History
Chatham was chartered as the Pennsylvania Female College on December 11, 1869. The Reverend William Trimble Beatty, pastor of the Shadyside Presbyterian Church, led a group of Pittsburghers in making the dream of providing women with an education comparable to that which men could receive at the time at "colleges of the first class." The founders were ahead of their time: 1869 was the year the National Association of Women's Suffrage was established, and the year John Stuart Mill published The Subjection of Women. Pennsylvania Female College occupied the largest private residence in Allegheny County - the George Berry mansion atop Fifth Avenue in Shadyside. Fifteen faculty and more than 100 students occupied the 11-acre campus.
In 1890, Chatham’s name was changed to Pennsylvania College for Women. In 1955, it was changed again to Chatham College in honor of William Pitt, First Earl of Chatham and namesake of the City of Pittsburgh. In 1994, Chatham College expanded from its historic undergraduate women's college by offering graduate programs to both men and women with a special emphasis in the health science fields.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania granted Chatham University status in 2007, which was officially announced on May 1, 2007, and marks Chatham's newest tradition, University Day. On May 1, 2008, Chatham received a gift unequaled in its history: the Eden Hall Farm from the Eden Hall Foundation. The University's Shadyside Campus expanded in June 2008 to include Chatham Eastside near Bakery Square, approximately one mile from Woodland Road and home to many of Chatham's in-demand health science programs.
In 2010, Chatham launched the Falk School of Sustainability & Environment. In 2012, Chatham broke ground on Eden Hall Campus, the first campus in the world built from the ground up for the study of sustainability.
On May 1, 2014, Chatham University's Board of Trustees voted in approval of a resolution that expanded access to a high-quality Chatham undergraduate education to more students, ensured that Chatham can meet the educational needs of its students and the region for the future, and ensured the continuation of Chatham's 145-year commitment to advancing the causes of women with the founding of the Chatham University Women's Institute, along with the existing Pennsylvania Center for Women and Politics, and Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship.
From 2014 to 2024, Chatham was one of the fastest-growing colleges in Pennsylvania, with undergraduate enrollment more than doubling. Today, Chatham has over 2,400 students enrolled in bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral programs in the College of Arts & Sciences, College of Health Sciences, School of Business & Enterprise, and the Falk School of Sustainability & Environment.