonds through the Babson Statistical Organization.⁠[3]

The Babson Institute was founded by the financier Roger Babson to educate “sons of businessmen” to take over their fathers’ businesses. It opened on September 3, 1919, at Roger and Grace Babson’s home on Abbott Road in Wellesley with 27 students, and Roger W. Babson was its first president. It offered a one-year Certificate in Business Administration (also called a Certificate in Management) that presumed some business or college experience; Ralph B. Wilson was its first employee and Austin Fittz its first faculty member.⁠[3]

Roger Babson favored combining classwork with actual business training, believing “experience to be the best teacher.” The Babson Institute offered intensive training in production, finance and distribution in one academic year rather than four, in four subject areas: practical economics, financial management, business psychology and personal efficiency, and most of the faculty were seasoned businessmen. Students wore professional attire and kept business hours—8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8:30 a.m. to noon on Saturday—and punched a time clock; each had an office desk with a telephone, typewriter, adding machine and Dictaphone, and personal secretaries typed their assignments and correspondence.⁠[4]

In June 1920 the first class completed the program with one-year certificates, and Arthur M. Cleveland of Plymouth, IndianaIndianaIndiana is a state in the Midwestern United States; its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. It was admitted to the Union on December 11, 1816, as the 19th state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 6,785,528.Open the full entry, received the first Babson diploma. That year the Institute occupied the building on Washington Street in Wellesley that had housed the Babson Statistical Organization, today’s Stuart Building.⁠[3]

In 1921 George William Coleman, a Boston civic leader, became the second president, and the Babson Institute was incorporated in Massachusetts. Roger Babson bought 69 acres of Edward Lyon’s farm as the base of a residential campus; the history timeline states that the campus founding date appears to be November 23. Alice Coleman became the first woman on the Board of Trustees. The first yearbook, The Babsonian 1920–1921, was published, and the yearbook kept the name The Babsonian throughout its run.⁠[3]

In 1922, at Roger Babson’s request, the Boston architect George F. Marlowe was hired to design the first buildings in the Georgian style and John Nolen was retained to design the grounds; a plan was drawn up and construction began. In 1923 the first four buildings opened: the Administration Building (named Mustard Hall in 1975 and now home of the Lunder Admissions Center), Bryant Hall, Lyon Hall (renamed Luksic Hall in 1996) and Knight Auditorium. That year Massachusetts chartered the Institute to provide education in all matters. The Babsonian 1923 lists three women in attendance, the most taking classes at Babson until 1968.⁠[3]

In 1924 Peavey Gymnasium, named for Babson Statistical Organization President Leroy D. Peavey, opened; the student body numbered 37 and the first alumni magazine was published, and construction began on the Coleman Map Building, named for President Coleman and built to house the Great Relief Map. In 1925 the Babson Park Clubhouse opened with hotel-like amenities (renamed Park Manor South in 1930), 50 students were enrolled and work began on the Great Relief Map. In 1926 Westgate was built as a home for the president and served that purpose until the Institute closed during the Second World War.⁠[3]

In 1929 studios for WBSO-AM, the Babson Statistical Organization’s radio station, were built at 1763 Great Plain Avenue in Needham, on a site that is now part of Olin College’s campus. That year Roger Babson built a house at 56 Whiting Road as a gift for his daughter, Edith Babson Webber; since 1957 it has been the president’s home. In 1930 the Park Manor residence hall (renamed Park Manor Central in 1951) was built, opening the following year, and Philip C. d’Arcis of Switzerland became the first European to complete the certificate program.⁠[3]

In 1931 the school’s first organized athletic team, a basketball team that called itself “The Financeers,” represented it in competition and went 7–5; 129 students were enrolled and there were more than 580 alumni. On March 13, 1931, the Town of Wellesley voted to allow Roger Babson and his immediate family to be buried on campus. In 1932 Arthur Van Winkle and R. Howard Webster received their Certificates in Business Administration; both later had buildings named for them.⁠[3]

During the Great Depression, as enrollment fell to 46, the Institute cut tuition, room and board from $3,000 to $2,000 in 1933. That year Chin Hsi Li of Hankow, China, became the first Asian graduate and Alexander Suero of Havana, Cuba, the first Latin American graduate. In 1934 the Institute began a two-year Certificate of Business Administration program that dropped the “some college” admission requirement so that recent high school graduates could apply. That year President Coleman wrote about the founding years of the Babson Institute.⁠[3]

In 1935 George W. Coleman retired after 14 years as president and was granted emeritus status, and Carl David Smith, a dean at Northeastern University, became the third president. The 1937 Student Handbook set out the Institute’s objectives: practical business training, raising ethical standards, developing good work habits, and building character and moral integrity.⁠[3]

In 1938 the fore-parlour of Sir Isaac Newton’s St. Martin Street residence was bought for 450 pounds sterling for the new library, Eleanor Haywood (B.S. Simmons; M.B.A. Boston UniversityBoston UniversityBoston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It traces its origins to the Newbury Biblical Institute, a Methodist theological school founded in Vermont in 1839, was chartered as a university in 1869, and has been a member of the Association of American Universities since 2012.Open the full entry; M.S. University of Wisconsin), Registrar and Librarian for 19 years, whom the timeline calls “the de facto engine that made things work,” left for the W.P.A., and Chester W. Cleveland, Class of 1921, became the first Babson graduate to receive an honorary degree. The Babson Institute Library was dedicated on October 14, 1939. The Great Relief Map, a 65-foot plaster relief map of the lower 48 states housed in Coleman Hall, was completed on December 31, 1940.⁠[3][5]

In 1940 Roger Babson ran for President of the United States as the National Prohibition Party candidate and finished third of eight candidates, behind Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin D. RooseveltFranklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) was an American politician who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 to 1945, the only president elected four times; he led the country through the Great Depression and World War II and greatly expanded the federal government’s role through the New Deal.Open the full entry and Wendell Willkie.⁠[1][3]

As the country prepared for war, enrollment, which had been rising since the Depression, fell from 112 to 58 in 1942. In 1943 Massachusetts authorized a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (B.S.B.A.) for a three-year program and also the MBA, which was put on hold until 1951. The U.S. Navy used the facilities to train supply officers, and the Institute closed on June 8, 1943, for the duration of the war. President Carl D. Smith’s resignation took effect on October 31, 1944, and John K. Horner became de facto president. The Institute reopened on October 1, 1945, with 76 students, and that year it bought the Poor’s Printing Building and renamed it for Dwight G. W. Hollister, a Babson associate and accounting teacher.⁠[3]

Edward Barnard Hinckley became the fourth president on July 1, 1946; the Class of 1949 found that prewar fixtures such as personal secretaries, maid service and the time clock were gone. The first B.S.B.A. degree was awarded at the June 1947 Commencement—until then the Institute had issued certificates—the first Founders Day was celebrated on November 14, 1947, and the 1,500-pound, 42-inch Hotchkin Bell was hung in the library (now Tomasso Hall). Babson News debuted as the postwar student paper and was renamed Babson Beaver by its third issue.⁠[3]

In 1946 Roger Babson founded Utopia College in Eureka, KansasKansasKansas is a state of the United States bordered by Nebraska to the north, Missouri to the east, Oklahoma to the south, and Colorado to the west; its capital is Topeka and its largest city is Wichita. It was admitted to the Union on January 29, 1861, as the 34th state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 2,937,880.Open the full entry, his third school, a two-year certificate school whose graduates could complete bachelor’s degrees at the Babson Institute. It later became the Midwest Institute of Business Administration; the history timeline records its closure in 1970, and the “Roger Babson” page says it closed in the early 1970s.⁠[1][3]

In 1948 the first class to enter the three-year undergraduate program received B.S.B.A. degrees. The B.S.B.A. was accredited by the New England Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools effective December 1, 1950, and George W. Coleman, the second president, died on July 31, 1950. In the fall of 1951 the new Park Manor North residence hall opened and the first class of 25 students entered the new two-year MBA program. In 1952 the Institute bought the buildings and grounds of the Channing Sanitarium (now Woodland Hill, mostly graduate housing) for the graduate program and joined the New England Conference on Athletics, formally starting intercollegiate sports. The first six MBAs were awarded at the June 1953 Commencement, and in 1954 Wilson F. Payne became the first Dean of the Graduate School.⁠[3]

Roger Babson and his grandson, Roger Webber, conceived the globe in 1947 provided $200,000 of personal funding and commissioned its construction in the early 1950s; it was built as the centerpiece of the Map and Globe Museum in Coleman Hall, alongside the Great Relief Map, and was meant to build appreciation of the world as a whole and interest in geography, history, economics, transportation and trade. It is 28 feet in diameter, weighed 25 tons, was originally covered in 574 enamel tiles and was engineered to rotate on its own axis. The college’s page on the globe states that Babson dedicated it to the United NationsUnited NationsThe United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945 under the Charter of the United Nations. It has 193 Member States, and its headquarters are in New York City.Open the full entry in 1953 and that construction was completed in 1955; it was the largest of its kind at the time, and from the 1950s to the 1970s it drew tens of thousands of visitors a year.⁠[5]

The history timeline records that ground was broken for the globe on May 30, 1953, that in 1954 the husband-and-wife artists Kal Kubinyi and Doris Hall were engaged to create its paneled “skin,” and that it was dedicated on June 18, 1955. A Newton apple tree bought from the Pennsylvania Historical Commission was prepared for planting on campus in 1953. In 1955 Roger Babson resigned as Chairman of the Corporation, the Board of Trustees voted to rename the Babson Institute Library the Sir Isaac Newton Library, the first Honors Day was held on May 19, and the Babson Chair was offered for the first time.⁠[3]

In 1956 the original one-year Certificate in Business Administration program was discontinued; Grace Knight Babson, Roger’s wife, business partner and the driving force behind acquiring the Newton Collection, died on April 30; and Edward Hinckley resigned as president. Gordon Mariner Trim was elected the fifth president on March 4, 1957, and on June 1 that year Roger Babson married his long-time associate Nona Dougherty. In 1958 Nathaniel Wright II became the first African American to receive a degree from the Babson Institute, and the Liberians John R. H. Bright and Lafayette K. Morgan became the first Africans to graduate, earning B.S.B.A. degrees in March.⁠[3]

In 1959 the Boston CelticsBoston CelticsThe Boston Celtics are a professional basketball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, competing in the NBA’s Eastern Conference Atlantic Division and playing at TD Garden. Founded in 1946, they were one of the Basketball Association of America’s 11 inaugural teams. Their 18 NBA championships, most recently in 2024, are the league record. An investment group led by Bill Chisholm has owned the team since August 2025.Open the full entry began holding pre-season workouts in Peavey Gym, which they continued for several years, and the Institute bought the Children’s Convalescent Hospital, which later became Forest Hall. Trim died suddenly on May 5, 1961, and Henry August Kriebel, Dean of Faculty and an accounting professor, became the sixth president on June 5; he was inaugurated on February 9, 1962. In September 1961 the Evening (part-time) MBA program, directed by the economics professor Frank Genovese, began with 60 students and was coeducational from the start, and that year faculty were offered the prospect of tenure for the first time.⁠[3]

Nona Babson, Roger’s second wife, died on July 13, 1963. Ground was broken for Trim Dining Hall on October 3, 1963, and it opened on September 7, 1964. The Latin motto “Navis Commericii Institum Babsonis 1919” was seen from October 30, 1963, and the history timeline records it as last seen on April 19, 1967. The first Evening MBA graduation took place in June 1964. In 1965 Babson offered a $1,000 scholarship to any son of a crew member of the USS Thresher (SSN 593), which sank during a deep dive in the North Atlantic on April 9, 1963, and on April 30 the Division of Distribution became the Marketing Division.⁠[3]

Roger Ward Babson, founder of Babson College, died on March 5, 1967, at the age of 91.⁠[3]

In 1968 Babson launched the first phase of a five-year Master Plan and in September adopted a 12-point grading scale. It became coeducational in October 1968, when Anne McCormick and Sandra Adams became the first women in the undergraduate program; both earned B.S.B.A. degrees in 1970. On April 25, 1969, the Babson Institute became Babson College; that year Carolyn Levosky, MBA, became the first woman to receive a degree from Babson College, the college had its first sophomore class and the undergraduate summer school began, and former President Carl Smith died on October 16.⁠[3]

In December 1970 Ina Mae Harmon completed her MBA and became the first Black woman to receive a Babson College degree; that year Babson’s Black Society was formed, and the first issue of the Babson Free Press appeared on October 1.⁠[3]

On March 3, 1971, Babson received authority to grant an unspecified Bachelor of Science; Canfield Hall and Keith Hall were dedicated on October 2, and the WRWB radio station went on the air. In 1972 Babson offered its first graduate course in entrepreneurship and founded the School for Executive Education, and Frances Burgess retired after 49 years as secretary to Babson presidents. In 1973 Gerber Hall and Babson Hall were built as the first phase of the “Educational Center,” Cheryl Williams became the first female class president and Debra Amidon the first female dean (Student Affairs); the B.S.B.A. was offered for the last time at the May Commencement, after which the undergraduate degree became an unrestricted B.S.⁠[3]

In 1974 Henry Kriebel retired, and Ralph Zellar Sorenson, a marketing professor at Harvard Business School, became the seventh president on September 1 and was inaugurated on October 10; that year McCullough Hall was dedicated on November 13 and the Beaver Brau, Babson’s first pub, opened in the basement of Coleman Hall on April 4.⁠[3]

On December 15, 1975, the original Administration Building was named for Edith Babson Webber Mustard, and that year the men’s soccer team won Babson’s first NCAA title; it won again in 1979 and 1980. In 1977 Margaret Weinblatt became the first woman to receive tenure, and the Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs (ADE) was founded. In 1978 Babson founded the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies (now the Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship), established its first endowed chair, the Paul T. Babson Professorship in Entrepreneurial Studies, in April, and opened the Writing Center in the fall with Professor Kathleen Kelly as director. In 1979 it offered its first undergraduate major in entrepreneurship.⁠[3]

The undergraduate program received AACSB accreditation effective June 13, 1980; Horn Library, named for Charles Lilley Horn of the F. W. Olin Foundation, was dedicated on October 18, 1980, and Pietz Hall opened that year. President Sorenson resigned in 1980, effective June 1981. William Rankin Dill, Dean of New York UniversityNew York UniversityNew York University is a private university in New York City, founded in 1831, and one of the largest private universities in the United States.Open the full entry’s Graduate School of Business, was inaugurated as the eighth president on October 2, 1981. The graduate program received AACSB accreditation effective May 6, 1981, and the renovated Sir Isaac Newton Library was dedicated as Tomasso Hall in honor of Angelo Tomasso, father of Victor F. Tomasso (BSBA 1951). In 1981 the former “Spear and Staff Building” opened as the new Alumni Hall; Bennett E. Bidwell, Charles J. McCarthy and Richard M. Nichols received the first Babson Medals, recognizing distinguished alumni and friends, and the Executive-in-Residence program began with Al Ries; Walter H. Carpenter Jr., a longtime faculty member and former Dean of Faculty, died on October 13.⁠[3]

In 1984 the men’s ice hockey team won its first NCAA title, women’s field hockey became a varsity sport, undergraduates organized the Babson Student Federal Credit Union as an entrepreneurial venture, the Babson Entrepreneurial Exchange was founded, and a spring storm destroyed 175 campus trees. In 1985 a residence hall called “New Hall” was built (later named Putney Hall), Paula Rooney became Babson’s first female vice president, heading Student Affairs, and Babson hosted its first Symposium for Entrepreneurial Education. The Horn Computer Center was dedicated on October 16, 1987. The Center for Executive Education was dedicated on May 14, 1988; 1988 was the last year undergraduate and graduate Commencement exercises were combined, and former President Edward Hinckley died on September 21.⁠[3]

President Dill resigned effective June 30, 1989. William Francis Glavin, Vice-Chairman of Xerox, became the ninth president on July 1, 1989, and was inaugurated on October 20. That year the Webster Center was dedicated on November 10, a new honors program was approved, Commencement was held separately for graduate and undergraduate programs for the first time, and in September Babson dropped the 12-point grading scale and returned to a 4-point scale. In 1990 students formed G.I.V.E. (Get Into the Volunteer Experience), a community service organization. In 1991 Babson created an Athletics Hall of Fame and the One-Year MBA program began in May, and Jesse Putney (BSBA 1956, MBA 1959) retired, ending 50 years in which a Putney, father and then son, served as Babson’s treasurer. In 1992 a new Two-Year MBA curriculum was introduced and Jim Pierrakos became Babson’s first basketball All-American.⁠[3]

The Babson World Globe fell into disrepair in the late 1970s, and its spinning machinery and electrical system rusted and failed in the 1980s; in 1979 Tim Domini ’78, MBA’82 became curator of the Map and Globe Museum, in 1980–1981 student volunteers, guided by the cartographer Jaime Quintero, scrubbed, recast, repositioned and repainted the 1,216 plaster tiles of the relief map; and in 1983 the globe’s tiles were removed and stored. In 1988 the administration decided to demolish the globe, and C. Christopher Lingamfelter ’91 and Professor Larry Meile formed the Save the Globe committee; in 1989 Michael Smurfit, inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs that year, donated $75,000, making the restoration feasible, and President Glavin created a Future of the Globe Committee, and in 1990 William Yeager ’49 and his family donated $55,000 to complete it. The restoration took place in 1991–1993, and at its rededication the globe had 506 vinyl panels using the most advanced satellite imagery then available.⁠[5]

October 1993 marked the start of the yearlong 75th anniversary celebration, and the refurbished globe was rededicated on October 2; that year Van Winkle Hall opened on the campus high point, and Bryant Hall reopened after renovation as a residence hall for “non-traditional” students.⁠[3]

In 1995 Professor John Mulkern’s history Continuity and Change: Babson College, 1919–1994 was published. Under its 1995 heading—which also lists the Babson One Card, introduced in March 1996—the history timeline records that the F. W. Olin Graduate School of Business building was dedicated in October, funded by a $30 million grant that the timeline calls one of the largest ever given to a business school; that Lyon Hall was completely renovated and renamed Luksic Hall in honor of A. Andronico Luksic, an ADE member, and his son Andronico (BS 1976), a renaming its 1923 entry dates to 1996; that students entering that fall were the first to experience the new integrated undergraduate curriculum, and the last students for whom FME was an elective entered Babson; and that volume one of the Babson Journal was published.⁠[3]

William Glavin retired on June 30, 1997, after eight years as president. Leo Ignatius Higdon Jr., Dean of the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, became the tenth president on July 1 and was inaugurated on September 19. Warren BuffettWarren BuffettWarren Buffett is an American investor who took control of Berkshire Hathaway in 1965 and served as its chairman and chief executive from 1970; he handed the chief executive role to Greg Abel on January 1, 2026 and became chairman emeritus, while remaining a director, on September 18, 2026.Open the full entry spoke at Babson on March 19, 1997. Three facilities were dedicated that year: the Glavin Family Chapel, the Richard W. Sorenson Center for the Arts and the Donald W. Reynolds Campus Center.⁠[3]

In 1998 the Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship was dedicated and the Institute for Latin American Business was launched; the Great Relief Map was removed from Coleman Hall to make way for student housing, while the globe remained outside. Babson College Radio went on the air at noon on February 17, 1998, which the history timeline calls the first college web radio station in the United States. In 1999 Babson sold a parcel of its Needham property to the F. W. Olin Foundation, and the new Olin College of Engineering broke ground; the Entrepreneurship Intensity Track debuted in the MBA program, and former President Henry Kriebel died on May 6.⁠[3][5]

In 2000 the first class to complete the new undergraduate curriculum, including the Intermediate Management Core (IMC I, II and III), graduated; the Stephen D. Cutler Center for Investment Management (now the Stephen D. Cutler Center for Investments and Finance) was dedicated on March 9, and the Asia Institute at Babson launched in July.⁠[6]

Leo Higdon ended his term as president on June 30, 2001. Brian Miller Barefoot, who received his B.S.B.A. in 1966 and chaired the Board of Trustees in 1996–2001, became the eleventh president on July 1 and was inaugurated on September 20, 2002; he served until 2008. The Babson Intel MBA Program launched in May 2001, and that year the Center for Women’s Leadership (now the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership) was founded. In 2002 Kelly Petersen-Fitzgerald, MBA’03, became the first woman president of the Graduate Student Association, and Babson received the 2002 Hesburgh Award from TIAA-CREF for “Reinvention of Undergraduate Education.”⁠[6][6][3]

In 2003 Information Technology Management became an academic division (in July 2005 it was reorganized and renamed Technology, Operations and Information Management), and Donna Stoddard received Babson’s first National Science Foundation grant; the MBA Alumni Academy of Achievement launched in May, the Institute for Family Enterprising (now the Institute for Family Entrepreneurship) launched in September, and the Fast Track MBA program began. The first Martin Luther King Jr. Heritage Celebration was held on March 1, 2004; that year Babson became the first business school to join the Posse Foundation, and on October 23 the Board of Trustees voted to start a PhD program in entrepreneurship. In 2005 Julian Simcock, Class of 2005, became Babson’s first Fulbright Scholar and traveled to South Africa for research, and starting with the spring issue Babson Alumni Magazine was renamed Babson Magazine.⁠[6][6][6]

Patricia G. Greene became provost on July 1, 2006. Between 2006 and 2008 the Lewis Center, founded with a gift from Alan E. Lewis and Harriet R. Lewis to expand social entrepreneurship programs, was established; it is now the Lewis Institute for Social Innovation.⁠[6]

In January 2008 Leonard Schlesinger was announced as the twelfth president, taking office on July 1 and being inaugurated on October 17. That year the first Posse class graduated and the inaugural Weissman Scholars entered in the fall, and the 30th anniversary of the Writing Center and 20th anniversary of the Speech Resource Center were celebrated; in November Babson was accredited by EQUIS, and the college states that it was one of only three U.S. colleges so accredited and the only one with a five-year accreditation.⁠[6]

In 2009 Babson joined the Post-9/11 GI Bill Yellow Ribbon Program; Shahid Ansari, dean of faculty and professor of behavioral and managerial accounting, was named provost on May 26; Babson, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering and Wellesley College launched a collaborative agreement based on their proximity and complementary curricula; and the 10th annual Rocket Pitch featured more than 90 new venture ideas from alumni and students. In 2010 Trim Dining Hall stopped using trays as part of going green, the Latin Entrepreneurship Forum hosted former Mexican President Vicente Fox, and the director Spike Lee spoke at the college about diversity and inclusion.⁠[6]

On April 21, 2011, Babson opened its San Francisco campus in the SOMA neighborhood, initially housing the Fast Track MBA, which 85 students joined in its first year. On June 3 it signed a lease in Boston’s Innovation District and planned to host MBA courses there from that September. The centennial website’s timeline summarizes 2011 as the year Babson hosted the grand opening of its Boston and San Francisco campuses.⁠[7]

Kerry Healey, a former lieutenant governor of Massachusetts, became the thirteenth president in the summer of 2013 and was Babson’s first woman president; she served for nearly six years. A retrospective in the Spring 2019 issue of Babson Magazine states that during her presidency alumni giving participation rose from 13 percent to more than 30 percent, donations from international alumni rose 500 percent, and 2018 was the college’s best fundraising year, with $67 million raised; early in her term she created the Global Scholars Program, the first full-tuition scholarships at the college for international students, racial, ethnic and socio-economic diversity increased, and an undergraduate class was for the first time majority female.⁠[8]

The article adds that she founded Babson Connect: Worldwide, a global entrepreneurship summit first held in Cartagena, Colombia, in 2015, later in Dubai, Bangkok and Madrid, and planned for Wellesley and Boston in 2019; that the Institute for Family Entrepreneurship was launched in 2018; that Park Manor West, Roger’s Pub & Grille and the Weissman Foundry (officially opened September 21, 2018) were built during her term, with the Babson Recreation and Athletics Complex and Babson Commons at Horn Library soon to be completed; that Babson expanded its presence in Boston, Miami and Dubai; and that its free online entrepreneurship courses reached more than 200,000 students. It states that, with more than 100 donors contributing, the new park would be named Kerry Murphy Healey Park and would include flags of students’ home countries, a statue of Roger Babson and history markers, and that the Babson Globe was now in the new park on College Drive. The article notes her forthcoming book, The Politics of Dignity: An Agenda to Unite America’s Moderate Majority.⁠[8]

In the fall of 2014 Babson launched its first Undergraduate Semester in San Francisco, letting students study in Silicon Valley. On December 14, 2015, it announced a lease at 100 High Street in Boston’s Financial District, doubling its local footprint and including co-working space for the 16,000 alumni in the area. Lynn Santopietro, Director of Babson San Francisco, called the semester “an exciting new initiative” and a natural extension of the learning on the Babson Wellesley campus. Early in 2016 Babson launched an accelerator for women entrepreneurs in Miami, funded by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation that the timeline lists as $800,000; the program, now WIN Lab Miami, which the college calls first-of-its-kind, saw its first cohort raise more than $1.5 million in one year.⁠[7][7][7]

During Founders Day festivities on September 9, 2015, Babson formally named a startup space in the Park Manor West residence hall the Leonard A. Schlesinger Innovation Center, after its twelfth president. The center has an amphitheater, classrooms and collaboration space, where students work on the businesses they launch in the first-year Foundations of Management and Entrepreneurship (FME) course; Massachusetts State Senator Richard J. Ross presented Schlesinger with an official citation at the dedication.⁠[9]

On July 21, 2017, Babson announced a new Miami location for graduate and executive education programs; its Goldman SachsGoldman SachsGoldman Sachs is an American financial services group headquartered in New York whose businesses include investment banking, securities trading, asset management, and wealth management. It traces its origins to the commercial paper business Marcus Goldman founded in 1869; it listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1999 under the ticker GS and became a bank holding company in 2008. David Solomon serves as chairman and chief executive officer.Open the full entry 10,000 Small Businesses program had opened a sector at Miami Dade College in 2014. On March 23, 2018, the Babson Globe was moved and its yearlong, donor-funded restoration began, with the globe stored in scaffolding in the Trim parking lot. On May 29, 2018, President Kerry Healey announced in Dubai, U.A.E., that Babson would offer its entrepreneurship education to working professionals in the region, with executive education already under way locally and the Babson MBA – Dubai scheduled to launch that fall; she said that Babson believes the success of entrepreneurs is critical to economic growth and sustainability around the world and that expanding to Dubai would support the U.A.E.’s long-term economic development goals.⁠[7][7][5]

On December 14, 2018, Babson’s Board of Trustees named Stephen Spinelli Jr. the fourteenth president, effective July 1, 2019, succeeding Kerry Healey, who had announced that she would step down at the end of the academic year. The search committee was led by Bruce T. Herring ’87, a trustee and former Fidelity InvestmentsFidelity InvestmentsFidelity Investments is a privately held financial services group headquartered in Boston, United States, with FMR LLC as its parent company. Founded in 1946 by Edward Johnson 2d, it operates in mutual fund and ETF asset management, brokerage and wealth management, workplace retirement plans and digital assets. Controlled by the Johnson family for three generations, it had $7.1 trillion in managed assets and $18 trillion in assets under administration at the end of 2025.Open the full entry executive. Spinelli, a co-founder of Jiffy Lube International, earned his MBA at Babson’s F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business in 1992 and spent 14 years at Babson as a professor and administrator, holding the Alan Lewis Chair in Global Management and serving as chair of the Entrepreneurship Division, director of the Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship and Vice Provost for Entrepreneurship and Global Management; he was inducted into Babson’s Alumni Entrepreneur Hall of Fame in 2011. He then served 10 years as president of Philadelphia University, led its merger with Thomas Jefferson University and was named Chancellor of Jefferson. The announcement states that he would be the first Babson president to have previously led another university.⁠[10]

Babson marked its centennial in 2019. In May 2019 the restored Babson Globe was rededicated in its new home in Kerry Murphy Healey Park, where it is the centerpiece. Stephen Spinelli Jr. assumed the presidency in July 2019 and that year launched a strategic plan to secure the college’s continued success and financial stability, and the Babson ELevates fundraising campaign was launched during the centennial year.⁠[5][8][11][12]

On November 18, 2019, Babson College announced a $50 million grant from The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation to establish the Arthur M. Blank School for Entrepreneurial Leadership, which the college called the largest grant in the foundation’s 25-year history. The school provides need-based scholarships, the Blank Chair in Values-based Entrepreneurial Leadership, experiential learning focused on problem-solving in uncertain, technology-driven conditions, a dedicated collaborative campus space called the “Entrepreneurial Village,” wider access to Babson’s entrepreneurial centers and institutes, and funding for applied research. Its founding principles are Arthur BlankArthur BlankArthur Blank (Arthur M. Blank) is an American businessman and philanthropist, a co-founder of the home-improvement retailer The Home Depot, and the owner of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and Major League Soccer’s Atlanta United FC.Open the full entry’s six core values: Put People First, Listen and Respond, Include Everyone, Innovate Continuously, Lead by Example, and Give Back to Others. Arthur Blank is a Babson alumnus of the class of 1963, received an honorary degree in 1998, co-founded The Home DepotThe Home DepotThe Home Depot, Inc. is an American home improvement retailer, the world’s largest by net sales for fiscal 2025, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.Open the full entry, owns the Atlanta FalconsAtlanta FalconsThe Atlanta Falcons are an NFL professional American football team awarded a franchise in 1965 and beginning play in 1966. Founded by Rankin M. Smith and purchased by Arthur Blank in 2002, the team plays at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Its headquarters and practice facility are in Flowery Branch, Georgia.Open the full entry and is a member of Babson’s Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs.⁠[13]

On May 21, 2024, Babson announced the C. Dean Metropoulos Institute for Technology and Entrepreneurship, supported by a gift from C. Dean Metropoulos ’67, MBA’68 and expected to open that fall, to support and expand curricular and cocurricular programs highlighting technological innovation in the entrepreneurial process and to lead thinking on the benefits and risks of emerging technologies and AI across industry, medicine and the environment. The institute is part of the Arthur M. Blank School for Entrepreneurial Leadership and is located in Babson Commons; an article published on October 3, 2024, states that it had been dedicated the previous week, with a ribbon cutting and its first Tech Talk, “Imagining Tomorrow: The Role of AI in Shaping Babson’s Future,” moderated by Blank School CEO Donna Levin with the panelists Thomas Davenport, Kristi Girdharry, Erik Noyes, Joshua Bell ’26 and Spencer Karns ’26. The article states that the Babson AI Club had grown from fewer than 20 members two years earlier to more than 400, with Muya Guoji ’25 as its president, and that Associate Professor Erik Noyes directs The Generator, Babson’s AI lab.⁠[14][15]

That year the Herring Family Entrepreneurial Leadership Village (HELV) opened; with more than 280 residents it is the largest residence hall on campus, and it has three classrooms and the Global Outreach Studio and is home to all 18 sections of the first-year Foundations of Management and Entrepreneurship course.⁠[16][12]

On March 24, 2025, Babson described a campus expansion plan that the Board of Trustees had endorsed the previous month and that will be significantly funded by donors. On the site of the Babson Executive Conference Center garage it plans a 77,600-square-foot Executive Lodge and Conference Center with more than 70 guest rooms, banquet space, classrooms in an executive event space certified by the International Association of Conference Centers, a full-service restaurant and bar, a rooftop terrace and a fitness area; the garage’s demolition was targeted for May, construction for the start of 2026 and opening for mid-2027, and the restaurant, bar, terrace, boardroom and event space are to be open to public bookings. Phase 2 of HELV is to add 128 student beds, a dining venue with more than 275 seats and 13 classrooms and learning spaces, converting the facility to serve both undergraduate and graduate programs, with construction beginning in spring 2027 and expected to be mostly complete by August 2027. The plan also addresses deferred maintenance at Tomasso Hall, Keith Hall, the Reynolds Campus Center, Babson Hall, Malloy Hall and Woodland Hill. The article also notes that The Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal is a U.S. news publication founded in 1889, with a focus on business, finance and economics. It is published by Dow Jones, part of News Corp.Open the full entry ranked Babson the No. 2 best college in the United States in 2024.⁠[16]

Babson College’s Common Data Set 2024-2025 lists it as a private nonprofit institution at 231 Forest Street, Babson Park, Massachusetts. As of its fall 2024 count (as of October 15, 2024), it had 2,793 undergraduates and 1,139 graduate students, 3,932 in total, and in fall 2024 it had 297 instructional faculty, 206 full-time and 91 part-time.⁠[17]

The college’s FY25 audited financial summary shows an endowment of $813.3 million as of June 30, 2025 ($741.0 million a year earlier) and an investment return of 9.9 percent in fiscal 2025 (10.0 percent in fiscal 2024); net assets of $1.1 billion ($999.6 million on June 30, 2024), the first year they exceeded $1 billion; and total assets of $1.28 billion ($1.22 billion in fiscal 2024). It recorded an operating surplus of $3.1 million in fiscal 2025, contribution and grant revenues of $48.6 million ($54.8 million in fiscal 2024) and $47.6 million in gifts and pledges; bonds outstanding were $129.6 million as of June 30, 2025, against $138.1 million a year earlier.⁠[18]

The “Facts and Stats” page of the college website lists students from more than 100 countries; a 15:1 faculty-to-student ratio, 85 percent of faculty with doctorates and all classes taught by faculty (no teaching assistants); a 94 percent undergraduate graduation rate and a 95 percent retention rate; a 17 percent selectivity rate for the fall 2024 entering undergraduate class, with international students making up 28 percent of undergraduates and 46 percent of graduate students, and middle-50-percent ranges of 1450–1530 on the SAT and 32–34 on the ACT; an average undergraduate net cost of $28,000 a year after aid, with 41 percent of students receiving aid and 100 percent of need-based aid met in the first year; and 97.8 percent of 2025 graduates employed or continuing their education within six months, with an average undergraduate starting salary of $77,642 and average salaries three years after graduation of $147,595 for full-time MBAs and $163,044 for online MBAs. Alumni counts differ: the “Facts and Stats” page gives more than 48,000 alumni in 125 countries, President Spinelli’s 2025 biography gives 46,000 alumni, and the centennial website gives a global network of 41,000 alumni and friends in 119 countries. The centennial website separately states that 28 percent of undergraduates and 36 percent of graduate students were then international, and that another 11 percent of undergraduates and 10 percent of graduate students held dual passports.⁠[19][11][7]

On July 1, 2026, Babson announced the completion of the Babson ELevates campaign, the largest philanthropic effort in its history, launched in 2019, which raised $750,979,942 from 45,172 donors. The goal began at $300 million, rose to $500 million and finally to $750 million, which was reached a full year earlier than expected, and the campaign concluded in summer 2026. The funds expanded scholarships, created 23 faculty term chairs, supported the centers of the Arthur M. Blank School for Entrepreneurial Leadership—which houses eight entrepreneurial centers and institutes, among them the Bertarelli Institute for Family Entrepreneurship, the C. Dean Metropoulos Institute for Technology and Entrepreneurship, the Frank & Eileen Institute for Women and Allies, the Tariq Farid Franchise Institute and the TARCO Institute for Real Estate and Entrepreneurship—and paid for campus projects: the Executive Lodge and Conference Center under construction, with 8,900 square feet of classrooms, whose topping-off ceremony had been held the previous month; the next phase of renovations of the Herring Family Entrepreneurial Leadership Village, slated for completion in 2027; and, among others listed, Kerry Murphy Healey Park, the Weissman Foundry, Babson Commons at Horn Library and the Len Green Recreation and Athletics Complex. The article adds that the college’s 2026 fiscal year closed on June 30 with more than 15,100 donors giving more than $103 million, the largest fundraising total in Babson’s history.⁠[12]

As of November 2026 the college’s “College Leadership” page lists President Stephen Spinelli Jr. (MBA’92, PhD), Chair of the Board Jeffery S. Perry ’87, Provost and Executive Vice President Ariel Armony, Executive Vice Presidents Katherine Craven (Administration) and Kelly Lynch, Edward Chiu, Governor Craig R. Benson Endowed Executive Vice President for Advancement, and Donna Stoddard, Murata Dean of Faculty, among others.⁠[20]

Spinelli’s 2025 biography states that he co-founded Jiffy Lube International, was chairman and CEO of American Oil Change Corporation, helped pioneer the quick-lube industry and grew Jiffy Lube to more than 1,000 service centers; that he became president of Philadelphia University in 2007 and was named chancellor of the merged Jefferson in 2017; that he is Chairman of the Board of Planet Fitness, a board member of Fyzical Therapy and Balance Centers and a member of the board of advisors of Berwind Corporation; and that he holds a PhD in economics from The Management School, Imperial College, University of London, and a BA in economics from McDaniel College.⁠[11]

As of November 2026 the college’s leadership page lists three schools and their heads: the Undergraduate School (Dean Poonam Arora), the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College (Dean Kate Klepper) and the Arthur M. Blank School for Entrepreneurial Leadership (Chief Executive Officer Donna Levin).⁠[20]

The “Facts and Stats” page lists the degrees offered as BS/BSBA, MBA, MS and MSM, with 24 concentrations and 11 specialty centers and institutes, and locations in Wellesley, Boston and Miami, the Wellesley campus being 20 miles from Boston; the college has 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports, 18 club and intramural sports, more than 100 clubs and organizations and six fraternities and sororities, and more than 2,000 leaders attend its executive education each year. The page also lists rankings the college cites, including U.S. News & World Report placing its undergraduate entrepreneurship program first 30 consecutive times and its MBA entrepreneurship program first for 32 consecutive years, The Wall Street Journal naming it the No. 2 best college in the United States in 2026, Entrepreneur and The Princeton Review placing it first for entrepreneurship in the Northeast in 2026, Money first for business majors in 2022, PayScale first among business schools for undergraduate salary potential (2015–2021, 2023 and 2024), ForbesForbesForbes is an American business media brand that began with Forbes magazine, founded by B.C. Forbes in 1917. It is known for rankings such as the Forbes 400, the World’s Billionaires list and 30 Under 30, and operates Forbes.com, ForbesLive events and licensed editions in 81 countries. Since 2014 a majority stake has been held by the Hong Kong investment group Integrated Whale Media; a 2021 plan to list on the New York Stock Exchange through a special purpose acquisition company was terminated in 2022. It is headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey.Open the full entry first for international students in 2017–2018, the Financial TimesFinancial TimesThe Financial Times (FT) is a London-based English-language business and financial news organization, known for its salmon-pink newspaper and its motto “Without Fear and Without Favour.” It was owned successively by the British Pearson group and Japan’s Nikkei Inc., and today digital subscriptions are its main source of revenue.Open the full entry first for the percentage of MBA alumni who start a business and second for MBA entrepreneurship in 2018, BloombergBloomberg L.P.Bloomberg L.P. is a global financial technology, data and media company founded by Michael Bloomberg in 1981. It began by providing terminal services that deliver data, analytics and news to financial professionals, and launched Bloomberg News in 1990. Michael Bloomberg has pledged the vast majority of the company’s profits to his philanthropic organization, Bloomberg Philanthropies.Open the full entry second for MBA entrepreneurship in 2022, PayScale second among colleges in Massachusetts for salary potential in 2023, and U.S. News & World Report top 10 nationally for co-ops and internships in 2026.⁠[19]

Roger Ward Babson (1875–1967) was the tenth generation of Babsons to live in Gloucester, Massachusetts, a line that began with Isabel Babson, who came from England in 1637; his father, Nathaniel Babson, owned a dry goods store. From 1895 to 1898 he attended the Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyThe Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. It received its charter from Massachusetts in 1861, admitted its first students in 1865 and moved from Boston to its present campus in 1916. As of October 2025 it had 11,816 students, and it counts 106 Nobel laureates among members of its community.Open the full entry, where his father had placed him against his wishes, and he valued learning about Isaac Newton, especially Newton’s third law of motion (“For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”). In 1898 he took a job at a Boston investment firm but was dismissed after questioning its methods and prices; he then sold bonds on his own in New York City and Worcester, Massachusetts, and in 1900 returned to Boston to work for another investment house. In March 1900 he married Grace Margaret Knight and moved to Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts; their only child, Edith Low Babson, was born on December 6, 1903, and his granddaughter Camilla Grace Webber gave her name to Webber College. In the fall of 1901 he contracted tuberculosis; rather than seek a cure in the Southwest he stayed in Wellesley Hills, where Grace, a nurse by training, cared for him, and started a business based on his investment expertise.⁠[1][2]

After the 1907 market crash Roger Babson began advising clients on when to buy and sell, and with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor George F. Swain he developed the Babsonchart of Economic Indicators; the college credits him with being the first financial forecaster to predict the October 1929 crash. He was a regular columnist for the Saturday Evening Post from 1910 to 1923, also wrote for The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American morning daily newspaper published in New York City. Founded in 1851, it is published by The New York Times Company.Open the full entry and Scripps newspapers, and formed his own syndicate, the Publishers Financial Bureau; over 33 years he wrote 47 books, including his autobiography, Actions and Reactions, first published in 1935 and revised in 1950.⁠[1]

Besides the Babson Institute, he founded Webber College in Babson Park, FloridaFloridaFlorida is a U.S. state occupying mainly the Florida peninsula, with its capital at Tallahassee; its most populous city is Jacksonville. It entered the Union on March 3, 1845, as the 27th state, and had a population of 21,538,187 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry, in 1927 to provide business education to women; it is now Webber International University. From 1936 to 1938 he was National Church Moderator of the General Council of the Congregational-Christian Churches, a tenure the college describes as ending in disappointment; in 1938 he began the “Open Church” experiment in Wellesley, and the national Open Church Association was incorporated in Gloucester in 1942. In 1948 he founded the Gravity Research Foundation, a nonprofit to promote research on gravity that still exists.⁠[1][2]

Babson founded the Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs (ADE) in 1977. Its first members, in 1978, were Berry Gordy, Soichiro Honda, Ray Kroc, Royal Little and Kenneth Olsen; in 1979 Diane Von Furstenberg became its first female member, in a class that also included Byung-Chull Lee, John Erik Jonsson, John H. Johnson and Thomas Mellon Evans; the 1980 class was Lewis E. Lehrman, Mary Wells Lawrence, Mary Hudson and J. Peter Grace; and in 1981 Gustavo A. Cisneros (Undergraduate Class of 1968) became the first Babson graduate inducted, in a class that included An Wang, Marcus Wallenberg and Franklin P. Perdue.⁠[3]

The 1982 inductees were Wally Amos, William C. Norris and Carl G. Sonthemier; 1983, Frederick W. Smith, Sidney R. Rabb, Frederick C. Hamilton (BSBA 1948) and Nolan K. Bushnell; 1984, Heinz Nixdorf, John K. Hanson, John J. Cullinane and Henry W. Bloch; 1985, Peter J. Sprague, Donald C. Burr and Rupert MurdochRupert MurdochRupert Murdoch is a media entrepreneur, chairman emeritus of News Corp and Fox Corporation, and an investor awarded restitution in the Theranos case.Open the full entry; 1986, Ueli Prager, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen and Trammell Crow; the tenth class, in 1987, included Sir John Marks Templeton and Gilbert Trigano; 1988, Kazuo Inamori, Edward Lowe and J. Willard Marriott Jr.; and 1989, Michael W. J. Smurfit, Patrick J. McGovern and Alan Bond.⁠[3]

The 1990 inductees were Paul Fireman and Sandra L. Kurtzig; 1991, Amar G. Bose, John R. Furman and William G. McGowan; 1992, Ewing Marion Kauffman, John C. Merritt (BSBA 1961), Anita Roddick and Leslie H. Wexner; 1993, Robert A. Swanson and Jacob Stolt-Nielsen Jr.; 1994, Earl G. Graves and Leon A. Gorman; in 1995 S. Robert Levine, Bernie Marcus and Edward C. Johnson 3rd joined Craig R. Benson (BS 1977) and Arthur M. Blank (BSBA 1963) as new inductees, and the history timeline’s 1995 heading also records that the ADE offered membership to Richard BransonRichard BransonRichard Branson is a British entrepreneur and founder of Virgin Group. Beginning with a youth magazine and mail-order records, he expanded into aviation, leisure, telecommunications, finance and commercial spaceflight. He also founded Virgin Unite and is known for ballooning expeditions and his 2021 suborbital flight.Open the full entry, Elly R. Callaway, A. Andronico Luksic and Lillian Vernon; the 20th class, in 1997, was Willie D. Davis, Leo Kahn, Leslie C. Quick Jr. and Thomas G. Stemberg; 1998, Richard J. Egan and Abraham D. Grossman; and 1999, Ellen Gordon, Marie Gray, Robert Gray and Masayoshi SonMasayoshi SonMasayoshi Son (born 1957) is a Japanese entrepreneur and investor who founded SoftBank Group in 1981 and has served as its chairman and CEO ever since. He is known for early investments in Yahoo and Alibaba, the acquisitions of Sprint and Arm, the nearly $100 billion SoftBank Vision Fund, and in recent years his bets on OpenAI and AI infrastructure.Open the full entry.⁠[3]

On Founders Day 2006 Robert KraftRobert KraftRobert Kraft founded the Kraft Group and owns the New England Patriots.Open the full entry (Robert K. Kraft) and Magic JohnsonMagic JohnsonMagic Johnson (Earvin “Magic” Johnson) is an American former professional basketball player and businessman who won five NBA championships and three regular-season MVP awards with the Los Angeles Lakers. He is chairman and CEO of Magic Johnson Enterprises and holds ownership stakes in teams including the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Washington Commanders.Open the full entry (Earvin “Magic” Johnson) were inducted into the ADE, and C. Dean Metropoulos was inducted in 2017.⁠[6][15]

Roger Enrico (BSBA 1965), then President and CEO of Pepsi-Cola Company, addressed the senior class and MBA candidates at the 1986 Commencement. C. Dean Metropoulos ’67, MBA’68 became the youngest CFO of GTE – Europe, Middle East and Africa and later a vice president at GTE International, then a pioneer in private equity who transformed many companies and historic brands, some out of bankruptcy, and is a former Babson trustee. The college’s “Facts and Stats” page lists among its notable alumni the founders of Gerber, Ring doorbell, Bombas, The Home Depot and Zumba Fitness.⁠[3][15][19]

Among the faculty, Texas Monthly wrote in 2017 that Raj Sisodia, with whom John MackeyJohn MackeyJohn Mackey (born 1953) is an American entrepreneur, the co-founder of the natural and organic grocery chain Whole Foods Market and for decades its chief executive, who built it from a single store in Austin into a national chain; he is an advocate of “Conscious Capitalism” and co-author of the book of that name, and with former colleagues he co-founded the health club company Love.Life.Open the full entry co-wrote a book on conscious capitalism in 2013, is a professor at Babson College.⁠[21]

A Babson College entrepreneurship blog post of October 26, 2015, profiling Cafe X lists Henry Hu’s years at Babson College as 2012–2014; at the college he belonged to the Babson Auto Group, where he met Sebastian Gomez Puerto, later a co-founder of Cafe X, and he named the 2014 Summer Venture Program as his favorite Babson memory. VICE wrote in 2017 that he left Babson in his second year and sold his car to pursue the project full time. The Thiel Foundation’s list of Thiel FellowshipThiel FellowshipThe Thiel Fellowship is a two-year grant program started by investor Peter Thiel and run by the Thiel Foundation that funds young people who skip or stop out of college to build new things instead. The program has been criticized by figures in education for encouraging young people to leave college.Open the full entry selections announced on June 21, 2016, describes him as CEO and co-founder of Cafe X, a maker of robotic cafés.⁠[22][23][24]

In his Thiel Fellowship application, posted on his personal website, Jeremy CaiJeremy CaiJeremy Cai is an entrepreneur, a co-founder of the hourly-worker hiring software company Fountain (formerly OnboardIQ) and the founder of the online retailer Italic; he was a member of the 2015 class of Thiel Fellows.Open the full entry writes: “I’m currently on a (up-to-7-year-long) leave of absence from Babson College.” The Thiel Foundation’s list of 2015 Thiel Fellows, announced on June 5, 2015, describes him as founder and CEO of OnboardIQ.⁠[25][26]

An April 8, 2019, article in Babson Thought & Action, published by Babson College, identifies Michael IoffeMichael IoffeMichael Ioffe is an entrepreneur, the co-founder and chief executive of Arist, a company that began with short courses delivered by text message and messaging apps and later turned to AI research agents for large companies. As a high school student in Portland he founded TILE, a nonprofit conversation series for students, and in 2023 he was selected for the Thiel Fellowship.Open the full entry as a member of the class of 2021 and names Ryan Laverty (class of 2020), Maxine Anderson (class of 2022) and Joe Passanante as the Arist team; its first text-message course, “Introduction to Entrepreneurship,” launched in May 2018 and was developed alongside professors from Babson College and the University of Southern CaliforniaUniversity of Southern CaliforniaThe University of Southern California (USC) is a private research university in Los Angeles, California, planned by a group led by Judge Robert Maclay Widney and opened to students in 1880.Open the full entry. The Thiel Foundation’s announcement of its new class on February 8, 2023, includes him with Arist, which delivers bite-sized skills training via SMS, SlackSlackSlack is a team communication and collaboration platform developed from an internal tool at Tiny Speck. It organizes work through channels, direct messages, searchable history and integrations, with features including Huddles, Clips, Canvas and AI assistance. Its paid service launched in February 2014, and Salesforce completed its acquisition in July 2021.Open the full entry and Microsoft Teams.⁠[27][28]

Student and campus publications: the first alumni magazine appeared in 1924; Babson’s Retorts, a parody of the founder’s publication, produced two issues in 1936; a second student press, The Statistician, ran 13 issues in 1940; Songs of the Babson Institute was published in 1948, and President Hinckley began his column “Our Mutual Enterprise” in the October 8 issue of the Babson Beaver; the last Babson Beaver appeared on October 24, 1957, and the paper returned as the Babson Globe News on October 31, running until 1961; The Exec (later Executive) began publication in 1961; the earliest record of the “Editor’s Wastebasket” and “flashing” appears in the September 8, 1971, issue of the Babson Free Press, which “flashed” for the last time on November 17, 1988; Elizabeth McCarthy became the first female editor-in-chief of the campus newspaper in 1976; the Babson Alumni Magazine ran a feature on computers in 1977; the Babson Literary Society published volumes one to three of Options, a “little magazine,” in 1992–1994; and volumes one to three of the Babson Journal appeared in 1995, 1997 and 1999.⁠[3]

Early traditions: the “Ancient Royal Order of the Goat,” founded by Dean John Millea in the Institute’s early days, was still growing in 1936 and ended when Millea joined the U.S. Army after the United States entered the Second World War; Freeman T. Putney was elected treasurer in 1941; the Cup ’n Saucer opened in Park Manor in May 1947; the John E. Millea Swimming Pool in Peavey Hall was dedicated on November 10, 1949, and the Student Christian Hour held its first meeting on November 11; the Hall of Flags in the Newton Library was dedicated on April 19, 1955; the earliest known photo of the Babson Beaver as mascot appeared in the 1959 Babsonian; 1960 was the last class required to take Industry Analysis; the Board of Trustees voted on October 13, 1973, to establish the Beaver Brau; and the Babson International Student Organization (BISO) was organized in 1975.⁠[3]

Theatre: the Babson Dramatic Club performed Good News on March 2, 1957, and the Babson Institute Theatre Guild performed The Boy Friend on February 21, 1959; later Babson Players productions included Pippin (1980), Guys and Dolls (April 2–4, 1981), Once Upon A Mattress and M.A.S.H. (1983), Hello Dolly (April 1984), Anything Goes and Arsenic and Old Lace (1985), Love, Sex, and the IRS (November 1986), Grease and Table Settings (1987), Cabaret and The Odd Couple (1988), The Skin of Our Teeth (November 1989), Little Shop of Horrors and The Night of January 16th (1990), The Butler Did It (1991), Bye Bye Birdie and Rumors (1992), Oklahoma! and Fools (1993), Noises Off (1994), Godspell, Lend Me a Tenor, Guys and Dolls and Moonchildren (all listed under the timeline’s 1995 heading), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (April 1998) and Biloxi Blues (fall 1999).⁠[3]

The Charles D. and Marjorie J. Thompson Visiting Poet series began in 1983 with Esther Buffler, who read on February 24; later visiting poets were David Thompson (1984), Kathleen Spivak (1985), Martin Robbins (1986), John Hildebidle (1987), Jody Aliesan (1988), Maine Senator William Cohen (1989), Mary Oliver (1990), Galway Kinnell (1991), Marge Piercy (1992), Martin Espada (1993), Joy Harjo (1994), Mark Doty (1995), Li-Young Lee (listed under 1995), Sonia Sanchez (1997), Robert Pinsky (1998) and Marie Howe (1999).⁠[3]

The annual Carpenter Prize for employees’ service to the college and community was first awarded in 1982 to Frances Dalton, a former Babson Bulletin editor; later winners were Accounting Professor Clinton Petersen (1983), Head of Buildings & Grounds Ed Sullivan (1984), Marketing Professor Norman Govoni (1985), Coordinator of Academic Computing Mary Keyes (1986), Career Counselor Bill Wrenn (1987), Director of Development Joan Koehler (1988), Nurse Evie McIntosh and Math/Science Professor John Saber (shared, 1989), Henry Deneault, an alumnus, teacher and administrator (1990), groundskeeper Jim Touhy (1991), Economics Professor Bill Casey (1992), Human Resources Benefits Coordinator Susan Roskey (1993), Babson Alumni Bulletin Editor Dianne Coryell and Marketing Professor Bob Eng (shared, 1994), Presidential Administrative Assistant Annette Robinson (1995), Professor of Accounting and future Provost Michael Fetters (1996), Director of Strategic Projects Dick Bishop and future Vice President for Administration Mary Rose (shared, 1997), Jean Collins of Special Events (1998) and Math/Science Professor Gordon Prichett (1999). In 1990 Clinton “Pete” Petersen retired after 43 years teaching accounting and character, and Professor Bill Nemitz gave up his telephone number to help the IT Support Services. In 1986 Henry Kriebel, former president, former Dean of Faculty and accounting professor, received the Babson Medal.⁠[3]

Other campus matters: Kriebel Hall was dedicated on November 13, 1976, and Virginia Harrison retired that year after 17 years as Curator of the Grace K. Babson Collection of the Works of Sir Isaac Newton; Babson first tried “flex time” in the summer of 1978; 1979 was the last year “The Cave” was occupied; in 1982 North Hill was leased to Life Care Services, Inc. for fifty years and the Dry Dock snack bar was rebuilt and renamed The Exchange; in 1983 the Certification Program in Advanced Management Studies began and the “That Special Goodbye” Commencement tradition was given for the first time; in 1984 Somethin’ Cookin’ At Babson, a recipe collection, was published to raise money for the Babson College Women’s Club; on March 19, 1988, the Board of Trustees approved the Babson Club, and Roger’s Pub opened on September 26; on February 8, 1992, the trustees voted to rename Knight Annex Malloy Hall, and the Babson “Toolachs” debuted at the Wellesley Spelling Bee; in 1994 the former dean’s residence at 227 Forest Street was renamed for John E. Millea, Dean of Students and faculty member from 1920 until the Second World War, and now home to College Marketing; the “Miss Babson” and “Mr. Babson” contest began in 2001; on April 28, 2003, the Reynolds Campus Center coffee bar was named for “Woody” Lapen, and a new bird’s-eye campus map by the illustrator Laszlo Kubinyi was unveiled; and in August 2005 Information Technology Services announced the first Babson Portal. In athletics, Craig St. Armour (BS 1975) became Babson’s first All-American in swimming in 1973 and was one three years running, and Paul Cuneo (BS 1985) earned double All-American status in one- and three-meter diving.⁠[3][6][6][6]

Babson College: Official website: https://www.babson.edu/ (opens in a new window).⁠[3]

X: Public account: https://x.com/babson (opens in a new window).⁠[19]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/school/babson-college/ (opens in a new window).⁠[19]

YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/BabsonMedia (opens in a new window).⁠[19]

Instagram: Public account: https://www.instagram.com/babsoncollege/ (opens in a new window).⁠[19]

Facebook: Public account: https://www.facebook.com/babsoncollege (opens in a new window).⁠[19]

TikTok: Public account: https://www.tiktok.com/@babson_college (opens in a new window).⁠[19]