Suffolk University


Suffolk University is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. With 7,560 students, it is the eighth largest university in metropolitan Boston. It is categorized as a Doctoral Research University by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. It was founded as a law school in 1906 and named after its location in Suffolk County, Massachusetts. The university's notable alumni include mayors, dozens of U.S. federal and state judges and United States members of Congress.
The university, located at the downtown edge of the historic Beacon Hill neighborhood, is coeducational and comprises the Suffolk University Law School, the College of Arts & Sciences, and the Sawyer Business School.
The Princeton Review recently ranked the Sawyer Business School as "One of Top 15 in Global Management" and its entrepreneurship program is ranked among the top 25 in the U.S. The Princeton Review also currently ranks some of its MBA programs among the top 50 business programs in the nation. The 2015 edition of U.S. News publication ranked Suffolk Law School 6th in the United States for its Legal Writing, 13th for its Alternative Dispute Resolution program, and 20th for legal clinics. It has an international campus in Madrid in addition to the main campus in downtown Boston.
The university's sports teams, the Suffolk Rams, compete in NCAA Division III as members of the GNAC and the ECAC in 19 varsity sports.

History

Suffolk University was initially founded as a law school in 1906 by Boston lawyer Gleason Archer Sr., who named it "Archer's Evening Law School," intending it for law students who worked during the day. The school was renamed Suffolk School of Law in 1907, after Archer moved it from his Roxbury, Massachusetts home into his law offices in downtown Boston.
A year later the first of Archer's students had passed the bar, leading to a boost in registration.
The school's original goal was to "serve ambitious young men who are obliged to work for a living while studying law."
By 1930, Archer developed Suffolk into one of the largest law schools in the country, and decided to create "a great evening university" that working people could afford.
, then Governor of Massachusetts and eventual 30th President of the United States, laying cornerstone for the law building, in 1920.
The school became a university in the 1930s when the Suffolk College of Arts and Sciences was founded in 1934 and the Sawyer Business School—then known as the College of Business Administration—in 1937. That same year, the three academic units were incorporated as Suffolk University.
During the 1990s Suffolk constructed its first residence halls, began satellite programs with other colleges in Massachusetts, and opened its international campuses. From 1990 to 2005, its endowment increased over 400%, to approximately $72 million, and enrollment climbed.

Presidents (1906–present)

The main campus in downtown Boston is situated on well-known Beacon Hill, adjacent to the Massachusetts State House and the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Up until 1995, Suffolk was a commuter-only school. Today, there are four coed residence halls, housing over 65% of freshman, and a total of 24% of the entire undergraduate population:
The residence hall at 150 Tremont Street, renamed Smith Hall in 2018, was the first built by the university and currently houses students in singles, doubles, quads, and suites, with communal bathrooms.
Nathan R. Miller Residence Hall was opened in 2005 and houses 15 floors of freshman, and 2 floors of sophomores in singles, doubles and quads, with bathrooms shared between every two rooms or one bathroom per quad.
The 10 West Residence Hall, opened in 2008, has housing for freshman and sophomores in singles and doubles. Suites accommodate 3-5 students and a variety of apartment-style suites house 2 to 8 students.
Both Miller Hall and 150 Tremont have cafeterias. Students living at 10 West/Modern Theater can eat at 150 Tremont. Suffolk University occasionally leases additional properties. If leased, those locations house freshman students.
The Modern Theatre Residence Hall opened in the fall of 2010 and is considered an extension to the 10 West Resident Hall. The two residence halls share one entrance at 10 West Street. The Modern Theater Residence Hall is built over the restored Modern Theatre.
The University also leases residential space for students at 1047 Commonwealth Avenue, which features micro-apartments for 2-3 students. Housing students from Suffolk as well as other colleges and universities nearby, the residence hall is a 25-minute ride from Suffolk's campus on public transit on the T's Green Line. In the fall of 2020, the University plans to stop using 1047 and begin housing those students closer to campus in the Ames Building at One Court Street, which it purchased in the fall of 2019.
In addition to its main campus in Boston, there is a satellite campus in Madrid, Spain.

Buildings

Suffolk University has many different buildings that are spread through downtown Boston and Beacon Hill.
Suffolk employs over 900 full-time and adjunct faculty members, who instruct approximately 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students on its Boston Campus.
The Sawyer Business School focuses on global business education. It offers undergraduate and graduate degrees. Joint degrees are also offered. About 3,000 students are currently enrolled in all programs. The Saturday-only Executive MBA Program incorporates four off-site one-week seminars and week-long global trips to London and China. The Global MBA is a specialized MBA in international business with an intensive concentration in either finance or marketing. The full-time program includes a 3-month internship outside the student's home country. Summer 2010 Global MBA internships are in 10 countries. Part-time Global MBAs complete either a global experiential research project at their place of business or a 3-month consulting project that includes an intensive 2 week residency outside the US.
The Suffolk College of Arts and Sciences has seventeen academic departments which offer more than seventy undergraduate and graduate programs. Among the departments is the New England School of Art and Design
Suffolk University Law School, founded in 1906, offers a standard Juris Doctor program and advanced L.L.M. program. 43% of applicants were admitted to the J.D. program in 2005.
The university is also home to various research centers and institutes, including the Centers for Crime & Justice Policy Research, Restorative Justice, and Women's Health and Human Right, the Moakley Archives, the Poetry Center, Political Research Centers, and the Sagan Energy Research Laboratory. The Suffolk University Political Research Center conducts various scientific polls of national and regional political issues.
The university also has an undergraduate honors program in the College of Arts & Sciences and Sawyer Business School. Freshman and transfer students are considered for the Honors program upon applying to Suffolk. Students in their second year are considered candidates for join the program by remaining one year at the institution with a 3.5 GPA. The student from Suffolk University upon graduating from the honor program graduate with a Latin Honor: Summa Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude: You must have a cumulative GPA of 3.7, or Cum Laude.

Rankings

In 2018 U.S. News ranked Suffolk #177 in National Universities. In 2009 U.S. News ranked Suffolk in the "top tier of “Best Master’s Universities” in the North" and #7 in "Best College: Most International Students” attending master's programs." The 2015 edition of U.S. News publication ranked Suffolk Law School 20th in the United States for its legal clinics, 13th for its Alternative Dispute Resolution program, and 6th for its Legal Writing. The ILRG also has numerous other categories and ranks Suffolk University Law School as the 68th most selective law school, 45th for job placement before graduation, 78th for job placement after 9 months, 23rd for best bar passer rates among first time takers, 14th when ranking the school versus the state average for bar passage rates, 92nd for student to faculty ratio and 87th overall for student median LSAT/GPAs. Law & Politics' 2010 ranking of law schools ranked Suffolk University Law School 33rd overall. In 2010, The Social Science Research Network ranked Suffolk 25th in the country. Leiter's ranking of most desirable law schools lists Suffolk as the 35th most desirable law school in the country. Law.com ranks Suffolk 54th overall for best job placement and employment trends into "BigLaw" with eleven percent of the class entering Big Law. In 2010, The Hylton Rankings placed Suffolk University Law School 94th overall among all law schools.

Athletics

Suffolk University teams participate as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III. The Rams are a member of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference and the Eastern College Athletic Conference. Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field, golf, ice hockey, soccer and tennis; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field, ice hockey, soccer, softball, golf, tennis and volleyball. The Rams men's ice hockey team competes as an associate member of the Commonwealth Coast Conference.

Notable persons

Notable alumni

, class of 1942, officer at the Central Intelligence Agency, Counter Intelligence Corps as Director of Operations of the I Service Command, security expert on The Manhattan Project
from Massachusetts 1993–2007, former chairman United States House Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, current President of the University of Massachusetts