The Sage Colleges were a private educational institution comprising three institutions in

New York State New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...

Russell Sage College Russell Sage College (often Russell Sage or RSC) is a co-educational college with two campuses located in Albany and Troy, New York, approximately north of New York City in the Capital District. Russell Sage College offers both undergraduat ...

, a women's college in

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

;

Sage College of Albany Sage College of Albany, SCA for short, was located at 140 New Scotland Avenue, Albany, New York. Along with Russell Sage College and the Sage Graduate School, it was one of the three colleges that made up The Sage Colleges. In 2020, SCA beca ...

, a co-educational college in Albany; and the Sage Graduate School, which operated both in Troy and in Albany. After a 2020 merger the institutions continue under the single name, Russell Sage College.

History

The first of the colleges to be established was Russell Sage College, which was founded in 1916 by

Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage, known as Olivia Sage (September 8, 1828 – November 4, 1918), was an American philanthropist known for her contributions to education and progressive causes. In 1869 she became the second wife of industrialist Russe ...

as a "School of Practical Arts". Russell Sage was always a comprehensive college, offering both professional and liberal arts degrees. It consistently been ranked in the top ten comprehensive colleges in the

Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—eac ...

by '' U.S. News & World Report''. A "Men's Division" was established during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and the first graduate degree was conferred by the college in 1942. In 1949 the "Albany Division" was founded as a second,

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

campus, offering associate, bachelor's and master's degrees. In 1957 the two-year program, under the name "Sage Junior College of Albany", was granted authority to offer its own degrees. In 1995, the Sage Graduate School was given permission to grant degrees independently, the Sage Evening College was recognized as a separate educational entity, and the four elements of Sage were rechartered together as The Sage Colleges. In 2002 the two-year college and the evening college were subsumed in a new four-year college of professional studies, Sage College of Albany. The three colleges, all part of the corporate institution The Sage Colleges, were governed by a common president, Dr. Christopher Ames, and a common Board of Trustees; each college had its own academic dean. Due to declining enrollment and a high amount of debt, The Sage Colleges board of directors voted unanimously in March 2019 to merge the three colleges as one institution and rebrand Sage as Russell Sage College beginning in the fall of 2020.

Athletics

The Sage Colleges teams participated as a member of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Third ...

. The Gators were a member of the

Empire 8 The Empire 8 (E8) is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division III. The E8 sponsors intercollegiate athletic competition in men's baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, women's ...

. Men's sports (Sage College of Albany) included basketball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, tennis, and volleyball; while women's sports (Russell Sage College) included basketball, cross country, lacrosse, soccer, softball, tennis, and volleyball.

References

1916 establishments in New York (state) Universities and colleges established in 1916 Defunct private universities and colleges in New York (state) Education in Capital District (New York) Educational institutions disestablished in 2020 2020 disestablishments in New York (state) {{NewYork-university-stub