MILLS COLLEGE

private liberal arts college for women in Oakland, Calif. U.S. Men may study in the graduate-level programs. Mills College offers over 30 undergraduate majors in American studies, environmental studies, English and foreign literatures, languages and cultures, ethnic and women's studies, fine arts, natural sciences, mathematics and computer science, social sciences, and education. Master of Arts and Master of Fine Arts degrees are available in art, dance, education, English, interdisciplinary computer science, liberal studies, the composition and performance of music, and electronic music and recording media. Cross-registration programs are offered with 12 California institutions, exchange programs with 12 American colleges, and study abroad programs in Israel, Europe, England, and Japan. Facilities include the Jane B. Aron Art Center and the Center for Contemporary Music. Total enrollment exceeds 1,000. Mills College grew from the Young Ladies Seminary established at Benicia, Calif., in 1852. Teaching missionaries Susan and Cyrus Mills bought the school in 1865, obtained farmland at Oakland for the campus, and in 1877 deeded the school to a board of trustees. In 1885 the school became a college, claiming to be the first women's college west of the Rocky Mountains. It began offering graduate courses in 1920. Among its notable teachers were Dean Rusk, later U.S. secretary of state, and composer Darius Milhaud. Milhaud's students at Mills included William Bolcom and Dave Brubeck.