Goucher College

Goucher College ( GOW-chər) is a private liberal arts college in Towson, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1885 as a nonsectarian women's college in Baltimore's central district, the college is named for pastor and missionary John F. Goucher, who enlisted local leaders of the Methodist Episcopal Church to establish the school's charter. Goucher relocated to its Towson campus in 1953, and became coeducational in 1986, after 101 years as a women's college. Goucher grants BA and BS degrees in a range of disciplines across 31 majors and 39 minors. Goucher is one of only two colleges in the United States to integrate a study abroad experience into its undergraduate curriculum requirements. Goucher is a member of the Landmark Conference and competes in the NCAA's Division III in lacrosse, tennis, soccer, volleyball, basketball, and horseback riding. It also offers a postbaccalaureate premedical program, master's programs in the arts and humanities, and professional development courses in writing and education. The Goucher library holds the largest Jane Austen collection in North America, including first and rare editions, period publications, and 20th-century ephemera related to Austen. As of 2023, Goucher enrolls approximately 1,100 undergraduates and 900 post-graduates. Goucher counts notable alumni in law, business, journalism, academia, poetry, and government, including New York Times journalist Erica L. Green, conservative journalist Jonah Goldberg, former first lady of Puerto Rico Lucé Vela, Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander of the District Court for the District of Maryland, poets Ellen Bass and Edgar Kunz, 27th Vice Commandant of the United States Coast Guard Sally Brice-O'Hara, former president of First Republic Bank Katherine August-DeWilde, and the third president of California State University, San Marcos, Karen S. Haynes.