For 175 years, Mary Baldwin has enriched lives through the transforming power of personalized, liberal education. Preparing students for careers in teaching has been a commitment of Mary Baldwin since its early days as Augusta Female Seminary. In 1929, the Commonwealth of Virginia established the bachelor’s degree as the minimum qualification for teachers in accredited state high schools. Mary Baldwin responded by embedding its teacher preparation efforts within the liberal arts mission of its recently-approved baccalaureate program. With the establishment of the Adult Degree Program in 1977, teacher education at Mary Baldwin was able to extend into other regions of the state, targeted particularly at adults returning to school to complete a degree that they may have begun years ago. In 1985, in response to a need to offer teacher licensure to individuals who already had a bachelor’s degree, the institution established the Post-Baccalaureate Teacher Licensure program, allowing for flexible learning options on the historic Staunton campus, and in the regions.
In 1992, Mary Baldwin College established a Master of Arts in Teaching program, responding to the increasing demand for teachers with graduate degrees and student interest in obtaining licensure through graduate study. The Master of Education degree, first offered in 2007, was designed for a target student population of licensed teachers seeking a graduate degree with possible add-on endorsements. The following year, Mary Baldwin began to offer the BA/MAT, a combined undergraduate-graduate program that allowed accelerated completion of a graduate degree alongside teacher licensure. In 2013, the BA/MEd program was established for undergraduates who wanted to pursue a combined undergraduate-graduate option in non-licensure education disciplines.
In 2014, after reflecting on the multiple pillars of teacher education at Mary Baldwin (undergrad, post-grad, and graduate), the College of Education was established as one overarching administrative entity for all education programs. With the celebration of Mary Baldwin’s 175th during the 2016-2017 academic year, and the associated name change from Mary Baldwin College to Mary Baldwin University, the College of Education is represented on the newly formed Academic Leadership Council, alongside the College of Arts & Sciences, College of Business and Professional Studies, and the Murphy Deming College of Health Sciences.