Troy

The Sage Colleges Board of Trustees has unanimously approved a plan to make their flagship school co-ed as part of a larger reorganization.

The newly rebranded Russell Sage College will be rolled out in the fall of 2020.

“This is an historic moment in the 100-plus-year history of our institution,” said Board of Trustees Chair Patricia Timpano Sparrell in a prepared statement.

“The unification and renaming of the college will celebrate our two campuses as equal partners in an institution that will prominently be branded as Russell Sage College: Albany and Troy,” added President Christopher Ames.

Revealed last November, the plan to make the traditionally women-only Russell Sage College co-ed and to merge names with Sage College of Albany was viewed as a way to consolidate operations and simplify recruiting.

While students can take classes on both campuses, the two names were considered to be confusing and overly complicated for applicants.

Like many small local schools, The Sage Colleges have struggled financially and with student enrollment in recent years.

Overall, The Sage Colleges in 2018-19 enjoyed an enrollment increase of about 200 students, including transfers and first-year students. Total undergraduate enrollment is 1,350, with 1,200 graduate students, including part-timers.

The overhaul will also include the creation of a women’s institute on the campus. That’s a tactic that other schools, including The College of Saint Rose, are employing to reach out to prospective female students.

Russell Sage dates to 1916 when Troy philanthropist and suffragist Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage created the school for women. The first class graduated four years later. The school accepted men during World War II due to the war, however.

By 1949, the school opened a co-ed division in Albany. Then in 1957, the co-ed Junior College of Albany opened. That became a four-year school in 2001 operating as Sage College of Albany. The two campus school has recently been known as The Sage Colleges.

rkarlin@timesunion.com • 518-454-5758 • @RickKarlinTU





