History

1917

Founded by Harry C. Bentley as a school of accounting and finance

1961

Bentley offers first four-year bachelor of science program.

1968

Moves from downtown Boston to Waltham, Massachusetts to accommodate growing enrollment and student demand for education blending academic study and extracurricular opportunities.

1971

Approved to grant both BS and BA degrees; changed name to Bentley College

1974

Graduate school of business is founded.

1985

The Mobile Computing program, one of the first in the country, is launched, providing all Bentley freshmen with a network-ready laptop computer fully loaded with software.

1990s

Bentley pioneers integration of information technology into the core business curriculum and positions itself as the: BUSINESS SCHOOL FOR THE INFORMATION AGE

1999

The graduate school is named for 1967 alumnus Elkin B. McCallum in honor of a generous gift made by the McCallum Family Foundation.

2000

The Smith Academic Technology Center opens to serve as the focal point for business and technology initiatives on campus.

2001

Two additional residence halls open on the Southeast campus helping to offset growing demand for on-campus housing among undergraduates. A new baseball field debuts in 2001, named in honor of the school's first and only baseball coach, Robert A. DeFelice. The athletic expansion project also includes a new soccer field, an outdoor track and six tennis courts.

2002

Bentley expands its campus to the Middle East with the "Bentley in Bahrain" program in partnership with Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF). Program offers students in Bahrain and surrounding Gulf States the opportunity to learn from Bentley professors and earn a Bentley degree.

2004

Third residence hall, housing 285 students, opens.

2005

The Liberal Studies major is launched, a first-of-its-kind program for a business school, allowing students to major in business and liberal arts, receiving credentials in both.

Construction is completed on two apartment-style residence halls on Forest Street, now known as the North Campus. The two buildings, housing 118 students, are the first Bentley-built housing for students away from the main campus.

First PhD programs in Business and Accountancy are approved by the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education in November.

2006

First PhD class is welcomed in September.

Construction on two additional apartment-style buildings is completed. Approximately 83 percent of students now live on campus. The Dana Athletic Center completes renovation and expansion in the spring. Fitness facility adds 30,000 square feet including expanded state-of-the-art exercise space, food court and pedestrian plaza. Multi-million dollar renovation of the Bentley Library is completed. Newly designed interior features a cyber café, art gallery, significant increases in study carrels, complete wireless access, increased PC access with Internet and power ports throughout the building, individual and collaborative study rooms for students, and research space for faculty. Online resources virtually double and storage for Bentley's dynamic book collection grows by 50 percent.

2008

Bentley becomes a university. The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education approves Bentley's request to change its designation and name to become Bentley University, effective October 2, 2008.