The story
Bentley University was founded in 1917 as the Bentley School of Accounting and Finance by Harry C. Bentley, following his departure from a professorship at the College of Business Administration at Boston University in late 1916. Thirty students attended Bentley's first class on February 26, 1917, in a room secured by Bentley at 30 Huntington Avenue in Boston.
For the 1920–1921 school year, Bentley leased and renovated several floors at 921 Boylston Street to accommodate an expanding student population. The building later became home to the admissions office of Berklee College of Music. Although the school operated in several buildings throughout Boston, the Boylston Street location became the center of its campus.
During the Great Depression, Bentley maintained a relatively stable student population, with a small decline during the middle of the 1930s. Between 1937 and 1941, as enrollment increased, the school rented and renovated additional space at 325 Newbury Street.
During World War II, Bentley's enrollment declined from a peak of 3,084 students in the 1938–1939 academic year to 1,055 in 1944–1945. The school began admitting women again in 1942, and more than 1,000 women attended Bentley between 1942 and 1946. Although the school had previously admitted women during World War I, coeducation became a permanent feature of the institution during World War II.
In 1948, the Bentley School of Accounting and Finance was incorporated as a nonprofit organization, and Harry Bentley transferred his ownership interests in the school to the nonprofit. A 27-member board of trustees was established to oversee the institution. All of the original trustees except Bentley were alumni.
In 1953, Harry Bentley stepped down as president and became president emeritus. Maurice Monroe Lindsay, who had taught at Bentley since the 1920s, succeeded him as the institution's second president.
In 1961, Bentley received authorization to confer four-year Bachelor of Science degrees. Under president Thomas Lincoln Morison, the college relocated from its Boylston Street facilities in Boston to its present location in Waltham, Massachusetts. Land for the new campus was purchased from the Lyman Estate in 1962, and construction took place from 1963 to 1968.
The Waltham campus includes the Jonathan Hammond House, a historic residence constructed in 1785. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
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Gregory H. Adamian became Bentley's fourth president in 1970. During his presidency, the college received authorization to confer Bachelor of Arts degrees in 1971 and graduate degrees in 1973. The institution also adopted the name Bentley College.
In 2002, Bentley College opened a campus in Bahrain in partnership with the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance. In 2005, the college received authorization to award its first doctoral degrees in business and accountancy.
The Bentley Library underwent a major renovation in 2006. The college also adopted a redesigned logo featuring the library's clock tower.
In 2007, Gloria Cordes Larson, a former state and federal government official and Boston-based attorney, became Bentley's first female president.
In 2008, the institution changed its name from Bentley College to Bentley University after receiving authorization from the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education.
Alison Davis-Blake, a former dean of the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota and the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, became Bentley's eighth president in July 2018. She stepped down in June 2020 and was succeeded on an interim basis by Paul Condrin, chairman of the board of trustees.
In March 2021, the board of trustees unanimously appointed E. LaBrent Chrite as Bentley's ninth president. Chrite continued to serve as president in 2026.
From Wikipedia’s article on Bentley University, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5