Monroe College, which was originally founded in 1933 and has a campus in Kingsbridge, now has a new name: Monroe University.
The change, recently granted by the New York State Education Department, better reflects Monroe’s range of undergraduate and graduate educational offerings and maintains more consistent terminology among international audiences, said President Marc Jerome in an interview with the Bronx Times.
While the logistics of updating the school’s name in all physical and online spaces have been daunting, it has spurred “excitement and pride” among faculty, students and alumni — and the school saw record enrollment numbers this fall, said Jerome.
It helps that generations of families already know the Monroe name. “In the Bronx, I cannot walk into a hospital, an IT firm or restaurant without being greeted by someone who graduated Monroe or their relative attended Monroe,” Jerome said.
In addition to its Bronx location, Monroe also has online students, a campus in New Rochelle and one on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia. The school has over 8,000 students representing 93 countries, calling itself a “mini United Nations.”
Jerome has led the school since 2017 — but his history with it dates back generations. Monroe was founded by his great-aunt and grandfather, and his father, Stephen Jerome, served as longtime president. Marc Jerome has worked at Monroe for over 30 years and said the institution is a part of his family, and vice versa.
Those decades of consistent leadership helped the school maintain strong numbers despite an overall downturn in college enrollment. This continued success is because Monroe reaches a wide variety of potential students — not just high school seniors, said Jerome.
While he personally visits every Bronx high school, the university also reaches out to the parents of those high schoolers — plus adults raising kids and even those who have been incarcerated — all with the goal of helping more people see themselves as college students.
Monroe also prides itself on improving the community’s quality of life in ways beyond education, including public safety and sanitation.
“We take ownership of our neighborhood,” Jerome said.
Since the early days, Monroe’s mission has centered around social mobility. In the early 20th century, that meant educating Irish and Jewish women for secretarial careers. Today, Jerome said his university is “punching above our weight class” in graduating Black and Latino students, many of whom come from the Bronx — and remain in the borough or nearby after graduation.
While Monroe is a “hyperlocal” institution, the name change is also expected to improve international recruitment, Jerome said. In many countries, the term “college” refers to elite high schools, whereas the term “university” is more associated with post-secondary education.
Along with the name change, Jerome also announced a new scholarship program at Monroe called Building a Better Bronx, which partners with community organizations and elected leaders to nominate adults for full or partial scholarships.
Monroe joins three other Bronx institutions in the change to “University.” Mercy College, which has a Morris Park Campus, the College of Mount Saint Vincent and Manhattan College, both in Riverdale, all recently announced the switch.
Under its new name, Monroe University will continue to be “a major, stable part of the Bronx for a very long time,” said Jerome.
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
