The moment you log on as a Monroe Student, you are part of a tradition that goes back seven decades. Back in 1933, we began with four classrooms and seven students as the Monroe College of Business, in the West Farms Section of the Bronx. Through the leadership of Founder Mildred King and Harry Jerome, the college continued to grow and expand steadily. But after WWII, that steady growth exploded as thousands of returning GIs and Americans on the home front found themselves in need of new skills for careers that would define post-war America.
One of these was called data processing, using punch card technology. In the sixties, punch cards turned into IBM computers and, consistent with its mission of real world relevance, Monroe opened a computing division. In the late sixties, swelling enrollment led to the opening of the current Fordham campus.
In addition to academic relevance and real world education, Monroe has always been a genuine family of support and encouragement to it students; a quality evident through the consistent leadership of the Jerome Family. When Harry retired in 1978 after decades of dedicated service, his son Stephen took over as president of the college – a position he continues to hold to this day after 34 years. The eighties saw the addition of a new, suburban campus in New Rochelle designed to serve the Westchester community as well as be a campus home to Monroe’s growing national and international community. Through the nineties, Monroe continued to expand its curriculum with those courses and skills most in demand by employers.
In 1998, at the forefront of the digital age, Monroe offered its first distance learning class. Today, that program offers multiple online courses and, with the advent of broadband and WIFI technology, the term “distance learning” has been revised to “online learning’. With streaming video, live chat sessions, interactive presentations, combined with Monroe’s faculty and genuine support, Monroe’s online classes create a campus of the 21st century. Anywhere our students can log on, at any time they are able to do so a whole new generation of students can attain a college education. Education has changed forever. As it always has, Monroe will continue to change with it. |