Qualla: Mary Baldwin University https://qualla.com/mary-baldwin-university en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:07 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/z/c/mary-baldwin-university-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Mary Baldwin University https://qualla.com/mary-baldwin-university Mary Baldwin University: Introduction https://qualla.com/mary-baldwin-university/ Photo credit Ser Amantio di Nicolao, CC0. There is exactly one all-female corps of cadets in the world. They drill in formation on a small hilltop campus in downtown Staunton, in uniforms that descend from the Staunton Military Academy boys who used to drill on the same grounds. The Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership, founded in 1995 at the Commonwealth's request, sits inside Mary Baldwin University - which itself was founded in 1842 as the Augusta Female Seminary. Several other institutions claim a longer continuous history of women's education, but few have stretched the idea farther: an early-college program that accepts twelve-year-olds, a Shakespeare and Performance MFA partnered with the American Shakespeare Center, and a cadet corps with no analog anywhere else.

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/z/c/mary-baldwin-university-wp/dnzc-mary-baldwin-university-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Mary Baldwin University: From Seminary to University https://qualla.com/mary-baldwin-university/ Photo credit Mojo Hand, CC BY-SA 4.0. Rufus William Bailey founded the Augusta Female Seminary in 1842 as a Presbyterian school in the Shenandoah Valley. Mary Julia Baldwin enrolled as one of the early students. In 1863, in the middle of the Civil War, she was named principal. While most schools in the region shut do...

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/z/c/mary-baldwin-university-wp/dnzc-mary-baldwin-university-from-seminary-to-university.mp3 0:06 2 full Mary Baldwin University: Slow Integration, Faster Reinvention https://qualla.com/mary-baldwin-university/ Photo credit Strawser, CC BY-SA 3.0. Mary Baldwin admitted its first Black students in 1963, formally ending its policy of admitting only white women - a date that names the institution's place in segregation's long history rather than apart from it. Co-education came incrementally. Men were admitted as day students...

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/z/c/mary-baldwin-university-wp/dnzc-mary-baldwin-university-slow-integration-faster-reinvention.mp3 0:06 3 full Mary Baldwin University: Programs Without Peers https://qualla.com/mary-baldwin-university/ Photo credit Ser Amantio di Nicolao, CC0. The Program for the Exceptionally Gifted, founded in 1985, admits academically advanced girls aged 12 to 16 who have completed sixth through tenth grade but not yet finished high school. PEGs live in their own dorm, named for past president Cynthia Tyson, but take regular classes...

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/z/c/mary-baldwin-university-wp/dnzc-mary-baldwin-university-programs-without-peers.mp3 0:06 4 full Mary Baldwin University: The Hilltop and Its Future https://qualla.com/mary-baldwin-university/ Photo credit Nyttend, Public domain. The main building, completed in 1844, has stood at the top of the campus for over 180 years and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1973. Every October since 1898, the university has marked Founders Day to honor Bailey and Baldwin. Every autumn the campus c...

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/z/c/mary-baldwin-university-wp/dnzc-mary-baldwin-university-the-hilltop-and-its-future.mp3 0:06 5 full